States that Care the Most About Veterans

There are approximately 17.9 million veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces living in the United States, as of 2024. The sacrifices these men and women have made for our country are what give us both freedom and safety. Although benefits for veterans are available nationwide, there are still some states that are better for veterans than others.

To highlight the states that care the most about veterans and the ones that need to improve the most, SmileHub compared each of the 50 states using 21 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of veteran-owned businesses to total VA spending per veteran to the share of homeless veterans.

In addition, if you want to support veterans but don’t know where to donate, check out our picks for the Best Charities for Veterans in 2024.

• Main Findings
• Methodology

Main Findings

Most Veteran-Friendly States

Overall Rank*	State	Total Score	Veterans Community Support Rank	Veterans Health & Wellness Rank	Veterans Employment & Finances Rank
1	Virginia	67.42	1	16	1
2	Florida	63.08	3	2	8
3	Texas	60.28	11	3	11
4	South Carolina	59.03	8	17	4
5	Pennsylvania	58.28	4	12	9
6	Illinois	57.86	6	15	6
7	Maryland	57.26	17	8	10
8	North Carolina	56.50	7	11	14
9	Alabama	56.13	16	20	5
10	Oklahoma	55.83	27	4	16
11	Arkansas	55.32	18	27	2
12	Hawaii	54.37	30	5	18
13	California	53.93	29	1	43
14	Kansas	51.61	5	24	24
15	New Hampshire	51.04	40	33	3
16	West Virginia	50.25	14	18	21
17	Michigan	50.02	20	30	12
18	Kentucky	49.81	2	26	32
19	Maine	49.68	35	19	17
20	Ohio	49.13	10	28	23
21	Nebraska	48.53	34	29	15
22	Wyoming	48.24	36	9	28
23	Georgia	47.65	23	23	25
24	South Dakota	47.04	31	22	26
25	Iowa	46.64	13	50	7
26	Massachusetts	46.44	41	14	22
27	Louisiana	45.96	28	24	31
28	Tennessee	45.94	15	35	29
29	New York	45.73	19	6	50
30	New Jersey	45.43	39	34	20
31	Washington	44.66	26	31	30
32	Indiana	43.95	12	39	35
33	North Dakota	43.90	43	44	13
34	Wisconsin	43.21	9	38	40
35	Alaska	42.81	21	13	46
36	Montana	42.48	48	7	39
37	Arizona	42.43	37	32	33
38	Utah	42.21	47	37	19
39	Missouri	42.06	25	21	45
40	Minnesota	41.65	32	36	37
41	Rhode Island	40.69	38	48	27
42	Colorado	39.56	45	10	48
43	Oregon	38.54	42	40	38
44	Mississippi	38.42	33	43	42
45	New Mexico	37.96	46	41	34
46	Idaho	36.00	44	42	41
47	Vermont	35.84	22	49	47
48	Delaware	35.75	24	46	49
49	Nevada	33.93	50	47	36
50	Connecticut	32.71	49	45	44

Notes: *1 = Best

With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

 

Methodology

In order to determine the states that care the most about veterans, SmileHub compared the 50 states across three key dimensions: 1) Veterans Community Support, 2) Veterans Health & Wellness and 3) Veterans Employment & Finances.

We evaluated those dimensions using 21 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of veteran-friendliness. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for population differences across states.

We then determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

Veterans Community Support – Total Points: 30

• Share of Veterans: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Educational Opportunities for Veterans: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges for Veterans” ranking.
• Veterans Charities per Capita*: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Veteran Cemeteries per Capita*: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Military Museums per Capita*: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Share of Homeless Veterans: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

Veterans Health & Wellness – Total Points: 40

• Share of VA Benefits-Administration Facilities per Veteran Population: Double Weight (~7.27 Points)
• Number of VA Health Facilities per Veteran Population: Double Weight (~7.27 Points)
• Total VA Expenditure per Veteran Population: Double Weight (~7.27 Points)
• Number of Veteran Treatment Courts per Veteran Population*: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Number of Veterans Homes per Veteran Population*: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Mental Health Counselors per Capita: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Physicians per Capita: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Veteran Suicide Rate: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)

Veterans Employment & Finances – Total Points: 30

• Share of Veteran-Owned Businesses: Double Weight (~6.00 Points)
  Note: The Annual Business Survey (ABS) is a new joint project between the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. The ABS is a new survey that replaces three existing surveys: the five-year Survey of Business Owners (SBO) for employer businesses, the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), and the Business Research and Development and Innovation Survey for Microbusinesses (BRDI-M) and includes a new innovation content module.
  D = withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual companies; data are included in higher level totals only
  S = estimate does not meet publication standards because of high sampling versatility, poor response quality, or other concerns about the estimate quality.
  N = not available or not comparable
  X = not applicable
• State Authorization for Veteran's Preference in Private Hiring: Full Weight (~3.00 Points)
• Veteran Unemployment Rate: Full Weight (~3.00 Points)
• Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemptions: Double Weight (~6.00 Points)
  Note: This binary metric considers the presence or absence of full property tax exemption for 100% disabled veterans.
• State Tax on Military Pension: Double Weight (~6.00 Points)
  Note: Exempt – 0, partially exempt – 0.5, no exemption - 1
• Presence of State Help for Returning Veterans: Full Weight (~3.00 Points)
  Note: This binary metric considers the presence or absence of veteran transition programs & commissions in a state, as follows:
  1 – Yes
  0 - No
• Cost of Living: Full Weight (~3.00 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on The Council for Community and Economic Research’s 2023 annual Cost of Living Index.

 
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. News & World Report, Internal Revenue Service, Veteran Voices Military Research, Office of Policy Development and Research, National Drug Court Resource Center, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Conference of State Legislatures, VA Claims Insider, Military Officers Association of America and Council for Community and Economic Research.