Four of the top 10 U.S. cities for veterans are in Texas, according to a new study released Monday by a personal finance website.
The study, conducted by WalletHub, found that the Texas cities of Laredo, Plano, Austin and El Paso are all among the nation’s best for military veterans based on 21 factors like the availability of military-skills related jobs, veteran unemployment, economic health, overall veteran population and access to Department of Veteran Affairs administered healthcare.
Among the other top 10 cities overall are Scottsdale, Arizona, which came in first, Irvine and San Diego, California, Colorado Springs, Colorado and Tampa and Orlando Florida.
At the bottom of the list ranking at 100 through 97, respectively, are Detroit, Michigan, which ranked as worst for veterans, Newark, New Jersey, Cleveland, Ohio and Memphis, Tennessee.
The top cities ranked strongly for factors like economy, job availability for veterans and overall quality of life.
“I think one of the key takeaways here is that jobs and economy really play into anyone’s retirement a career – but veterans even more so because they are often younger,” said Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst. “They really do need to make sure the job opportunities in whatever cities they are settling down in are good for veterans.”
The study analyzed data from a variety of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the VA to draw its conclusions. It examined and ranked the top 100 most populated cities nationwide.
Gonzalez said the most important factor to examine for most veterans looking to relocate is economics and jobs.
“Employment is so important – especially before you’re settling down in a city, that’s something that you really need to think about before,” she said.
-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @amybushatz.
