Military personnel retiring from service have to deal with a plethora of economic, social and health-related issues as they readjust to civilian life, the personal finance website WalletHub notes in a report released Monday.
In deciding where to settle down, veterans must consider not only economics but socioeconomic factors, such as how state tax policies on military benefits vary and relative friendliness of different job markets.
“Transitioning from military to civilian life isn’t easy, but the best states for military retirees make that adjustment as smooth as possible,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in a statement. “In addition to providing the conditions necessary for our veterans to thrive financially, they also have ample resources for taking care of military retirees’ physical and mental health.”
In order to determine the best and worst states for military retirement, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across these key dimensions:
- Economic environment, including state tax on military pensions, job opportunities for veterans, housing affordability and total VA expenditure per number of veterans
- Quality of life, including share of VA benefits-administration facilities per number of veterans, share of homeless veterans, idealness of weather and share of 40-and-older population
- Health care, including quality of VA hospitals, physicians and mental health professionals per capita, veteran suicide rate and presence of veterans treatment courts
Researchers evaluated those dimensions using 28 relevant metrics, and graded each one on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for military retirees.
The slideshow above illustrates the 12 best states for retired military personnel, according to WalletHub.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.