States that voted Republican in the last presidential election are more friendly to military veterans than states that went for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, a new study reveals.
A soldier from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (Old Guard) takes part in “Flags-in”, where a flag is placed at each of the 284,000 headstones at Arlington National Cemetery, ahead of Memorial Day in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., May 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
WalletHub analysts ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia in three categories related to veterans: economic environment, quality of life and healthcare. They did so by looking at stats including the homeless percentage among the state’s military veterans, job opportunities for vets and number of Veterans Affairs facilities in relation to the number of vets in the state. Republican states consistently performed better than Democratic states.
States that went for President Trump in the last election had an average ranking of 23.8 (out of 51), while states that went for Hillary Clinton had an average ranking of 29.1. Of the best five states for veterans, four of them — Florida, Montana, Wyoming and South Carolina — went for Trump. New Hampshire was the only state in the top five to go for Clinton.
Washington, D.C. was ranked the worst location for veterans, while New Jersey was the worst-ranked state. The nation’s capital was ranked dead last in quality of life for veterans, 45th in economic environment and 46th in health care. The district has the highest percentage of homeless veterans, the fewest job opportunities for vets, the second-fewest number of VA facilities per number of veterans, the second-least affordable housing and the fifth-lowest percentage of veteran-owned businesses. Perhaps unsurprisingly, D.C. was ranked 50th in number of veterans per capita. Only New York had fewer.