Best places for veterans to live? Here’s why four Florida cities made a national list
Florida is home to four of the nation’s best places for veterans to call home, new rankings show.
The personal finance website WalletHub shared the findings after it studied job growth, access to VA hospitals and other quality-of-life factors ahead of Veterans Day. Here are the Florida cities that made it into the top 10:
- Orlando at No. 2
- Tampa at No. 4
- St. Petersburg at No. 9
- Jacksonville at No. 10
To determine top places for vets to live, WalletHub focused on 100 of the nation’s most populous cities. Using data from the U.S. government and other sources, it scored each place across four categories: economy, employment, health and quality of life.
“When veterans return home from serving our nation, it’s important for them to live in a place that provides good education and employment opportunities, along with access to quality care for their physical and mental health,” Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst, wrote in the Nov. 7 report. “The best cities for veterans have all these characteristics, plus added bonuses like large veteran populations for community support.”
What makes the Florida cities special?
Of the Florida cities that rank among the most veteran-friendly, Orlando earned the highest spot on the list. The city had the No. 1 score in the quality-of-life category, which considered veteran population data, the portion of businesses offering military discounts and how welcoming each place is for families and retirees.
Orlando also ranked among the top 10 places for economy-related factors that could appeal to veterans. But it didn’t fare as well when it came to employment and health, landing at No. 20 and 29 in those respective categories, results show.
“Orlando, FL, is the second-best city for veterans, and quickly rising income expectations for veterans are among the top reasons for this,” WalletHub wrote in its report. “The median annual income for veterans grows by an average of over 9% per year, the fourth-highest percentage in the country.”
Similar to Orlando, quality of life also was the strongest category for Tampa and St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, Jacksonville made its biggest mark in the health category, a measure of the presence and quality of VA hospitals.
So, where did other Florida cities land in the rankings? Miami just missed the top 10, taking the No. 11 spot. Meanwhile, nearby Hialeah was further down in the rankings at No. 37.
Overall, WalletHub said the nation’s top place for veterans is Austin, Texas. Here are the other cities that joined Austin, Orlando and Tampa in the top five:
- Raleigh, North Carolina, at No. 3
- Virginia Beach, Virginia, at No. 5
This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Best places for veterans to live? Here’s why four Florida cities made a national list."
