Report says Utah is one of the worst states for veterans

(KUTV) — A new report suggests that Utah is one of the worst states for veterans in the country.

According to a report from the personal finance website WalletHub, Utah is the ninth worst place for military retirees in the U.S.

WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions, including economic environment, quality of life and health care for veterans:

• Economic environment: This category measures state tax on military pensions, tax friendliness, shares of veteran-owned businesses, dollars in U.S. Defense Department contracts per capita, veteran job opportunities, state authorization for veterans' preference in private hiring, veteran job fairs per 100,000 veterans, job growth, military bases and installations per 100,000 veterans, total Veterans Affairs expenditure per number of veterans, presence of state help for returning veterans, presence of academic credit for military service, housing affordability and cost-of-living indexes.
• Quality of life: This category measures the state's share of veterans, the share of veterans not receiving SNAP (food stamps), the share of VA benefits-administration facilities per number of veterans, the quality of the public university system, the arts, leisure and recreation establishments per capita, share of the population over 40 years old, the share of homeless veterans and the idealness of weather.
• Healthcare: This category measures the state's number of VA health facilities per number of veterans, the number of federal, state, local and private hospitals per capita, the quality of VA hospitals, the number of physicians and mental health counselors per capita, the state's veteran suicide rate and the presence of veteran-treatment courts.

From all the data gathered, Utah was ranked 43rd out of the 50 states, while the District of Columbia was considered the worst at 51st place.

According to WalletHub, Utah received its overall ranking of 43rd place because of its mid-to-low placements in the economic environment (36th), quality of life (41st) and health care (31st) for its veterans.

WalletHub also stated that Utah was ranked 47th with the fifth-fewest veterans per capita.

Below are the top 10 worst places for veterans in the U.S.:

1. Washington, D.C.
2. Oregon
3. Vermont
4. New York
5. Mississippi
6. New Mexico
7. Nevada
8. Indiana
9. Utah
10. New Jersey

On the other side of the scale, Virginia was considered to be the best place of veterans, ranking in the top 5 among the economic environment and quality of life categories, and in the top 15 in healthcare.

Below is an interactive map that shows where each state ranked from worst to best.

To read the entire report, visit wallethub.com.

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