Military Times has released its first-ever Best for Vets: Places to Live feature, highlighting the most popular large, medium and small cities that military veterans are calling “home.”
For years, maybe decades, you have lived where the U.S. government has told you to live. So when that discharge paperwork comes through, how do you decide where to go?
Many veterans don’t stray far from the military bases they were assigned to, government data indicates, and some will return to cities where they were previously stationed.
That’s probably a big factor behind a veteran population in San Antonio above 100,000, said Bob Murdock, director of the city’s Office of Military Affairs.
“When they were assigned here at one time or another, they had a very positive experience with the community,” Murdock said. “We are very proud of the moniker that we are Military City USA.”
A total of 577 places, as designated by the Census Bureau, were considered as part of the project. Only 75 made the cut.
One of the best things about San Diego, said United Veterans Council of San Diego County Chairman Jack Harkins, is its higher education system. The city features as part of that system San Diego State University and the University of San Diego, both of which made our Best for Vets: Colleges 2015 rankings. The city also has a very strong military culture, as many service members have learned from being stationed in it – or from watching baseball highlights: The San Diego Padres wear camouflage uniforms at every Sunday home game as a tribute to the city’s service members and veterans.
