On Veteran’s Day, WalletHub released its annual ranking of the best cities where veterans can live their best lives in 2016.
The list covers the 100 most populous cities across the nation and ranked each city on a composite of 21 metrics. These factors included concerns most important to veterans, including access to health care facilities, the availability of jobs and unemployment, poverty and homelessness.
“Some veterans of the last 15 years of conflict and some veterans from previous generations are contending with a gamut of challenges that impact their daily lives, from joblessness, homelessness, access to benefits... and others,” Delio Calzolari, Associate Director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute told WalletHub.
Here are the top five cities on the list. Head over to WalletHub to see the complete list and methodology.
1. Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, just east of the state capital of Phoenix, grabbed the top spot on the list ― scoring well for quality of life and the ability for veterans to find jobs.
2. Laredo, Texas
This south Texas city, along the Mexican border, offers veterans quality of life (fourth on the list overall) combined with promising prospects for employment.
3. Irvine, California
Just south of Los Angeles, Irvine is ranked number one on the list in the employment category, meaning there’s low veteran unemployment and many jobs that require military-related skills.
4. Plano, Texas
The second of three Texas cities in the top five, Plano has one of the lowest unemployment rates for veterans of all the cities on the list, along with one of the lowest percentages of veterans living in poverty.
5. Austin, Texas
This central Texas city rounds off the top five with a high rank for quality of life― the sixth overall on the list.
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