Fact check: What state has the most veterans?
December 30, 2015
By Charles Aull
What state has the largest veteran population in the country?
California, according to Kamala Harris (D), who tweeted last week, “CA has 2 million veterans. That’s more than any other state. We owe our vets the support & benefits they earned while wearing a uniform.”[1][2]
Harris is California’s Attorney General and a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Senator Barbara Boxer (D). One of Harris' main opponents in the race is California Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D), a ten-term congresswoman and long-time member of the House Armed Services Committee.
We found Harris’ claim to be true. With more than 1.8 million veterans, California has the most veterans in the country in terms of raw numbers. But, because California's total population is so much larger than most other states, we also wanted to see where the Golden State stands in terms of veterans as a percentage of the population. By this measure, California’s share is the second lowest in the country.
Veterans in the U.S.
The federal government defines a veteran as “a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable.”[3] Nationally, there are more than 21.7 million veterans throughout the country.[4]
To find out about the size of California’s veteran population, we turned to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics (NCVAS), an online database maintained by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. According to the NCVAS, California’s veteran population in 2014—the most recent year for which data was available—was 1,851,470. This means that Harris had to round up to get 2 million, but she’s right when she says that California has “more than any other state.” The closest is Texas with 1,680,418.[4]
The table below shows the states with the largest veteran populations in the country. The interactive table beneath shows veteran populations for all 50 states.
| Top ten states with largest veteran populations in raw numbers | |
|---|---|
| State | Veterans |
| California | 1,851,470 |
| Texas | 1,680,418 |
| Florida | 1,583,697 |
| Pennsylvania | 939,069 |
| New York | 892,221 |
| Ohio | 866,481 |
| Virginia | 781,388 |
| North Carolina | 775,020 |
| Georgia | 752,882 |
| Illinois | 721,575 |
| Sources: National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, "Veteran Population" | |
Given the size of California’s total population (more than 38 million in 2014), the fact that its veteran population is so large makes sense. Most of the other states that top the list above—Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and New York—also have some of the largest total populations in the country. Because of this, we wondered how different things might look if we measured states' veteran populations by percentages of their total populations instead of by raw numbers. It turns out that this makes a significant difference. When measured by a percentage of the population, states like California and Texas rank near the bottom, while states like Alaska and Montana come in at the top. Veterans account for almost ten percent of the population for the latter two states.
It should be stressed that this does not invalidate Harris' statement. Rather, it underscores the point that statistics offer us multiple ways to measure and think about population data. Raw numbers present one perspective; percentage of population presents another.
The tables below show the states with the largest and smallest veteran populations as measured by percentages of the population. The interactive map further down gives data for every state. All data is based on 2014 estimates by NCVAS and the United States Census Bureau.
| Top five states: veterans as percentage of the total population | |
|---|---|
| State | Veterans |
| Alaska | 9.96 |
| Montana | 9.73 |
| Maine | 9.56 |
| Virginia | 9.38 |
| West Virginia | 9.04 |
| Bottom five states: veterans as percentage of the total population | |
| State | Veterans |
| New York | 4.51 |
| California | 4.77 |
| New Jersey | 4.79 |
| Utah | 5.15 |
| Illinois | 5.60 |
| Sources: National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, "Veteran Population" U.S. Census Bureau, "State Totals: Vintage 2014" | |
Conclusion
California Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris tweeted last week that California is home to two million veterans, a number that she pointed out is “more than any other state.” We found Harris to be correct on both accounts. In raw numbers, California is estimated to have more than 1.8 million veterans and roughly 170,000 more than Texas, home to the second largest veteran population in the country. We also noted that this picture changes significantly when states’ veteran populations are measured as percentages of their total populations. By this measure, California has the second smallest veteran population in the country, while Alaska has the largest.
Launched in October 2015 and active through October 2018, Fact Check by Ballotpedia examined claims made by elected officials, political appointees, and political candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. We evaluated claims made by politicians of all backgrounds and affiliations, subjecting them to the same objective and neutral examination process. As of 2025, Ballotpedia staff periodically review these articles to revaluate and reaffirm our conclusions. Please email us with questions, comments, or concerns about these articles. To learn more about fact-checking, click here.
Sources and Notes
- ↑ Kamala Harris Twitter Account, Post from December 23, 2015
- ↑ New York Times, "One Democrat Announces While Others Ponder a Race for the Senate in California," January 13, 2015
- ↑ U.S. Code, "Chapter 38, Part 1, Chapter 1 (1)," accessed December 28, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, "Veteran Population," accessed December 28, 2015
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