U.S. cities near military bases have large concentrations of military veterans among their populations, with Hampton, Va., having the highest, according to an analysis of Census 2000 data released today by the Census Bureau. Nearly 3-in-10 Hampton civilians once served in uniform..

    San Francisco (7 percent), Pasadena, Calif., (4.7 percent) and Los Angeles (3.8 percent) rounded out the top four in percentage of $1 million homes among cities of 100,000 population or more. The next six cities were in the neighborhood of 3 percent (see Table 1).

    The report, Veterans: 2000 [PDF], said places with the greatest concentrations of Gulf War veterans matched the list of places with the greatest concentration of veterans in general.

     The latest census found the total number of veterans decreasing by 1.1 million to 26.4 million, but the number of women veterans increasing by approximately 500,000 to 1.6 million.

     Vietnam veterans accounted for the largest share of all veterans in 2000 at 3-in-10. The next largest share, 2-in-10, served during World War II.

     The report classified veterans' periods of service in four eras: World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Gulf War period of August 1990 or later.

     Other highlights:

• In Alaska, 17 percent of the population were veterans the highest proportion of any state. Veterans accounted for about 16 percent of the adult population in Montana, Nevada, Wyoming and Maine.
• The state with the fastest growing veteran population was Nevada, which saw an increase of 31 percent during the 1990s. Increases of 10 percent or more were recorded in Arizona, Idaho, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Utah.
• Between 1990 and 2000, the number of veterans decreased in every region except the South, where they increased from 9.3 million to 9.9 million.
• The highest concentrations of Korean War and World War II veterans tended to be in retirement areas of Florida, Arizona or California, as well as other places with warm climates.
• In the most recent period of service (August 1990 or later), women accounted for nearly 16 percent of all veterans. Women made up about 4 percent of World War II veterans and 2 percent of Korean War veterans.
• Overall, the number of vets dropped by more than 2 million during the last 20 years of the 20th century, with the decrease almost exclusively among male veterans of the Korean War, World War II and World War I.
• Poverty rates were low among veterans for every period of service. Overall, 5.6 percent of veterans lived in poverty, compared with 10.9 percent of the adult population in general.
• Almost 3-in-10 veterans had disabilities.

     The data are based on the sample of households who responded to the census long form. Nationally, about 1-in-6 housing units were included. Estimates in the report are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.

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10 Cities with Highest Percentage of Veterans

Place	Number of veterans	Percent veterans
Hampton, Va.	28,312	27.1
Clarksville, Tenn.	15,319	24.4
Fayetteville, N.C.	19,060	23.7
Virginia Beach, Va.	60,260	21.7
Colorado Springs, Colo.	51,609	20.2
Norfolk, Va.	30,068	19.9
Newport News, Va.	24,021	19.9
Columbus, Ga.	24,984	19.6
Chesapeake, Va.	25,621	18.9
Portsmouth, Va.	12,955	18.4