Factsheets

According to the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey (ACS), in 2021 6.4% of the population aged 18 and over were veterans of the U.S. military. Of those veterans, 24.6% served September 2001 or later, 23.8% served between August 1990 and September 2001, 34.2% are veterans of the Vietnam War era, 4.9% were veterans of the Korean War era, and 1.1% were veterans of World War II. Ten percent of veterans were female. White non-Hispanic people were the most represented racial/ethnic group among veterans at 73%, compared to 12.3% Black or African American, 8.2% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 7.4% reporting two or more races, and 2.7% reporting a race/ethnicity not listed. For individuals aged 25 or over, 31.3% of veterans held a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 35.3% of nonveterans.

Unless otherwise noted, enrollment data in this section come from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS), academic year 2015-16.

• 4.9% of undergraduates were veterans.
  • 3.4% of public 4-year, 3.7% of private nonprofit 4-year, 5.3% of public 2-year, and 9.2% of for-profit institution enrollments were veterans.
• Veteran students were twice as likely to attend for-profit institutions and slightly more likely to attend public 2-year institutions than the national average.
  • 16.6% of veterans attended for-profit institutions, compared to 8.8% of all students
  • 38.3% attended public 2-year institutions, compared to 35.3% of all students
• 5.1% of students enrolled at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) were veterans, while 4.7% of students enrolled at non-MSIs were veterans.
  • While 1% of veteran students enrolled at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), a similar rate as nonveterans, 20.1% of veterans attended Black-serving nonHBCU institutions compared to 11.2% of nonveteran students.
• 57% of veteran students were aged 30 or older, compared to 21% of non-veteran students.
• 7.4% of Native American, 5.7% of students reporting more than one race, 5.6% of Black, 5.4% of white, 5.4% of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 3.7% of Hispanic or Latino, and 1.8%% of Asian students were veterans.