Colorado ranks near bottom of list for best states for veterans

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Colorado ranks 42^nd among the 50 states in terms of how it treats veterans. SmileHub released two reports Tuesday on the Best Charities for veterans and the states that care most about veterans.

“To highlight the states that care the most about veterans and the ones that need to improve the most, SmileHub compared each of the 50 states using 21 key metrics,” according to a news release. “The data set ranges from the share of veteran-owned businesses to total VA spending per veteran to the share of homeless veterans.”

While Colorado ranked 42^nd overall among veteran-friendly states, it finished:

• 25th – Share of veterans
• 35th – Veteran charities per capita
• 30th – Share of veteran-owned businesses
• 19th – Veteran unemployment rate
• 44th – Share of homeless veterans
• 35th – Cost of living

Best charities for veterans

Among the best charities for veterans, the top finishers were Pennsylvania Wounded Warriors, Operation Coming Home Foundation, Minnesota American Legion Foundation and Honor Flight Austin.

The report on the most friendly states for veterans showed the top five states included Virginia, Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Rounding out the bottom five were Idaho, Vermont, Delaware, Nevada, and Connecticut.

“Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. News & World Report, Internal Revenue Service, Veteran Voices Military Research, Office of Policy Development and Research, National Drug Court Resource Center, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Conference of State Legislatures, VA Claims Insider, Military Officers Association of America and Council for Community and Economic Research,” according to the report.