TEXAS VETERANS
An Analysis of Veterans Who Reside in Texas
MIKALA EVERETT | INFO 658 | SPRING 2026
BACKGROUND
Veterans are a sect of the population that previously served on active duty in the United States (U.S.) armed forces and were civilians at the time of survey (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025a). The veteran population is not evenly distributed across the nation. 2023 ACS data indicate that the South has the largest population of veterans in 2023.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans in the United States experience distinct educational, employment, and disability trends shaped by military service, economic transition, and access to public benefits. VA demographic reports indicate substantial variation in employment and disability outcomes across age, race, and service era groups. These findings informed the decision to examine veteran outcomes specifically within Texas, a state with one of the nation’s largest veteran populations. Understanding their demographic composition, geographic distribution, educational background, labor market participation, and disability prevalence is essential for workforce planning, public policy, and service design.
This project builds on existing federal and state reporting by exploring how demographic factors relate to employment and disability outcomes among Texas veterans using 2024 IPUMS American Community (ACS) microdata to examine veterans at a state level. The central research question is:
How do Texas veterans differ from nonveterans in geography, education, employment, earnings, and disability status?
H0: Texas veterans do not differ from nonveterans in geography, education, employment, earnings, and disability status
HA: Texas veterans differ from nonveterans in geography, education, employment, earnings, and disability status
METHODOLOGY
Data Sources and Materials
This project uses:
- IPUMS USA 2024 ACS Microdata
- Texas Geographic Identifiers
- Survey Weights for population estimation
- R statistical software for data cleaning and manipulation
- Figma and Flourish for visualization design and narrative layout
- Github for code documentation and reproducibility
Data Processing Workflow
- Filtering dataset to Texas residents
- Identifying veterans using veteran-status variables
- Applying ACS person-level weights for representative estimates
- Calculating descriptive statistics comparing veterans and nonveterans
- Ran a Poisson Regression Model to see if there are predictors for where veterans live
- Generating grouped summaries by:
- Age
- Education
- Industry
- Occupation
- Disability Status
- Earnings
- Visualization choices:
- I wanted to create interactive charts that showed proportional relationships in most of my graphics since I was comparing two different groups of people. I did some research and came across Flourish which is a web app that allows you to create interactive charts that can be embedded in your projects. I also wanted the visuals to speak to each other in a cohesive way so that users can feel a thematic element as they progress through the project without feeling overwhelmed.
- Grouped bar charts and proportional visual encodings were selected because they support easier comparison between categorical groups. I used consistent typography and color palette choices to reduce cognitive load and maintain narrative continuity across sections.
WHERE VETERANS LIVE
VETERANS EDUCATION
Educational Attainment
Veterans show strong post secondary educational attainment. Higher rates of some college or associate degrees compared to nonveterans.
Geographic Distribution
Veterans in Texas are distributed statewide but are concentrated in metropolitan counties and near bases. Veteran populations mostly align with large population centers. These results were also apparent from poisson regression modeling.
WHERE VETERANS WORK
Veterans are active across private and public sectors. Representation is strong in construction, public safety, healthcare, education and technical occupations.
Demographic Structure
The Veteran population differs significantly from nonveterans in age. Veterans are older on average and most are 55 and older.
Quality of Life
Disability Rating
Although certain disabilities are more common among veterans. Most veterans report no disability rating.
Disability Prevalence
Disability is more common among veterans than nonveterans. Veterans report higher rates of ambulatory and hearing difficulty. Service-connected disability rating show substantial variation
Reflections
While the Texas Workforce Commission report emphasized statewide employment trends, this analysis further highlights how educational attainment intersects with veteran employment outcomes at the individual level. I’ve learned through this project that large-scale survey data requires careful weighting and interpretation to appropriately assess metrics. Demographic structure has to be considered before drawing labor conclusions and future policy implications should emerge naturally from the data rather than being imposed.
This project could be expanded in several ways:
- Conducting additional predictive modeling of earning predictors and labor force participation
- More intersectional analysis of education, disability, and gender
- Regional analysis across counties
- Multi-year trend comparison
Conclusion
This project provides a comprehensive analysis of Texas veterans across demographic, educational, labor, geographic, and disability dimensions. The findings demonstrate that veterans in Texas are geographically widespread, older than nonveterans, have strong educational attainment, participate actively in the workforce and work across diverse industries and occupations. Veterans represent both an experienced workforce and a population with evolving service needs.
References
- US Department of Veteran Affairs - Texas
- Veterans in Texas: A Demographic Study
- IPUMS UCS ACS DATA
- United States Census Bureau