Salt Lake City area ranks among top 10 best places for veterans to live

Katie McKellar

The Salt Lake City-Murray area is among the nation’s top 10 places to live for veterans, according to a new ranking. 

The list released last week by Veterans United Home Loans — a mortgage lender for current and former military members — ranked the top metro areas for veterans, service members and military families based on a variety of factors, including quality of life, opportunities for affordable living, jobs, quality healthcare access, veteran support networks and proximity to major military installations. 

The Salt Lake City-Murray metro area ranked as the ninth best place to live for veterans and service members. Even though Salt Lake City has high housing costs compared to other areas across the nation, the metro scored high due to other factors including economic opportunity, outdoor lifestyle and overall quality of life. 

“With standout healthcare access, a growing job market and quick access to skiing, hiking and mountain recreation, Salt Lake City offers a compelling mix of opportunity and lifestyle,” the lender wrote in an article about the ranking. “Veterans can take advantage of nearby outdoor destinations like Big Cottonwood Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Park City and the Great Salt Lake, while still having access to city amenities such as Temple Square, local breweries, performing arts venues and a growing downtown.”

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Here’s how the top 10 metros for veterans ranked: 

1. Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Northfolk area in Virginia and North Carolina
2. San Antonio-New Braunfels in Texas
3. Jacksonville in Florida
4. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin in Tennessee
5. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater in Florida
6. Oklahoma City 
7. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos in Texas
8. St. Louis metro area spanning Missouri and Illinois
9. Salt Lake City-Murray in Utah
10. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington in Texas

The home lender estimated that the Salt Lake City-Murray metro area has nearly 38,000 veterans, which is a smaller veteran population than other cities that ranked in the top 10, “but it performs especially well in healthcare access and infrastructure.” 

The Salt Lake City-Murray area ranked No. 1 in healthcare and facilities scores, with a high number of physicians per capita and a high concentration of Veterans Affairs facilities compared to its veteran population. 

The VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System includes the George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City and 10 community-based outpatient clinics spanning the state and into Idaho and Nevada. 

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Though “affordability is a challenge” for housing in the Salt Lake City area, the ranking said — with a median home price of $565,500 — the ranking noted that Utah also offers property tax relief options for eligible disabled veterans and some tax relief on military retirement income, though the state’s tax benefits aren’t as robust as other states with no income tax. 

Other factors like a strong economy, job market and its concentration of VA facilities helped Salt Lake City break the top 10. 

“Salt Lake City offers a lifestyle that’s hard to match, especially for those transitioning into civilian life,” Coral Alkashif, a real estate agent with Black Diamond Realty, said in a prepared statement included in the ranking. “The economy is strong, with growing job opportunities, major employers and continued development driven by tourism and infrastructure.”

The Veterans United Home Loans analyzed 23 different factors and surveyed 200 veterans to develop its ranking, according to its methodology. The lender then scored 605 metro areas across all 50 states based on those factors, with an extra consideration on veteran resources and financial factors like cost of living. 

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Courtesy of Utah News Dispatch