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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Demographics of NYC veterans
0:08:14
ยท
4 min
Commissioner Hendon provides detailed statistics on the demographics of veterans in New York City, highlighting the challenges in accurately counting the veteran population.
- Estimated 129,311 to 200,000+ veterans in NYC
- Breakdown of veteran demographics by race, gender, and age
- Discussion of the undercounting issue in census data
- Explanation of DVS's efforts to improve veteran identification and data collection
James Hendon
0:08:14
And starting with demographics, the 2023 ACS '5 year estimate holds that 129,311 veterans live in New York City.
0:08:23
Twenty nine percent are African American, twenty two point three percent are Hispanic or Latino, five point five percent are Asian, point 7% are American Indian or Alaska native, and point 1% are Pacific Islander.
0:08:35
Approximately 41.2% of New York City's Veterans are As is New York City, Veterans are a majority minority community here.
0:08:44
Women comprised 10.2% of all New York City Veterans in 2023.
0:08:48
This is notable because the same data point ten years ago in 2015 put our female veteran population at 6.9.
0:08:55
Taking year over year from 2016 to 2023 our women veteran population has increased by an average of point 8% per year.
0:09:02
It's greater than projected national growth rate for female veterans according to the VA of point 3% per year.
0:09:09
In terms of age, approximately 29.3% of our population is younger than 59 55 years old, while 70.7% is 55 or older.
0:09:18
Our largest cohort is the 75 and older group which comprise 31.8% of all New York City Veterans.
0:09:26
Something not captured in the Census Bureau's data, according to the Department of Defense, approximately 200,000 service members transition from active duty service each year.
0:09:34
Of that group, 10,000 transitioned to New York State.
0:09:37
Out of those who transitioned to New York State, five thousand transitioned to New York City.
0:09:41
Many transitioned here for school using the post nine eleven GI Bill and Voc Rehab benefits.
0:09:47
After obtaining their education, a majority of them do not stay.
0:09:50
Recognizing that half of all veterans settled down in the place where they're not originally from, it's important to inspire these veterans to live, learn, and work in New York.
0:09:58
One other thing, the most important thing about the census data, it significantly undercounts veterans.
0:10:04
The Census Bureau defines a veteran as a person who served on active duty status at some point in their life and no longer serves.
0:10:10
If you're currently serving in the military, active duty guard reserve, and you live in New York City, you are not captured in census data.
0:10:17
I, a drilling US army reservist, am not captured in Census Bureau data.
0:10:22
Even more critically, if you're a veteran of the guard or reserve who never deployed on federal orders, title 10 orders for the guard or being placed on orders that were not for drill or training in the reserve, then you're not included in the Census Bureau's information.
0:10:34
Roughly 40% of all US Military Service Members are guardsmen or reservists, many are not captured by the Census Bureau according to this definition.
0:10:42
Because the census data is so flawed, as a starting point when discussing the size of New York City's Veteran community.
0:10:48
We use a number of veterans that the VA estimates are eligible for VA health care in the five boroughs, 150 2,409, one five two four zero nine.
0:10:57
This comes from the VA's f y twenty three geographic distribution of veteran expenditure report.
0:11:02
For the most part, VA health care eligibility is limited to honorably discharged veterans who've served for twenty four continuous months on active duty or guardsmen or for guardsman reservists, those who've completed an entire federal non training deployment.
0:11:16
The VA data too does not account for all veterans.
0:11:18
That said, adding the number of active duty, guardsmen, reservists in New York City, Thirteen Thousand One Hundred Twenty One in f y twenty three per the defense department, to the number of veterans whom we believe are not eligible VA health care brings us to an estimated size that is approximately 200,000.
0:11:33
We cannot provide an exact number because the x factors are how many Guard and Reserve veterans who have never deployed live in New York City, how many New York City Veterans have a less than honorable discharge, also how many active duty veterans who have served for less than two years live in NYC.
0:11:48
New York City's definition of a veteran is the most permissive in the country.
0:11:51
We recognize you as a veteran regardless of how long you've served, your component of service called reserve active duty, and your character of discharge.
0:11:58
That said ascertaining the size of our city's veteran community is difficult, all we know for certain is that the federal numbers are under counts.
0:12:05
I personally believe that New York City's Veteran community is at least 230,000 members strong.
0:12:10
The Department of Veterans Services currently has contact information for approximately 190,000 New York City veterans out of a database containing 530,000 contacts.
0:12:19
We had contact info for less than 500 for less than 5,000 New York City veterans in 2019.
0:12:25
We have contact information for 190,000 now.
0:12:27
We're actively working to get a handle on this issue and our people, we recognize the policy implications.