Where can veterans find top-tier jobs? These 10 U.S. cities say: 'Welcome!'

After a dozen years in the U.S. Air Force, contracts specialist Derek Sampson was ready to try civilian life. He was stationed in Las Vegas at the time, and he'd grown up in Georgia. But when he asked his Air Force friends in 2017 about the best destination for someone like him, everyone kept suggesting a fresh option.

Try Huntsville, Ala. 

Sampson did so, and he hasn’t regretted a minute of it. Living costs are low, and the people are friendly. Most important, as a newcomer to a city packed with defense contractors, he’s finding his military expertise is hugely valuable.

Just a few weeks after arriving, Sampson landed his first civilian job as an acquisition analyst, earning nearly double his final military rate of $46,000 a year. Now he’s in a new job as a technical writer with a major consulting firm, Guidehouse, that pays even more. 

As the chart below shows, the U.S. opportunity map for veterans looks strikingly different than what civilians see. A nationwide analysis of LinkedIn data shows that metro areas with strong existing military presences -- such as Norfolk, Va., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Huntsville -- are filling senior-level jobs with veterans at as much as six times the rates one might expect, compared against a peer group of non-veterans. 

The LinkedIn analysis focuses on senior-level jobs, such as senior director of communications and vice president of sales. Many of these are managerial or reflect advanced education or credentials. 

On the top metros list, Norfolk, Hawaii and Jacksonville, Fla., have big Navy facilities nearby. Meanwhile, Colorado Springs, Tucson, Dayton and Las Vegas benefit from big Air Force presences. Huntsville and San Antonio are Army-strong, and the Washington, D.C. area, of course, has the Pentagon as well as major bases for all branches.

What's important to note is that the economic development of these 10 metro areas means that they offer civilian opportunities ranging far beyond serving the needs of nearby military facilities. In the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area, for example, Navy veteran Paul Farley has made a mark in fields as diverse as health-care sales, tech support and network engineering, without ever needing to relocate. 

Mentioning his own Navy experience is a good way to build rapport with potential new clients, Farley says. With many of them having served in the Navy or other military branches, too, he explains, “It gives me a little more credibility. It’s almost like a brotherhood.”

 LinkedIn’s analysis highlights three industry clusters where veterans are especially likely to thrive. The first involves fields such as transportation, construction and logistics, where the ability to get timely work done in an orderly way never goes out of style. Also prominent are fields such as law enforcement, security, investigations and public safety. 

The final cluster is tech-centric, led by fields such as information technology, computer networking and telecommunications. 

In her book “Success After Service,” personal branding coach Lida Citroen writes: “From consulting, to management, to skilled labor, to executive leadership, veterans are well poised to translate many of their experiences from the military into their civilian pursuits.” 

Huntsville’s Derek Sampson is a case in point. His civilian work now stretches beyond his service-honed expertise in the way Air Force contracts are written. But the same principles -- and his willingness to learn new playbooks -- make him effective in documentation and contracting projects that stretch from construction to Army procurement.

All the same, LinkedIn's analysis shows a wide range of other industries -- and metro areas -- where veterans are scarce. One dry zone involves fields such as animation, market research, computer games and graphic design. It’s rare to find veterans in most aspects of the money trade, too, such as capital markets, fundraising, investment banking or philanthropy.

These gaps helps explain why veterans are severely under-represented among senior positions in the giant cities where creative and financial jobs abound. Those metros include New York (0.4x), San Francisco (0.5x) and Chicago (0.5x). 

There’s plenty of room for debate about whether the big geographic peaks and valleys of veterans’ job locations reflect strong affinity choices -- or unwelcome barriers that make it hard to break into an unfamiliar destination.

Each veteran’s answer may be different. Many want access to the full sweep of U.S. opportunities. Others appreciate the security of a familiar setting. Working in coastal Virginia, Farley says, “I enjoy going to the beach and hearing the jets roar by overhead. It feels like home.”  

Methodology 

Only LinkedIn members holding bachelor’s degrees or higher are included in this analysis. Veterans are identified using military organizations and educational institutions listed on their public profiles. Non-veteran cohorts are adjusted to represent gender parity with veteran cohorts. All regional data is inferred from the member's public position and industry data is derived from the member's company. "Senior" roles were identified using standardized titles and include manager-level through C-suite positions.

(LinkedIn data scientist Michael Lombard, as well as Insights analysts Dana Hagist and Mark Corey, contributed to this article.)

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