Today the Military Family Research Institute (MFRI) at Purdue University released its latest report exploring recent trends among military and veteran families across the United States. The report, titled Measuring Our Communities: The State of Military and Veteran Families in the United States, is aimed at professionals who serve and support military-connected families across the country. This report marks the conclusion of our new three‑year reporting cycle and offers a comprehensive analysis of emerging trends across all 10 Measuring Communities domains.
Key findings from the report include:
- Veteran Demographic Subgroups Shift: While the overall veteran population is declining, certain subgroups are expanding, including women, racial and ethnic minority groups, and service members who have never been married.
- Military Spouse Unemployment Remains a Challenge: Military spouses have entered the workforce at higher numbers in recent years, but the unemployment rate for this group has remained high.
- Service Members and Veterans by Health Insurance: Approximately 10% of selected reserve service members report no health insurance, a consistent pattern since at least 2019.
- Military-Connected Kids: Approximately 6.2 million children live in a household headed by a veteran, and about 75% of these children are aged 6-18.
- Veteran Treatment Courts (VTCs): VTCs may be an influencing factor in the declining number of incarcerated veterans; however, it is difficult to track the overall number of VTCs and access to VTCs varies widely depending on location.
“This report offers a comprehensive look at the well-being of military-connected families across the nation,” said Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, MFRI director and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science in Purdue’s College of Health and Human Services. “We hope business and nonprofit leaders, policy makers, community organizations and service providers will use these insights to inform programs and policies that better support the unique needs of military service members, veterans and their families.”
The launch event highlighted key trends and findings from the report, and included presentations by partner organizations. The National Military Family Association shared potential policy implications of key findings from the report. This year’s Data Champions, the Arizona Coalition for Military Families and the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, shared how data from Measuring Communities has helped them design supports and other initiatives for military-connected families in their communities.
Also during the event, MFRI launched the application for the next cohort of Data Champions. MFRI’s Measuring Communities team works with the Data Champions to create a data profile about the Champion’s community. Together, MFRI and the Data Champion explore how data can be used to transform support for military-connected families in the Champion’s area. The Data Champions application is open to anyone who works with the military-connected population; the last day to apply is August 1. The application for the Evaluation Champions program was also announced.
A full recording of the event can be found on MFRI’s YouTube channel.
Measuring Our Communities: The State of Military and Veteran Families in the United States is now available for download at https://go.purdue.edu/2026-mc-report.
About Measuring Communities
Measuring Communities is a free, online data tool that allows professionals to learn about the current needs of military and veteran families, as well as how military-connected communities are changing over time. Data from more than 30 government and non-profit sources across the country are combined in the site to provide users with robust metrics all the way down to the county level to assist them with important policy, programming and funding decisions.
For more details about how to access the online data portal, which is free and open to the public, contact Katie Walter, MFRI senior community outreach specialist, at schmit59@purdue.edu.