The share of U.S. veterans with service-connected disabilities increased from 15% in 2008 to about 30% in 2022, according to a new report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The report, Trends in Veteran Disability Status and Service-Connected Disability: 2008–2022, investigates disability among veterans of the U.S. armed forces and how they compared to the broader nonveteran population. It focuses on disability rates among Post-9/11 veterans, those who have served since September 2001. Post-9/11 veterans are the nation’s youngest cohort of veterans and have been at the forefront of recent veteran public health research.
Other highlights:
- The share of veterans with neither a service-connected disability nor another type of disability defined by the American Community Survey (ACS) decreased from 65% in 2008 to about 52% in 2022.
- After accounting for the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of veterans, the chance of Post-9/11 veterans having a service-connected disability increased from about 18% in 2008 to 31% in 2022.
- In 2022, Post-9/11 veterans were more likely to have a cognitive disability (8.9%) than other veterans (4.8%) or nonveterans (3.8%) after accounting for the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of these groups.
- Post-9/11 veterans in 2022 were more likely to report a high service-connected disability rating. Those with a service-connected disability had a 50% chance of reporting a high service-connected disability rating (70% or greater), up from 27% in 2008.
This report is based on 2008-2019 and 2021-2022 ACS 1-year estimates. The Census Bureau did not release its standard 2020 ACS data due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, so data from 2020 were not included in this analysis.