How many veterans live in Texas?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas' population is home to a slightly larger percentage of veterans than the national figure, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey datasets.

The 2023 ACS 1-year estimates found an estimated 15.8 million veterans live in the United States out of a nearly 261 million civilian population ages 18 and older. From those figures, the 2023 ACS anticipated roughly 6.06% of American adults are classified as veterans.

Here in the Lone Star State, the state's 22.8 million civilian adult population includes nearly 1.4 million veterans — amounting to an estimated 6.11% of Texans ages 18 and older designated as veterans.

The majority of those Texas veterans served in the Gulf War after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with nearly 490,000 veterans, based on 2023 estimates. That number aligns with national veterans trends, with an estimated 4.4 million U.S. veterans having served in the armed forces since Sept. 11.

The number of U.S. and Texas veterans by service period is as follows:

• Gulf War (post-Sept. 11, 2001): 4.4 million Americans, including nearly 490,000 Texans
• Persian Gulf War (1990-2001): 3.9 million Americans, including 419,000 Texans
• Vietnam War (1964-1975): 5.2 million Americans, including 389,000 Texans
• Korean War (1950-1955): nearly 548,000 Americans, including nearly 35,000 Texans
• World War II (1941-1946): 91,000 Americans, including 5,800 Texans

The U.S. has commemorated Veterans Day each Nov. 11 since Nov. 11, 1919, then known as "Armistice Day." The holiday was created in recognition of the first anniversary of the end of World War I, per U.S. Census Bureau documents.

The United States Congress passed legislation nearly 100 years ago in 1926, classifying it as an annual observance. It formally became a U.S. holiday in 1938.