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County data sources and method

How the Find a VSO directory uses public county facts.

Sources and vintages

Benefits pages link each program to its official source and checked date. Missing facts remain unavailable, never zero. Connecticut uses the nine Census planning regions; older VA county figures are not allocated to those regions.

Cleanup sites and housing counts

EPA and USACE site points are matched to Census 2024 county polygons. A site can extend beyond the county containing its point. Offshore points, points outside the directory and points without a unique county match are omitted. These are two specific federal inventories, not a complete list of every cleanup or former military site. A listing does not establish that you were exposed or that you qualify for a VA benefit.

EPA's current final, proposed and deleted site tables supply the federal-facility flag and status. New sites missing from EPA's map layer use the coordinates in those tables. The USACE FY2024 property data does not identify military branch; the managing USACE district is not a military branch.

HUD counts describe one night in January 2024. Each county uses the CoC containing its area-weighted Census polygon centroid. When the centroid does not select a single CoC, the page uses the CoC with the largest measured overlap. The USGS public geometry service calculates those intersections and areas. Overlaps below 1 percent of county area are treated as boundary slivers, not reliable matches. Those pages show counts as unavailable. A partially covered county is labeled when its selected overlap covers less than half its area. Longitudes are unwrapped for counties crossing the date line. A county can contain multiple CoCs, and a CoC can cover multiple counties. These totals are not county totals and must not be added across county pages. Balance of State CoCs are statewide areas outside separate local CoCs. The 2019 comparison retains HUD's historical series, follows the CoC Mergers sheet and adds predecessor rows when present. Mergers after 2019 are labeled, including where HUD already reports the successor code in its 2019 sheet. Point-in-time counts can miss people and do not measure annual homelessness.

National Call Center for Homeless Veterans (opens in a new tab) and Veterans Crisis Line (opens in a new tab): contact instructions checked on October 2, 2026.

Survey estimates and comparisons

ACS 2020-2024 margins of error use a 90 percent confidence level. Estimates and margins are rounded for reading. A coefficient of variation above 30 percent is marked as rough and excluded from comparisons. State and national estimates come from Census summary levels 040 and 010, not sums of counties. Equal rounded shares do not establish statistical equality; comparisons do not test statistical significance.

Rating shares use all civilian veterans as the denominator. Age shares combine male and female B21001 counts in each age band. Women veterans use the female total. Age-count margins combine by root-sum-of-squares; percentage margins use the ACS subset formula, with the sum formula when subtraction gives a negative squared margin. Missing margins prevent comparison.

Population ranks order county and equivalent ACS point estimates within each state. Equal counts share a rank; missing counts reduce the comparison group. A rough county total is not ranked. Survey uncertainty can change the order. Service-era counts keep the original, mutually exclusive B21002 categories, including multi-era groups.

Offices and distances

Distances are measured in a straight line from the center of the county, using the Census internal point. They are not driving distances or travel times. The first and second medical centers and Vet Centers use distinct facility IDs from the cached VA sandbox response, dated 2026-09-25. This cache may differ from current VA listings. Confirm locations and services with VA before traveling.

Regional office candidates describe state locations, not verified county claims jurisdiction. Office matches use county names; a blank office county is matched only where at least 80 percent of its ZIP area falls in one county. County adjacency uses shared boundaries; nearest-county links use internal-point distances.

VA spending

VA GDX FY2025 figures are county totals for one fiscal year, not individual benefit amounts. They do not establish what a veteran receives or could qualify for.

Local summary paragraphs

The summary paragraph was drafted by AI from the facts on this page and checked automatically against them.

This disclosure applies where a local summary is shown. Checks reject unsupported numbers, names and prohibited claims, but are not a human fact check. A missing, invalid or stale summary is omitted. The facts and office details remain available without a summary.

Additional county facts

VA disability compensation counts use FY2025 and FY2019 county FIPS codes exactly as published. Rating groups and totals can differ because of suppressed cells. Blank cells stay not published. The change compares published totals for the same county code; VA counts are never divided by Census estimates.

Additional ACS figures use the same 2020-2024 five-year release. B21004 provides median income for civilians age 18 and over with income, in 2024 dollars. C21007 poverty and disability shares use civilian veterans age 18 and over whose poverty status is determined. Disability here measures daily functioning, not service connection. B21005 employment shares use civilian veterans ages 18 to 64; unemployment uses only those in the labor force. B21003 education shares use civilian veterans age 25 and over. Disjoint age cells and their margins combine before shares are calculated. The survey uncertainty rules below apply to each figure.

Census Gazetteer 2024 internal points are matched to Census 2024 county polygons. Incorporated places and census-designated places use ACS B01003 whole-place population and margins, not the portion within the county. A place may cross county boundaries. Points without one matching county are omitted; places without published population retain that gap.

HMDA 2025 counts cover originated loans reported by participating lenders, loan types 1 through 4 and action 1. Type 3 is VA. The VA share uses the same-year HMDA total. Average VA loan amount is reported amount sum divided by VA loan count, rounded to a dollar; HMDA source amounts have disclosure rounding. A missing VA category or county response stays unavailable. Counties absent from HMDA’s county list are not assigned zero loans. FHFA 2026 one-unit limits are a separate-year figure and are not used to calculate 2025 loan shares.

VetPop2023 projections sum eight published age-and-sex cells at September 30, 2026, and September 30, 2035. VA directs reporting county figures to the nearest 1,000. Counties with fewer than 1,000 veterans in the unrounded 2026 projection show direction only. These are projections, not observed population counts.

NTCRC court counts are dated December 31, 2025. Zero and missing counts are omitted. Each court sets its own eligibility rules. The VA FY2026 SSVF intake list supplies provider organizations and intake phones. County names must match uniquely within a state; old county boundaries and unresolved names are not allocated to new counties. Staff names and direct staff contacts are not published. State Veterans Homes use the county and city in VA’s FY2025 per diem list, dated September 2024. Unnamed and unmatched homes are omitted.

VA new-patient wait days come from the public facility response for the medical center and clinic already named on each county page. Each service retains VA’s effective date. These figures do not promise a particular appointment date. Patient satisfaction scores are omitted because the public measurement wording was not confirmed.

Cemetery candidates cover the 50 states and District of Columbia. The national cemetery comparison includes only NCA entries marked Open; cremation-only and closed national cemeteries are not candidates. State and tribal listings retain their published burial status, including any restrictions. Coordinates come from VA facility records, NCA directions, or a unique Census address match with matching state, ZIP and street number. Distances are straight lines from Census county internal points, not travel distances. An annex is consolidated with its main cemetery when both are open; its main facility point supplies the distance. The NCA lists were updated August 6, 2026, and checked October 2, 2026.

VA-named site accounts are paired with official installation or government county evidence. A county entry identifies the named location, not the extent of any contamination. Approximate power-line plots and unconfirmed locations are omitted. Project 112 and SHAD headquarters are distinguished from test locations. A listing does not establish personal exposure or benefit eligibility.