Five Things to Know on Veterans Day

Thanks to all the veterans who have served our country! will host a free Veterans' Day Service at 10 a.m. today. Tarpon Springs is honoring military veterans with a  at 11 a.m. today, and there will also be a at 9 a.m. 

Banks, government offices and libraries in Palm Harbor will be closed in observance of Veterans Day. Garbage collection will continue as scheduled.

When you thank a veteran today, here are some facts to keep in mind about their role in shaping the United States:

1. Veteran voters

• 15.8 million veterans voted in the 2008 presidential election. That’s 71 percent of veterans. Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008
• 12.4 million veterans, or 57 percent, voted in the 2010 congressional election. Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2010

2. Veterans in the workforce

• There were 9.6 million veterans ages 18 to 64 in the workforce in 2010.  
• The average income of a veteran is $35,367 based on 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars, compared to $25,605 for the population as a whole.

3. Veterans in Florida

• There are 1.6 million veterans in Florida. Florida is one of three states that is home to more than 1 million veterans. The others are California (2 million) and Texas (1.6 million). 
• In 2010, there were 21.8 million veterans in the United States; 1.6 million of those were female. 

4. Veterans with disabilities

• There are 3.4 million veterans who were injured during service. Of those, 698,000 are at least 70 percent disabled. 

5. Veterans and education

• In 2010, 26 percent of veterans 25 and older had at least a bachelor's degree.

This information was provided by the U.S. Census and 2010 American Community Survey.