Pay, benefits make military towns affluent

[unhappycamper]

Construction workers frame up office space in Belcamp, Md., in February 2009 that was intended to be used by firms relocating to the area due to BRAC. Military communities are being aided by rapidly rising pay and benefits in the armed forces.


Pay, benefits make military towns affluent
By Dennis Cauchon - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Aug 17, 2010 21:03:47 EDT

Rapidly rising pay and benefits in the armed forces have lifted many military towns into the ranks of the nation's most affluent communities, a USA Today analysis finds.

The hometown of the Marines' Camp Lejeune — Jacksonville, N.C. — soared to the nation's 32nd-highest income per person in 2009 among the 366 U.S. metropolitan areas, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. In 2000, it had ranked 287th.

The Jacksonville metropolitan area, with a population of 173,064, had the top income per person of any North Carolina community in 2009. In 2000, it ranked 13th of 14 metro areas in the state.

The USA Today analysis finds that 16 of the 20 metro areas rising the fastest in the per-capita income rankings since 2000 had military bases or one nearby. Other examples:

• Manhattan, Kan., home of the Army's Fort Riley, is the state's most affluent metro area. In 2000, it was the poorest of the state's six metros.