Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients play a large role in rural communities, where their economic contributions are helping rural towns get back on their feet from years of slow eco-nomic growth. In rural America, these estimated tens of thousands of young people are part of the answer to building sustainable economies in small towns across the country.

Although the U.S. economy overall continues its expansion following the Great Recession and associated financial crisis, the recovery can look very different from state to state. The lion’s share of economic gains are not only concentrated at the top of the income and wealth distribution, but also in a small share of regions. While some parts of the country have surged ahead, millions of Americans in urban and rural communities are still waiting for their wages to start rising again and struggling to make ends meet.

While the transition back into civilian life can be difficult for some, the economic state of the veteran community is on an upward trend. Overall, the nation’s 20.5 million veterans earn more, experience lower unemployment, are more likely to have health insurance, and less likely to live in poverty than their non-veteran peers. In this fact sheet we will dive a little deeper into the current economic state of our veterans community.

The report, “The Need to Rebuild Smarter,” cites that the average cost of national disasters have more than tripled since 1980. Furthermore, climate change poses an increasing threat to communities in the United States, with populations at risk to hurricanes growing 22 percent faster than the overall population from 2001-2010.