What are the best Cities or States where retired military or veterans can get the best bang for their buck?

West coast of North Florida,NO TAXES on retiremnent income,cheap land,plenty of it..

Maine. AKA Vacationland. Veteran friendly.

All jokes aside, Portugal is a great place. Good climate, great food, and the cost of living is dirt cheap. Real easy to buy property and get into the way of things. I got a VN Vet friend living there. Also not far from his is a retired Marine Colonel.

I'm currently in Denver. I concur with other comments about States without income Tax. My Retirement (E6) and Disability (SSDI) cover basic needs, but not much more. Ideally I'd be in the Mountains, at the end of an easily blocked & defended road.

Central Florida (away from the resorts & theme parks in Orlando and Tampa). Retiree services and VA resources are plentiful; no income tax. Southern and Middle Georgia also present as easy places to live with a mild climate.

Joplin, Missouri has proved to be a great move! We were living in San Antonio, TX and while the city and state had a lot to offer, we wanted a smaller community where we could be engaged, involved and make a difference. We chose Joplin, MO because of the positive actions of the community after a terrible F5 tornado in 2011. We have since founded a non-profit to help veterans and serving military, Compass Quest Veteran Services (http://www.compassquest.org) and we have partnered with the City of Joplin and the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce to present Joplin as a destination community for transitioning military due to abundant jobs, affordable housing, low cost of living, great schools, great cultural activities and much more. We even have a website setup that we share with TAP offices - http://www.welcomehometojoplin.com.

I love where I live Raleigh NC. The bang for the buck has gone up but there are some lovely towns within 30 minutes that are very affordable 2 hours from the Beach and 2 hours from the Mountains excellent health care. We have a lot of half backers here now. (Those are the one that are from NY, NJ, and up north that move to Florida and miss the seasons They move half way back and we are blessed to have them).

I am from VA. and I love it here. We have all four seasons, the ocean on the east and mountains to the west. The downside is we are south of Washington D.C. and you know what they say about crap it runs down hill. Hahaha. We just have to fix the sewer there.

As far as getting more bang for your buck, i would have to say San Antonio, TX. It has a growing economy and the employment outlook is on the rise. Not to mention that TX has the best benefits for veterans. And a good cost of living.

My issue with the "best place to live" lists are they usually consider such a small slice of the pie. Income tax vs retirement tax, sales tax, property tax, fuel, electric, water, gas prices. Other costs of housing whether it be buying, renting, lot rent, whatever. Some places you pay a crazy amount each year based on the value of your car. I don't need great schools I need low cost to me for schools. What population base do you want, what weather. All that being said, three least desirable places to live: #1 North Korea, #2 Afghanistan, #3 Iraq, #4 Illinois.