As a percentage of population, the Hinesville Metropolitan Statistical Area is the most military area in the United States, according to a study done by 24/7 Wall Street.
The list-compiling website that bills itself as a financial news and opinion company, published “America’s Military Cities” earlier this month, ranking the top 25 metropolitan areas based on their percentage of active-duty population. The Hinesville MSA, which includes Fort Stewart, ranked No. 1 at 23.9 percent, or 19,137 military personnel among the 79,977 population. Those are 2018 numbers.
That percentage is over 9 percent more than the second-place area, Manhattan, KS, where the Army personnel at Fort Riley make up an estimated 15.4 percent of the population.
The numbers do not include military dependents (26,510 or more than 33 percent in the Hinesville MSA) nor veterans (11,900 or 14.9 percent in Liberty and Long). The study also did not include civilians who work on post. There are 3,482 of them, according to the 2018 Fort Stewart Command Data Summary.
While noting that 24/7’s numbers were not entirely accurate, since they apparently included soldiers stationed on Fort Stewart’s Hunter Army Airfield, Liberty County Development Authority CEO Ron Tolley said the thrust of the story was true: That the military contributes socially and economically to the area, as well as supporting the geopolitical aims of the country.
“The Army contributes so much to our area,” Tolley said, “making it much more vibrant.”
With the estimated 4,000 on Hunter deducted from the Hinesville MSA number, the percentage (19 percent) would still be the highest among the cities listed.
The article, which used data compiled by Defense Department contractor Military OneSource, 24/7 said there are more than 1 million active-duty personnel with about 1.4 million dependents.
“While only 0.4 percent of the total U.S. population is in the military, in the cities on this list, active duty personnel account for anywhere from 2.5 percent to nearly 24 percent,” the article read.
It estimated that the Department of Defense spent $180 billion domestically in 2018. Fort Stewart’s 2018 Command Data Summary estimates the military spent $1.7 billion through Fort Stewart, noting that many of the categories used to compile that number were from 2013.
The area with the highest number of military personnel in the list was Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC, at 81,908. That however accounted for only 12 percent of that area’s 206,718 population.
Other communities in Georgia that made the list included Columbus with Fort Benning (6.6 percent) and Valdosta with Moody Air Force Base (3.1 percent).
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, SC, also made the list with Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot (5.1 percent).