Counting Illinois Veterans In 2025: By The Numbers And Eras

Tuesday of this week is Veterans Day 2025, which we observe each year on November 11th, honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. observation coincides with other holidays including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day which are celebrated in other countries.

For those who didn't know, November 11th was chosen because the fighting in World War I formally came to a close at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the armistice with Germany was officially recognized.

I think that most of us agree that all veterans deserve honor and respect regardless of how many there are, so just how many Illinois residents will we be honoring on Veterans Day 2025?

If You Want To Shake The Hand Of Every Man And Woman Veteran In The United States, You'll Be Extending That Handshake To About 16 Million Americans, Or Nearly 6 Percent Of The Adult Population

But I'm sure you're busy, and to do that would require a lot of state-to-state travel, so maybe instead of shaking hands with every vet in America, we should limit it to only Illinois veterans. How many do think that would be?

Enough that you'll be shaking hands for quite a while.

According to recent estimates from the Housing Assistance Council, Illinois has roughly 537,500 veterans. That’s about five percent of the adult population, a pretty sizable group that’s aging, evolving, and contributing in unique ways to the state.

Let's Take A Look At The Service Eras Of Illinois' Veterans

Here’s how Illinois' veterans are distributed across eras, with both percentages and approximate counts:

WWI: Since the world's last surviving WWI combat veteran died in 2011, neither Illinois or the world has any more WWI vets.

WWII: With about 15,000 WWII veterans remaining in Illinois, they make up 2.9% of Illinois veterans.

Korean Conflict: There are about 38,000 Korean War veterans in Illinois, or about 7.2% of Illinois' total veteran count.

Vietnam Era: Vietnam veterans make up the largest segment of Illinois' veteran population with 193,000 veterans, or 35.9% of all Illinois vets.

Gulf War I (1990-2001): There are around 100,000 vets from that era, making up 18.7% of Illinois veterans.

Iraq & Afghanistan (post‑9/11): Approximately 98,000 veterans, or 18.4% of the total.

Between Conflicts: Almost 130,000 vets served between official conflicts, or about 23.9% of all Illinois vets.

If We Look At National Numbers For Vets, Here's What We Get

Working off that number of 16 million living veterans in the US, here are some of the totals:

WWII: Less than one percent, with around 160,000 surviving vets

Korean War Era: Around 4 percent with roughly 650,000 veterans

Vietnam War Era: 4.9 million veterans is about 30 percent of all veterans nationally

Gulf War Era: 43 percent, or about 7 million veterans