Veterans Day Volunteer Statistics (2026): Participation, Hours & Service Gaps
Veterans volunteer at nearly the same rate as civilians but log more hours. See the 2026 data on participation, hour value, and what it means for your screening.
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Veterans Day is a natural moment to recognize the people who serve in your programs after their military service ends. The newest federal-partnered survey data shows veterans volunteer at almost the same rate as civilians, but they give more time per person. That gap matters for church, senior-center, and nonprofit leaders who recruit veterans as mentors, drivers, and event staff. This report is part of our statistics hub, and it pulls together the most recent verifiable figures on veteran volunteering, hour value, and recruiting.
Key takeaways
Veterans and civilians volunteer at nearly the same rate
The headline participation finding is that the two groups look almost identical. Military Times reporting on the 2025 Veterans Civic Health Index found that veterans and civilians reported volunteering at similar rates, 27% and 28%. That is a narrower gap than earlier editions of the same index, which showed a bigger difference. The index was compiled by the National Conference on Citizenship with We the Veterans and Military Families, using Census Bureau data from the 2023 Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement.
Participation is only part of the story. The same index found that the gap in civic engagement has shrunk, and that both groups reported slight declines in civic involvement compared to earlier surveys. Researchers did not read this as veterans stepping back from leadership roles. Instead, the drop appeared across both groups.
Veterans give more hours per volunteer
Where veterans clearly stand out is time. The 2025 index reports that veterans volunteer 35 percent more hours per year than non-veterans, which the report links to roughly 220,000 full-time workers' worth of service. Among volunteers who gave time to local groups, veterans averaged 93 hours a year compared with 69 hours for non-veterans.
The national total is large. The same summary says veterans contribute nearly half a billion volunteer hours annually. That is a secondary summary, so treat it as directional and check the full index before quoting it in a grant.
How the hours gap has moved across report years
Earlier editions of the index give a longer view. Hour measures changed between editions, so the chart below is a directional trend, not a clean time series. In the 2017 edition, veterans logged 177 hours per year compared with 132 among non-veterans, based on 2015 data. The 2021 edition reported that veterans averaged 95 hours of volunteer work a year, compared to 74 hours for non-veterans, based on 2019 data.
Where veterans show up in the data: a comparison table
The table places each report's veteran and non-veteran figures side by side. Notice that the youngest veterans were the most regular volunteers in the 2021 edition, and that older veterans logged more hours than younger ones.
