How many veterans live in Lee County depends on who is counting. The Census Bureau’s latest five-year survey puts the number at 1,489, give or take 266, according to its 2020-2024 veteran-status table. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ own model, which VA calls its source for official estimates, had about 1,190 for Sept. 30, 2025, in its VetPop2023 county file.
Both numbers matter this Veterans Day, because VA’s newly released Geographic Distribution of Expenditures report attributes $29.2 million in spending to Lee County for fiscal 2025, the year that ended Sept. 30. The per-veteran figures and the comparisons with Wise County, Scott County and Virginia below are The Lee Daily Register’s own calculations. Neither agency publishes them.
Who the county’s veterans are
The Census survey counts veterans as 8.3% of Lee County adults, give or take 1.5 points. The figure is 7.0% in Wise County, 6.1% in Scott County, 9.4% in Virginia and 6.2% nationwide. The three counties’ ranges overlap, so there is no clear gap among them. It also counts people where they live, including the 1,352 residents of adult correctional facilities recorded in the 2020 census. We could not tell how many are veterans, or whether that explains part of the gap.
Half of the county’s veterans are 65 or older: an estimated 766, or 51%, against 39% statewide. By period of service, an estimated 540 served in the Vietnam era (36%) and 450 after September 2001 (30%). In Virginia the shares are 26% and 39%. Each of these Lee County estimates has a margin of roughly 145 to 170 people.
The same survey’s poverty and disability table covers 1,323 of those veterans. An estimated 8.7% of them (give or take 4.9 points) had incomes below the poverty line, compared with 26.9% of nonveterans (give or take 3.5). Median income among veterans with income was $33,611, against $22,818 for nonveterans, in 2024 dollars, according to the income table. About 38% of the veterans (give or take 9 points) reported a disability, against 24% in Virginia. Those raw figures do not adjust for age.
What VA spent here in fiscal 2025
The report combines direct payments, such as disability compensation and pensions, with indirect spending, mostly medical care. Of Lee County’s $29.2 million, $15.2 million was direct and $13.9 million indirect. The table compares it with neighboring counties and the state.
| Area | Veterans (VA model) | Total VA spending | Compensation and pension | Medical care | Total per veteran |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee County | 1,192 | $29.2 million | $13.7 million | $13.4 million | $24,500 |
| Wise County | 1,896 | $44.9 million | $23.1 million | $18.0 million | $23,700 |
| Scott County | 1,224 | $27.8 million | $12.5 million | $13.6 million | $22,700 |
| Virginia | 670,835 | $13.1 billion | $8.1 billion | $3.6 billion | $19,600 |
Nearly all of Lee County’s edge over the state comes from medical care. The county received about $11,200 in medical spending per veteran, roughly twice Virginia’s $5,400. Compensation and pension came to about $11,500 per veteran, a little below the state’s $12,000. Medical care made up 46% of Lee County’s total, against 27% statewide.
These are yardsticks, not what any one veteran receives. VA’s guide to its 2023 edition warns that not every veteran takes part in each program, and that medical dollars go to the patient’s home county rather than the clinic’s. Using the Census count of 1,489 instead lowers Lee County’s compensation and pension figure to about $9,200 per veteran.
More care from outside providers, and rising totals
Lee County also leans more on providers outside VA. Of its $13.4 million in medical spending, $5.9 million (44%) was community care, meaning treatment outside VA facilities. That compares with 25% in Virginia, 41% in Wise County and 26% in Scott County, by our calculation from the fiscal 2025 data file.
The 2023 edition is the latest of those we opened that lists patients. It counted 602 Lee County patients, equal to 46% of that edition’s veteran estimate, against 27% statewide. Spending has also grown. In VA’s revised 2024 file, Lee County’s compensation and pension payments were $11.9 million and its medical spending $11.7 million. Both grew about 14% by fiscal 2025.
VA’s model expects the county’s veteran count to keep shrinking, to about 1,075 by 2030 and 1,000 by 2035, from about 1,250 in 2023. That is a 20% drop, against 12.5% statewide. VA says county figures in that table are best reported to the nearest 1,000, so treat all of them as approximate.
Where veterans can get help nearby
VA runs a clinic inside the county, in Jonesville. Its page for the Jonesville VA Clinic lists 32613 Wilderness Road, Suite 101, and the phone number 276-346-2595. As of Nov. 6, it showed hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and closed the other weekdays, so call ahead. The clinic offers primary care and specialty services, including women’s health care and a pharmacy.
For help with disability and pension claims, a state directory lists the Virginia Department of Veterans Services office at 322 Cloverleaf Square, Suite E-1, in Big Stone Gap, phone (276) 523-1411. It serves Lee, Dickenson, Scott and Wise counties and Norton, according to its Virginia Navigator listing. It lists weekday hours of 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and closes to the public on the last business day of each month. The department says on its website that it will be closed Wednesday, Nov. 11.
Lee County’s own government website lists no veterans office or service officer among its departments as of Nov. 6.
