Report: Military Attracts More High Income Than Low Income Recruits

A new report from The Heritage Foundation says that contrary to conventional wisdom, the military does not disproportionately attract minorities and disadvantaged youth.

In "Who Serves in the U.S. Military," Dr. Shanea Watkins and James Sherk use data from the Defense Manpower Data Center to compare those choosing military service to civilians using four demographic measures: household income, education level, racial and ethnic background, and regional origin.

Their conclusions reveal that those volunteering for military service "...are significantly more likely to come from high-income neighborhoods than from low-income neighborhoods." In fact, according to the report's findings, only 11 percent of enlisted recruits last year came from the poorest quintile of neighborhoods. In contrast, the upper quintile of neighborhoods accounted for a full quarter of all enlisted recruits in 2007. Specifically, the report says, "Low-income neighborhoods were underrepresented among enlisted troops, while middle-class and high-income neighborhoods were overrepresented."

The report also found that today's enlistees are more educated than their civilian counterparts, with just over one percent lacking a high school diploma. The report says that more than twenty percent of men in the 18-24 year old age bracket lack a diploma. According to the report, the military only allows 10 percent of enlisted volunteers to join without a high school diploma.

In another finding that contradicts traditional perceptions, the report concluded that minorities are not overrepresented in the military, except in the officer corps, where African-Americans are overrepresented given their percentage of the U.S. population. The report says about 65 percent of new active duty recruits the past two years were white, closely mirroring the percentage of whites in the U.S. population. Percentages of African-Americans among new recruits also mirrored the percentage of African-Americans in the population. The only exception was in the officer corps, where African-Americans were overrepresented. That overrepresentation, however, was declining according to the report.

Geographically, the report says, military enlistees are "...disproportionately likely to come from the South, which is in line with the history of Southern military tradition." Data presented in the report indicate that more than 40 percent of new military recruits come from the South, a proportional overrepresentation, while the Northeast is underrepresented. The Midwest and West are reported to be "...roughly proportionally represented."

Simply put, the report says, "The facts do not support the belief that many American soldiers volunteer because society offers them few other opportunities." On the contrary, it would appear from the report's findings that most military recruits are educated and decidedly middle to upper-middle class.