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Military communities among wealthiest in U.S.

Military communities are now among the wealthiest in the country, according to a USA Today analysis.

That’s no clearer than in Jacksonville, N.C., the home of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where a spike in military pay and benefits over the years has kept its economy going.

In 2009, the city soared to the nation’s 32nd-highest income per person among the 366 U.S. metropolitan areas, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. In 2000, it ranked 287th.

The Jacksonville metropolitan area, with a population of 173,064, had the top income per person of any North Carolina community in 2009. In 2000, it ranked 13th of 14 metro areas in the state.

The USA Today analysis finds 16 of the 20 metro areas rising the fastest in the per-capita income rankings since 2000 had military bases or one nearby. Other examples:

• Manhattan, Kan., home of the Army’s Fort Riley, is the state’s most affluent metro area. In 2000, it was the poorest of the state’s six metros.

• Killeen, Texas, home of the Army’s Fort Hood, is today more affluent than Austin, the state capital and university town 60 miles away.

What’s driving the income growth? Pay and benefits in the military have grown faster than those in any other part of the economy.

Marines and other service members received an average compensation of $122,263 per person in 2009, up from $58,545 in 2000.

Military compensation — an average of $70,168 in pay and $52,095 in benefits — includes the value of housing, medical care, pensions, hazardous-duty incentives, enlistment bonuses and combat pay in war zones. More than 300 U.S. service members have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“You have to have a good compensation package if you want to recruit and retain the best people,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez.

After adjusting for inflation, military compensation rose 84 percent from 2000 through 2009. By contrast, compensation grew 37 percent for federal civilian workers and 9 percent for private sector employees during that time, the BEA reports.

The military has met or exceeded its recruiting goals in 2009 and so far this year, helped by a weak economy and the improved compensation.

“It’s booming here,” says Mona Patrick, president of the Jacksonville-Onslow (N.C.) Chamber of Commerce. Construction is robust, she says. Extended-stay hotels are full of military contractors.

The Marines have added 10,000 active-duty personnel at Camp Lejeune since 2000 for a total of 48,000, plus 5,000 civilian employees.