Where does Ohio rank in per capita military spending?

Ohio’s share of federal defense spending is just over half the national average based on fiscal year 2014 spending, a new analysis shows.

Defense dollars in Ohio amounted to $926 per person compared to a national average of $1,759, the Pew Charitable Trusts study concluded.

Virginia was the top defense state at $7,636 per capita and neighboring Michigan was last at $656 per person, the analysis said.

The study calculated salaries and wages, military pension and military health care benefits, federal defense grants, and contracts, a report said.

Forty states and the District of Columbia ranked higher than Ohio in per capita defense spending.

“Because Ohio has a large population and few major defense installations, that can partially account for this,” Michael Gessel, Dayton Development Coalition vice president for federal affairs, said in an email.

In southwest Ohio, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a major economic driver with a more than $4 billion impact and ranks as the largest single-site employer in the state with a workforce of more than 27,000 military personnel and civilian employees.

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