Wyoming Veteran Benefits: What the Statutes Actually Say

Wyoming takes nothing from your military retirement. Its veteran property tax exemption is widely misreported, in both directions: the headline figure is $6,000, which sounds like money off your bill but is a reduction of assessed value, and Wyoming assesses homes at 9.5 percent of market value. It is also not the full exemption that several benefit guides, including an earlier version of this site, claimed it was.

Worked through below, it comes to roughly $335 a year. The stronger reasons to consider Wyoming have little to do with it.

Every figure below is cited to the statute or the state agency that administers it.

Military retirement pay: not taxed

Wyoming has no personal income tax. The Wyoming Department of Revenue administers excise, mineral and property taxes only.

Military retired pay, VA disability compensation, Social Security, civilian wages, TSP withdrawals and investment income are all untouched at the state level. There is no form and no election. As with the other no-income-tax states, Wyoming does not have a "military retirement exemption" because there is no income tax for one to apply to.

Property tax: $6,000 of assessed value, which is not what it sounds like

Under W.S. 39-13-105, a qualifying veteran receives a $6,000 reduction of assessed value on a primary residence. The figure was raised from $3,000 to $6,000 effective for property tax assessed on and after 1 January 2025, so pre-2025 guides understate it by half.

The number needs translating, because Wyoming is the only state in this series that does not tax on full market value. Wyoming assesses residential property at 9.5 percent of market value, then applies the mill levy to that assessed figure. So the $6,000 comes off the assessed value, not off your bill and not off your home's market value.

Worked through on a $400,000 home, at Wyoming's effective rate of about 0.53 percent of market value:

• Assessed value: $38,000 (9.5 percent of $400,000)
• Tax without the exemption: about $2,120
• Assessed value after the exemption: $32,000
• Tax with the exemption: about $1,785
• Annual saving: roughly $335

That is more than Maine's $6,000 exemption is worth and less than New Hampshire's $700 credit, and it is the same regardless of how large your rating is or how expensive your house is.

Eligibility, which is unusually broad in one respect:

• Primary residence
• Wyoming resident for three or more years
• Qualifies through any one of: wartime service (WWII, Korea, Vietnam), an overseas armed-conflict expeditionary medal, or a compensable service-connected disability rating
• An unremarried surviving spouse may claim it
• If unused on real property, it may be applied to vehicle registration fees instead

Two things worth drawing out.

It is not rating-tiered. A veteran with a 10 percent compensable rating gets the same $6,000 as a veteran at 100 percent. Wyoming is one of the 29 jurisdictions that do not fully exempt property tax at 100 percent permanent and total. This site previously listed Wyoming as a full-exemption state in error, corrected 5 November 2026.

The expeditionary medal route is the useful one. Most people assume you need a disability rating. An overseas armed-conflict expeditionary medal qualifies you on its own, which covers a large population of post-9/11 veterans with no rating at all.

You must file annually, by the fourth Monday in May, with your county assessor. This is not set-and-forget. See Wyoming Property Tax Division, tax relief.

State employment preference

Wyoming uses a percentage advantage rather than flat points. Under W.S. 19-14-102, where a department uses a numerical scoring system:

• 5 percent advantage over any nonveteran, for a veteran or surviving spouse
• 10 percent advantage for a veteran with a service-connected disability of 10 percent or more

Three details from the statute text that are usually left out:

Where no scoring system is used before interviews, the department must still give an advantage that "reasonably approximates" the scoring-system advantage. So the preference is not lost simply because a hiring process is unscored.

The residency test is softer than it looks. The statute requires that you were a Wyoming resident for one year or more at some point before applying, not that you are currently in your first year of residence. If you lived in Wyoming years ago and have since left, you may still qualify.

Disabled veterans rank above able-bodied veterans. Where a disability "does not materially interfere with performing the job's duties," disabled veterans are given preference over able-bodied veterans, and age or another non-incapacitating impairment does not disqualify an otherwise qualified applicant.

Hunting, fishing and state parks

These are the benefits that actually carry weight in Wyoming, given what there is to hunt and fish.

Free lifetime fishing license for resident veterans rated 50 percent or more disabled.

Free lifetime bird, small game and fish license for 100 percent disabled resident veterans. See Wyoming Game and Fish.

State parks lifetime pass. Wyoming resident veterans rated 50 percent or more service-connected disabled receive a free lifetime pass for day use and camping at state parks and historic sites. The one exclusion is camping at Hot Springs State Park. See Wyoming State Parks.

Free lifetime camping across a state with Wyoming's geography is worth more to most veterans per year than the property tax exemption is.

Vehicles and plates

Resident veterans receiving 50 percent or more service-connected disability compensation get a first Disabled Veteran plate free and are exempt from registration fees. Applications go through the county treasurer, not the state. See Wyoming DOT.

Remember the property tax exemption can be redirected to vehicle registration fees if you do not use it on real property, so read the two together if you rent rather than own.

The state veterans home

The Veterans' Home of Wyoming in Buffalo offers domiciliary, meaning assisted living, care and, since 2025, skilled nursing care as well.

Eligibility: honorably discharged Wyoming resident veterans, spouses, surviving spouses and Gold Star Family members.

The 2025 addition of skilled nursing matters. Before that, a resident whose care needs increased had to leave the facility and often the state system entirely.

What the common summaries get wrong

If you are considering Wyoming

The honest case for Wyoming is no income tax, a low 0.53 percent effective property tax rate on generally modest home prices, free lifetime hunting, fishing and state park camping at 50 percent and above, and now a veterans home that covers both assisted living and skilled nursing.

The case against is that the property tax exemption is modest and routinely overstated, and the three-year residency requirement means you will not see even that for your first three years.

Compare Wyoming against any other state on both dimensions with our State Value Calculator, or see the full picture on the Wyoming benefits page.

Sources

• Wyoming Department of Revenue
• Wyoming Property Tax Division, tax relief programs (W.S. 39-13-105)
• W.S. 19-14-102, veterans preference in public employment
• Wyoming Military Department, veteran benefits and resources
• Wyoming Game and Fish, licensing for veterans
• Wyoming State Parks, permits and fees
• Wyoming DOT, disabled veteran plates
• Veterans' Home of Wyoming, Buffalo
• US Army, Wyoming state benefits summary

Figures verified against Wyoming statute and state agency pages on 5 November 2026. The exemption must be filed annually with your county assessor by the fourth Monday in May, and assessment practice is administered by county, so confirm locally. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.