A general solution is presented for the end‐region stress in a composite cylindrical rod where differential thermal expansion or contraction occurs between the core and cladding. Results describe local conditions set up in the ends of clad laser rods during manufacture and permit an analytical assessment of the optical path distortion which can arise in this geometry from residual strain. The formulations are obtained by superposition of the infinite rod solution and a solution to the boundary value problem posed by an axial force distribution, of equal but opposite magnitude to the infinite rod stress, applied to the surface of a stress‐free cylinder. Expressing the applied tractions as a Fourier‐Dini expansion at the axial boundary and the radial stress as a Fourier expansion at the radial boundary leads to a double infinite series form for the principal stresses. Implementation of Fejer's theorem was helpful in smoothing the numerical results; however, summing as many as 100 series terms with the computer was necessary to gain satisfactory convergence. Principal stress‐strain distributions are presented for a typical glass rod with a core‐cladding diameter ratio of 0.7 to 1 and contraction ratio below the transformation temperature of 0.95 to 1. Results show the end‐region domian extends less than 1 rod diameter. Optical pathlength variation across the core aperture for radial and tangential beam polarizations was computed to be 0.58 and 0.51 &mgr;, respectively.