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 Media Relations

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Department of

Veterans Affairs Fact Sheet

March 2004

Facts about VA’s National Cemeteries

National cemeteries are honored places in communities where deceased veterans receive 

perpetual care to commemorate their service as members of the U.S. armed forces. Most 

men and women who have served in the military are eligible for burial in a national 

cemetery, as are their dependent children and usually their spouses. The U.S. Department 

of Veterans Affairs (VA) manages the country’s network of national cemeteries through 

its National Cemetery Administration.

Key Statistics 

 VA maintains more than 2.5 million gravesites at 120 national cemeteries in 39 states 

and Puerto Rico, as well as in 33 soldier’s lots and monument sites.

 Since 1973, annual interments in VA national cemeteries have increased from 36,400 

to 89,750 in fiscal year (FY) 2003. Interments are expected to increase annually until

2008.

 The nation’s most famous national cemetery – Arlington National Cemetery – is one 

of the few not run by VA. It is administered by the Army.

 More than 309,600 full-casket gravesites, 59,000 in-ground gravesites for cremated 

remains and more than 37,800 columbarium niches are available in alreadydeveloped areas of VA national cemeteries.

 There are approximately 14,200 acres within established national cemeteries. Just 

over half are undeveloped and – along with available gravesites in developed acreage 

-- have the potential to provide more than 3.6 million gravesites.

 Of the 120 national cemeteries, 60 are open to all interments; 23 can accommodate 

cremated remains and family members of those already interred; and 37 are closed to 

new interments but accommodate family members in already occupied gravesites.

 Seventy-four percent of interments in FY 2003 were in the 20 busiest national 

cemeteries: Riverside, Calif.; Calverton, N.Y.; Florida, in Bushnell; Fort Snelling in 

Minneapolis; Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis; Willamette in Portland, Ore.; Fort 

Logan in Denver; National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix; Houston; Fort 

Rosecrans in San Diego; Dallas-Ft. Worth; San Joaquin Valley in Gustine, Calif.; 

Tahoma in Kent, Wash.; Massachusetts in Bourne; Abraham Lincoln in Ellwood, Ill.; 

Long Island, N.Y.; Indiantown Gap in Annville, Pa.; Puerto Rico, in Bayamon; and 

Santa Fe, N.M.
 As of Sept. 30, 2003, six national cemeteries each contained more than 100,000 

occupied gravesites, collectively accounting for 35 percent of all VA gravesites 

maintained: Long Island, N.Y. (241,825); Calverton, N.Y. (153,976); Fort Snelling in 

Minneapolis (134,756); Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis (120,602); Golden Gate in 

San Bruno, Calif. (112,035); and Riverside, Calif. (125,955).

 Largest national cemetery: Calverton, N.Y., 1,045 acres.

Smallest national cemetery: Hampton (Va.) at the VA Medical Center, .03 acres.

Oldest national cemetery: 14 established in 1862 (12 currently maintained by VA).

Newest national cemetery: Fort Sill in Elgin, Okla., opened in November 2001. 

 Since 1973, VA has provided nearly 8.4 million headstones and markers. In 

FY 2003, VA provided more than 344,800 headstones and markers.

 VA provided more than 254,600 Presidential Memorial Certificates to the loved ones 

of deceased veterans in FY 2003.

 Since 1980, the State Cemetery Grants Program has awarded or obligated more than 

$189 million to 30 states and Guam for the establishment, expansion or improvement 

of 54 state veterans cemeteries. In FY 2003, VA-supported state cemeteries provided 

more than 18,000 interments. 

 Volunteers donated more than 315,200 hours at VA national cemeteries during FY 

2003.

 More than 8.7 million people visited VA national cemeteries in FY 2003.

 In 1999 and 2003, with the passage of two laws, Congress directed VA to establish 12 

new national cemeteries. One has been opened in Oklahoma. The rest – one in 

Alabama, two in California, three in Florida, one in Georgia, one in Michigan, two in 

Pennsylvania and one in South Carolina – will be located near large populations of 

veterans who currently do not have access to a burial option.

Veteran Statistics

Veterans’ deaths are expected to peak at more than 676,000 in 2008. Based on census 

data, it is estimated that more than 655,000 veterans died in 2003. Historically, about 10 

percent of 

U.S. veterans choose to be buried in VA national cemeteries. This percentage will

increase with the recent opening of new national cemeteries.

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