Facts About the National Cemetery Administration
NCA Mission
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Cemetery Administration (NCA), honors Veterans and their eligible family members with final resting places in national shrines and with lasting tributes that commemorate their service and sacrifice to our nation.
Facts About NCA
• NCA maintains 4.35 (4,348,556) million graves.
• NCA administers 157 national cemeteries of which 86 are open for all interments, and 22 are open for interments of cremated remains only. In addition to VA national cemeteries, two national cemeteries — Arlington and the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery — are administered by the Army. Fourteen national cemeteries are maintained by the Department of the Interior. The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains 26 American cemeteries and monuments outside of the United States.
• Since 1978, NCA's Veterans Cemetery Grants Program has awarded grants totaling over $1.87 billion to establish, expand, improve, operate and maintain 124 Veterans cemeteries in 47 states and territories including tribal trust lands, Guam, Saipan, and Puerto Rico. In fiscal year 2025, VA grant-funded Veterans cemeteries interred more than 42,720 Veterans.
• The Rural Initiative was established to provide access to VA burial benefits for Veterans who reside in rural areas and who have not previously had reasonable access to a national or state Veterans cemetery.
• NCA is also expanding access to cemeteries for urban Veterans. Since 2019, new columbaria have been opened at Los Angeles National Cemetery, CA; Crown Hill National Cemetery in Indianapolis, IN; and St. Albans National Cemetery in Queens, NY. Construction of two additional columbaria in Chicago, IL, and San Francisco, CA, area are planned.
• Over 5.7 million people — including 4.3 million Veterans from the Revolutionary War to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan — are honored with a burial in a VA national cemetery.
• Over 23,000 acres from Hawaii to Maine, and from Alaska to Puerto Rico, are devoted to memorializing those who served this nation.
• There are 433 Medal of Honor recipients interred at VA national cemeteries including 6 double recipients.
• Largest National Cemetery: Riverside (CA), 1,237 acres.
• Smallest National Cemetery: Hampton VAMC (VA), 0.03 acres.
• Oldest National Cemetery: Benicia Arsenal (CA), 1849.
• Newest National Cemetery: Morovis (PR), December 2020.
NCA Facts for Fiscal Year 2022
• Of 582,000 U.S. Veterans who passed away in the U.S. and Puerto Rico in FY 2022, 22% (or 127,896 Veterans) were buried in a national, state, or tribal Veterans cemetery. As new national, state, and tribal Veterans cemeteries open, this percentage is expected to increase.
• More than 1.7 million people visited VA national cemeteries in FY 2022.
• Volunteers donated more than 78,000 hours at national cemeteries during FY 2022.
NCA Facts for Fiscal Year 2025
• Since 1973, when VA managed 82 national cemeteries, annual interments in VA national cemeteries have increased by more than 359% from 36,422 to 130,963 in FY 2025.
• Of the 130,963 interments conducted in FY 2025, 57% were in the 20 busiest national cemeteries: Riverside (CA); Florida (FL); Dallas-Fort Worth (TX); Fort Snelling (MN); Great Lakes (MI); Jefferson Barracks (MO); Fort Sam Houston (TX); Calverton (NY); Abraham Lincoln (IL); Sacramento Valley (CA); Fort Logan (CO); Houston (TX); National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona (AZ); Miramar (CA); Willamette (OR); Tahoma (WA); Ohio Western Reserve (OH); Georgia (GA); South Florida (FL); and Indiantown Gap (PA).
• As of September 30, 2025, 10 national cemeteries contain more than 1,753,058 occupied gravesites, collectively accounting for 40% of all NCA gravesites maintained: Long Island (NY); Riverside (CA); Calverton (NY); Fort Snelling (MN); Jefferson Barracks (MO); Willamette (OR); Florida (FL); Fort Sam Houston (TX); Fort Logan (CO); and Golden Gate (CA).
• Since 1973, NCA has furnished more than 16,117,477 million headstones and markers to national, state, tribal, and private cemeteries. In FY 2025, NCA furnished 286,863 headstones and markers to Veterans and eligible dependents. Of this number, 181,977 headstones and markers and 10,055 medallions were issued to Veterans interred in private cemeteries worldwide.
• NCA provided approximately 495,951 Presidential Memorial Certificates to the loved ones of deceased Veterans in FY 2025.
