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 4.11 million graves with 689,646 additional developed gravesites available: 339,796 available gravesites for casketed remains, 164,466 in ground gravesites for cremated remains and 185,384 columbarium niches for cremated remains.
• NCA administers 155 national cemeteries of which 87 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 $992 million to establish, expand, improve, operate and maintain 122 Veterans cemeteries in 49 states and territories including tribal trust lands, Guam, Saipan, and Puerto Rico. In fiscal year 2023, VA grant-funded Veterans cemeteries provided more than 43,000 interments.
• 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. A new columbarium was opened at Crown Hill National Cemetery for the Indianapolis area. NCA has another columbarium-only scheduled to open in the summer of FY 2023 in St. Albans, Queens, NY. Construction for two additional columbaria in Chicago, IL, and Alameda, CA, are planned.
• Nearly 5.3 million people — including 4 million Veterans from the Revolutionary War to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan — are honored with a burial in a VA national cemetery.
• Nearly 23,000 acres from Hawaii to Maine, and from Alaska to Puerto Rico, are devoted to memorializing those who served this nation.
• More than 390 Medal of Honor recipients are buried in VA's national cemeteries.
• 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.
• Since 1973, when VA managed 82 national cemeteries, annual interments in VA national cemeteries have increased by more than 412% from 36,422 to 149,919 in FY 2022.
• Of the 149,919 interments conducted in FY 2022, 62% were in the 20 busiest national cemeteries: Riverside (CA); Florida (FL); Fort Snelling (MN); Dallas-Fort Worth (TX); Great Lakes (MI); Jefferson Barracks (MO); Calverton (NY); Fort Sam Houston (TX); Sacramento Valley (CA); Abraham Lincoln (IL); Fort Logan (CO); National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona (AZ); Houston (TX); Willamette (OR); Tahoma (WA); Miramar (CA); Ohio Western Reserve (OH); South Florida (FL); Sarasota (FL); and Georgia (GA).
• As of September 30, 2022, 10 national cemeteries contain more than 1,687,886 occupied gravesites, collectively accounting for 41% 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); Golden Gate (CA) and Fort Logan (CO).
• Since 1973, NCA has furnished more than 15 million headstones and markers to national, state, tribal, and private cemeteries. In FY 2022, NCA furnished 347,361 headstones and markers to Veterans and eligible dependents. Of this number, 139,175 headstones and markers and 11,814 medallions were issued to Veterans interred in private cemeteries worldwide.
• NCA provided approximately 463,547 Presidential Memorial Certificates to the loved ones of deceased Veterans in FY 2022.
• 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.
