The cost to be buried in a veterans cemetery is nothing for the burial itself. At a VA national cemetery, the gravesite, the opening and closing of the grave, a government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and perpetual care of the site are all provided at no charge to eligible veterans and qualifying family members.1Veterans Affairs. What Does Burial in a VA National Cemetery Include? What families do pay for is everything that happens before the cemetery: the funeral home, cremation or embalming, a casket or urn, and transporting the remains. Those costs typically run several thousand dollars, and VA burial allowances reimburse part of them.
What the VA Pays For
When a veteran is buried in one of the VA’s national cemeteries, the government covers every expense tied to the burial site. Depending on the cemetery, that means a traditional in-ground gravesite, a columbarium niche for cremated remains, or placement in a scattering garden.2Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA). A Guide to Your VA Burial and Memorial Benefits Opening and closing the grave and perpetual care are included.1Veterans Affairs. What Does Burial in a VA National Cemetery Include?
The VA also provides a government-furnished headstone or marker. Veterans buried in a private cemetery can receive a government headstone or marker too, though the private cemetery may charge its own installation and maintenance fees.3Veterans Affairs. Burial in a Private Cemetery Spouses and dependents buried in a private cemetery are not eligible for a government marker.
Every veteran buried in a national cemetery receives a United States burial flag to drape the casket or accompany the urn, and families can request a Presidential Memorial Certificate signed by the sitting president.1Veterans Affairs. What Does Burial in a VA National Cemetery Include?
What Families Still Have to Pay
The VA covers the cemetery side. Everything involving the funeral home comes out of pocket: embalming or cremation, the viewing or visitation, the funeral service itself, and the casket or urn. The national median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial was $8,300 in 2023, while a funeral with cremation ran about $6,280. Those figures don’t include cemetery costs, which is exactly the part the VA eliminates.
Transporting the remains to the national cemetery is also a family expense in most cases. The VA will reimburse transportation costs only under limited circumstances: when the veteran’s death was service-connected, or when the veteran died outside a U.S. state. Even then, reimbursement is capped at the cost of shipping to the nearest national cemetery with available space.4eCFR. 38 CFR 3.1709 – Transportation Expenses for Burial
Budget for smaller items too. Certified copies of the death certificate cost most states between $5 and $34 per copy, and families usually need several for insurance claims, bank accounts, and benefits applications. Obituary placement is another cost the VA does not cover.
VA Burial Allowances That Offset the Cost
Even though the VA doesn’t pay for the funeral itself, it offers flat-rate burial allowances that reimburse a portion of what families spend. The amount depends on whether the veteran’s death was connected to their military service.
Non-Service-Connected Deaths
For a veteran whose death was not related to military service and who died on or after October 1, 2025, the VA pays up to $1,002 as a burial allowance. If the veteran is buried outside a national cemetery, an additional $1,002 plot allowance is available.5U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Burial Allowance and Transportation Benefits These amounts are adjusted periodically. To qualify, the veteran generally must have been receiving VA pension or disability compensation, or must have died while hospitalized by the VA.
Service-Connected Deaths
When a veteran’s death is service-connected, the maximum burial allowance is $2,000 for deaths on or after September 11, 2001. For service-connected deaths before that date, the cap is $1,500.5U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Burial Allowance and Transportation Benefits The VA may also cover transportation costs in service-connected cases.
How to Claim the Allowance
Families apply for reimbursement using VA Form 21P-530EZ, which can be submitted through the VA’s website.6Veterans Affairs. Apply for Burial Benefits (VA Form 21P-530EZ) The person who paid the burial expenses is the one who files. Keep every receipt from the funeral home, transportation company, and cemetery, because the VA needs documentation of what was spent.
Who Qualifies for a Free VA Burial
The no-cost burial applies only to eligible people. Confirming eligibility early saves families from surprises during a hard week.
A veteran qualifies if they were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. Service members who died on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty for training are also eligible. U.S. citizens who served honorably in the armed forces of a wartime ally may qualify, provided they were U.S. citizens at their last active service and at death.7Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for Burial in a VA National Cemetery
Guard and Reserve members qualify if they were entitled to retired pay under Chapter 1223 of Title 10 (or would have been except for being under 60), or if they died from an injury or illness incurred during active duty for training or inactive duty for training.8National Cemetery Administration. Eligibility Guard and Reserve members called to active duty who completed their service honorably are eligible too.
Spouses and surviving spouses qualify, even if the surviving spouse remarried after the veteran’s death. Minor children who are unmarried and under 21 (or under 23 if in school full-time) are covered. An unmarried adult child who became permanently disabled and unable to support themselves before reaching those age limits may also qualify.7Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for Burial in a VA National Cemetery
An other-than-honorable discharge is not an automatic bar. The VA can conduct a character-of-discharge review, and a veteran may seek an upgrade through a discharge review board or a board for correction of military records. An upgraded discharge can remove the bar to burial benefits.9eCFR. 38 CFR 3.12 Benefit Eligibility Based on Character of Discharge That process takes time, so it’s worth starting well before the need arises.
Military Funeral Honors Are Also Free
Every eligible veteran is entitled to military funeral honors at no cost to the family. Federal law requires a detail of at least two armed forces members who perform a ceremony that includes folding and presenting the U.S. flag to the family and playing Taps.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1491 – Funeral Honors Functions at Funerals for Veterans If no live bugler is available, the detail plays a recorded version. Additional elements like a rifle volley or a larger honor guard depend on branch availability and the family’s request.
The funeral director or a family member arranges honors by contacting the veteran’s branch of service. The Department of Defense maintains a Military Funeral Honors Directory organized by state with phone numbers for each branch’s coordinator. The veteran’s DD Form 214 or other discharge paperwork showing honorable service establishes eligibility.11Military OneSource. Military Funeral Honors Directory
State Veterans Cemeteries as an Alternative
Most states operate their own veterans cemeteries. They generally offer the same core benefits: a free gravesite, headstone, and perpetual care. Eligibility rules vary, and many state veterans cemeteries require the veteran to have been a resident of that state, which national cemeteries do not. Families requesting a government headstone for a state cemetery burial should complete VA Form 40-1330 in advance. A state cemetery can be a good option when the nearest national cemetery is far away or has limited space.