VA dedicates Nevada’s first national cemetery

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration held a dedication ceremony today for Nevada’s first national cemetery in Elko. When it opens in late 2026, it will be the 158th VA cemetery and the second national cemetery opened under the second Trump Administration.

Elko National Cemetery spans 15.37 acres. It will accommodate casketed burials, in-ground cremation burials, and urn placements in columbarium niches. The cemetery is being constructed in three phases, and each phase will provide an estimated 15 years of burial service. Once the first phase is completed in the coming months, it will include 1,045 gravesites. Interments are anticipated to begin in Fall 2026.

Elko National Cemetery is part of the National Cemetery Administration’s Rural Initiative 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. The cemetery will ultimately serve the burial needs of more than 3,705 Veterans, their spouses and eligible children within a 75-mile radius of Elko.

“Veterans come first at VA no matter where they live, and this new cemetery creates a much-needed final resting place for Nevadans who served this nation and their families,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “Elko National Cemetery will give generations of Nevadans a space to honor and remember the friends, neighbors and relatives who stood up and sacrificed for the country we love.”

Elko National Cemetery is located at 3602 Jennings Way, Elko, Nevada 89802. Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon, California, will have management and oversight of Elko National Cemetery.

For additional questions call 707–693-2460 or email NCASVNC@va.gov. Veterans, families and funeral directors interested in a casketed burial or to have cremains buried in-ground or interred in a columbarium may contact the NCA National Scheduling Office in St. Louis to schedule burial services.

Veterans and eligible family members interested in receiving VA burial benefits and how to apply for them may call VA’s National Cemetery Administration at 800-535-1117. Click here to learn more about VA’s burial benefits and memorial services.

The new cemetery is the latest in a long list of improvements VA is making during the second Trump Administration. Since Jan. 20, 2025, VA has:

• Enrolled more than 250,000 new Veterans in VA healthcare in 2026.
• Opened 41 new VA healthcare facilities, expanding healthcare access for Veterans around the country.
• Reduced the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by more than 70%, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration.
• Reduced the average disability claims processing time by 46%.
• Completed a record high 82,083,918 direct care appointments in fiscal year 2025, up 4.1% from FY 2024.
• Completed a record high 59,989,662 community care appointments in FY 2025, up 12% from FY 2024.
• Offered Veterans more than 3.2 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.
• Permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY 2025, the highest total in seven years.