How Deep Is a Grave? It's Not Always Six Feet

Graves in the US are not required to be six feet deep. No national law sets a depth, and the rules that exist are written by states and by individual cemeteries. They usually specify how much soil must sit on top of the casket or its outer container, which can be as little as 12 inches in Florida or 2 feet in Louisiana. A grave for one burial is therefore often shallower than six feet, while a double-depth grave for two people is deeper, at about 7 feet.

Where does "six feet under" come from?

The phrase is usually traced to the plague year of 1665, when London's Lord Mayor and Aldermen issued orders on plague burials that included "all the graves shall be at least six feet deep." The order covered plague deaths in London, and nobody knows for sure why six feet was chosen. Theories include preventing the spread of disease, the depth a gravedigger could reach before the soil fell in, and an older custom of burying to about the person's height.

That order did not become a standing rule. Burial depth today is a matter of state regulation, cemetery policy and the ground itself.

What do state laws say about grave depth?

Most states that regulate depth do it as a minimum amount of soil cover, measured from the top of the casket or outer container to the natural ground surface. Some states set no specific depth and leave it to the cemetery. Here are examples you can check yourself:

Cover is measured from the top of the container, so the finished hole is deeper than the number in the table. Add the height of the vault or casket, any base the cemetery sets, and the cover the cemetery requires.

How deep are graves in practice?

Cemetery rules, soil and equipment decide the final depth. These reference points are well documented:

• Single burial: Depth depends on the container and the cemetery. The VA's standards for state veterans cemeteries refer to single-depth graves in places where digging below 5 feet is impractical, so five feet is a realistic reference point rather than six.
• Double depth: One casket is placed at about 7 feet, and the second later goes on top at standard depth, according to the ICCFA. The VA uses a 7-foot excavation for its double-depth gravesites in state veterans cemeteries.
• VA national cemeteries: Many new sections use pre-placed double-depth crypts. The first person goes in the lower half and the second in the upper half.
• Cremated remains: The VA's standards call for in-ground cremain sections to be 2 feet deep. Other cemeteries set their own.
• Green burial: The Green Burial Council describes 3.5 to 4 feet as ideal, which still leaves an 18 to 24 inch smell barrier above the body. Our green burial guide explains how these cemeteries work.

Double-depth graves are one way couples and families share a plot. If that is what you are planning, read two people in one grave.

Why aren't graves dug deeper?

Several practical limits keep depths modest:

• Soil conditions: The VA's standards switch to wider, side-by-side single-depth gravesites where digging below 5 feet is impractical because of the soil. Rock and groundwater can make deep digging hard or impossible.
• Safety: OSHA's excavation rules require a protective system (such as shoring or a trench shield) for excavations 5 feet or deeper, unless they are made entirely in stable rock. Deep graves mean more equipment and more care, and that adds to the fee. See opening and closing grave fees.
• Decomposition: Natural burial grounds keep graves shallow on purpose so the body stays in the biologically active upper soil.
• Groundwater: Where the ground is wet, cemeteries may use above-ground burial or sealed crypts instead of digging deep.

Does a grave need a vault or liner?

Not by law. The FTC states that state law does not require outer burial containers anywhere in the US, but many cemeteries require them to prevent the grave from caving in. A vault or liner changes how deep the cemetery digs, because the container's height adds to the hole.

Whether you need one comes down to the cemetery's rules. Our guides on grave liners and vaults and burial vaults explain the difference and the cost.

What should you ask the cemetery?

Questions to put to the cemetery office, ideally in writing:

1. What minimum soil cover do you require, and is it measured from the casket or the outer container?
2. Is a vault or grave liner required, and what does it cost?
3. Can this plot take a double-depth burial, and what is the fee for the second opening?
4. For a green or natural burial, what depth do you dig to?
5. If the burial will be on private land, which county or state rules apply? Start with home burial laws in the US.

The full set of cemetery regulations should be available on request. Cemetery rules and regulations covers what to look for in them. If you are still weighing burial against cremation, this calculator compares the costs.