Massachusetts veteran benefits
- Verified veteran benefits
- 28
- each with its statute
- Counties covered
- 14
- every one has its own page
- Veterans in this state
- 0.26M
- Rating thresholds that matter
- 0
- each one opens something different
How to use this, in four steps
You are on step 1. Nothing is locked — browse everything first, then check the ones that look relevant.
See what you may be entitled to
Browse every verified benefit in your state. No questions, no account — everything is open.
Check whether you qualify
Open any benefit and answer a few questions about that one. We stop as soon as we know.
Get the letter that shows the finding
A VA Benefit Summary Letter configured to show service connection and permanence satisfies most offices without disclosing any diagnosis.
File before the deadline
The deadline for the main property tax relief is: April 1. File with your board of assessors.
Which of these sounds like you?
Pick one and we will narrow the list. You can change or clear it at any point.
Two things sharpen this a lot
Both optional. Your county decides where you file and what a property tax exemption is actually worth; your rating decides which thresholds you cross.
Where do you live?
We use this once to work out your county, because property tax is decided county by county. No benefit is ever matched on a ZIP code alone.
Your VA disability status
What does my rating actually unlock?
Read the record for the test that actually applies in Massachusetts — several reliefs across this corpus turn on the words on your VA letter rather than on the number.
35 benefits worth checking
What you appear to qualify for — worth checking.
One question checks 22 of them. You can skip it and keep browsing.
Did you serve in the U.S. armed forces?
2 more questions could resolve others. We ask them one at a time.
Public Works Construction — Veterans Hired First, and the Contractor Is Bound Too
On public works construction for the Commonwealth, a county, a town, an authority or a district, veterans are to be employed in preference to other applicants, with service-connected disabled veterans preferred first. The reach is what makes this useful: it binds the CONTRACTORS AND SUBCONTRACTORS doing the work, not only the public body letting it. A veteran applying to a private construction firm on a state or municipal job is inside this rule, and most site foremen have never heard of it.
VeteransApplies statewideHiring preference on public works construction, binding on contractors as well as public bodies
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Welcome Home Bonus — Paid Again for Every New Deployment
Massachusetts pays a cash bonus for service on or after 11 September 2001: $1,000 for a first deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan or another DoD imminent-danger location, or $500 for a first six months of continuous active service elsewhere. The part most people miss is that it is NOT once in a lifetime — a subsequent deployment pays $500 again if it was to an imminent-danger area, or $250 for six months in direct support of the Global War on Terrorism. The test is residency BEFORE service: you must have lived in Massachusetts for the six months immediately before you entered. Guard and Reserve service counts. If a member died on active service the family may claim $1,000.
VeteransApplies statewide$500–$1,000 for a first bonus, and $250–$500 again for each later qualifying deployment
Read it and check if you qualifyWartime Bonuses for WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf — Still Payable, Decades On
The Treasurer still pays bonuses for service in the earlier statutory windows: WWII 16 Sept 1940 – 25 July 1947, Korea 25 June 1950 – 31 Jan 1955, Vietnam 1 July 1958 – 17 May 1975, and the Persian Gulf 2 Aug 1990 – 10 April 1991. Amounts run $100–$300 for the first three depending on where and how long you served, and $500 for in-theatre Gulf service with the Southwest Asia Service Medal or $300 for Guard and Reserve members activated elsewhere. There is no published cut-off date, so a bonus from a war fifty years ago can still be claimed — and where the veteran has died, the family may claim in their place.
VeteransApplies statewide$100–$300 for WWII, Korea or Vietnam; $300–$500 for the 1990–91 Gulf
Read it and check if you qualifyBuy Back Four Years of Military Service — and the Window Is Now Ten Years, Not 180 Days
A veteran working for Massachusetts state government or certain other governmental units can purchase up to four years of creditable service toward the public pension: one year of credit for each year of active duty, or one year for each four years of Guard or Reserve service. The change worth knowing is that the 2024 HERO Act extended the application window from 180 DAYS to TEN YEARS after entering the retirement system. Anyone who missed the old deadline in the last decade, and was told they were too late, should ask again.
VeteransApplies statewideUp to four years of pension credit, purchasable
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans' Tenure — After Three Years You Are the Last One Laid Off
A veteran who has held a state non-civil-service job for more than three years may not be involuntarily separated for lack of work or lack of money while similar positions still exist. Where more than one veteran must go, the separations run in reverse order of appointment. This is the protection nobody knows about, because the well-known one — civil service preference — helps you get hired and stops there. Tenure is what happens afterwards, and it applies precisely to the non-civil-service jobs that people assume have no protection at all.
VeteransApplies statewideProtection from layoff for lack of work or money, after three years in the post
Read it and check if you qualifyMassHousing — a $2,500 Closing Credit, and Cover If You Lose Your Job
MassHousing lends to veterans, active-duty members, Guard and Reserve members and Gold Star families buying in Massachusetts, through its lender partners. A $2,500 closing-cost credit applies, down payment assistance runs up to $30,000, and MIPlus pays part of the mortgage for a period if the borrower loses their job. That last piece is the one that has no equivalent in a VA loan, so this is worth pricing alongside a VA loan rather than instead of it — and the two can sometimes be combined, since the down payment assistance is a second mortgage.
Home and land buyersApplies statewideNot a veteran benefit$2,500 closing-cost credit, with down payment help up to $30,000
Read it and check if you qualifyA Free Statewide Trading Licence — the $62 Fee Waived for Disabled Veterans
A disabled veteran can hold a hawker and peddler licence for free. The ordinary licence costs $62 a year and lets the holder sell goods outdoors anywhere in the Commonwealth rather than town by town. No minimum disability percentage is set — proof of a disability is enough, shown by a VA benefits summary letter or a VA-completed form. The one requirement people trip on is a Certificate of Character signed by the local police chief, which takes time to arrange, so start it before you need the licence.
VeteransApplies statewide$62 annual licence fee waived
Read it and check if you qualifyState-Aided Public Housing — Ranked First, With Disability Pay Left Out of Income
In state-aided public housing veterans are placed ahead of other applicants, in a fixed order: families of service-connected disabled veterans first, then families of veterans who died of service-connected causes, then other veterans' families. Two quieter provisions matter as much as the preference. VA disability compensation above $1,800 paid to a veteran rated totally unemployable is EXCLUDED from the income used to test eligibility and set rent, as are funds spent on tuition, fees and books. And continued occupancy in a two-bedroom-or-smaller unit cannot be denied to a veteran's family.
VeteransApplies statewideFirst place in the waiting list order, plus income exclusions that can decide eligibility
Read it and check if you qualifyYou Are Worth $2,500 to a Small Employer — Say So
A Massachusetts employer with 100 or fewer full-time staff can take a $2,500 credit against income tax or corporate excise for hiring a qualified veteran, once that veteran has been employed six continuous months. The credit was raised from $2,000 to $2,500. Four routes make a veteran qualified, and only two involve a disability: a family that received SNAP for three or more months in the past year; unemployment of four weeks or more in the past year; a service-connected disability with hire within a year of leaving the military; or a service-connected disability with the unemployment history. This is a line to use in an interview, because most small employers do not know it exists.
VeteransApplies statewide$2,500 to the employer for each qualified veteran hired
Read it and check if you qualifyClause 22 — Eight Tiers, From $400 to a Full Exemption
$400 off the bill, or $2,000 of valuation, whichever abates more — and it opens at 10%, the lowest entry in this corpus. That is the base tier of eight. Loss of a hand, foot or eye is $750; both hands or feet, or both eyes, $1,250; permanent total disability with specially adapted housing $1,500; a 100% rating $1,000; and paraplegia or 100% service-connected blindness is a full exemption, as is the position of a non-remarried surviving spouse of someone who died of a combat-zone injury or disease. The base clause also reaches Purple Heart awardees and Gold Star parents, spouses and surviving spouses.
VeteransApplies statewide$400 at the base tier, rising through $750, $1,000, $1,250 and $1,500 to a full exemption
Read it and check if you qualifyMassachusetts Does Not Tax Military Pensions
Federal military retirement is excluded from Massachusetts taxable income.
VeteransApplies statewideThe whole of your military pension, untaxed
Read it and check if you qualifyCategorical Tuition Waiver for Veterans
A waiver of tuition at Massachusetts public colleges — but on a space-available basis, which is the whole story.
VeteransApplies statewideFull or partial tuition waived at a Massachusetts public institution
Read it and check if you qualifyFree Licence for Residents with Disabilities
Massachusetts has no veteran-specific licence — but a paraplegic resident pays nothing for a sporting, hunting or fishing licence, and a blind resident pays nothing to fish.
VeteransApplies statewideNot a veteran benefitNo licence fee — which licence depends on which condition you meet
Read it and check if you qualifyAbsolute Civil Service Preference
Pass the open competitive examination and you rank above every non-veteran on the eligible list, whatever their score — except on Firefighter and Police Officer lists, where residency preference comes first. A disabled veteran is also the last let go when jobs are cut.
VeteransApplies statewideAbove every non-veteran on the eligible list — disabled veterans first — plus retention preference for disabled veterans
Read it and check if you qualifyDisabled Veteran Plates — 60%, and the 60% Has to Be About Walking
Disabled veteran plates go to a resident veteran who is the primary owner of a registered passenger vehicle and meets three conditions together: eligibility for permanent disabled parking privileges, a minimum 60% service-connected rating on the disability breakdown letter, and disabilities making up that 60% that affect ambulation.
VeteransApplies statewideDV plates on one registered passenger vehicle the veteran is primary owner of
Read it and check if you qualifyLicence Fee Waived, Military Training Credited, and 90 Days After Active Duty
The Commonwealth’s portion of the initial application and licence fee is waived; military education, training and service count toward the qualifications; and a licence held by someone on active duty stays valid until release and for at least 90 days afterwards.
VeteransApplies statewideThe Commonwealth’s portion of the initial application and licence fee, plus a decision inside 30 days for spouses
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans’ Homes — Charges Capped at $30 a Day
Long-term care at Chelsea or Holyoke is charged on income above an exemption and capped at $30 a day, or $930 in a 31-day month. A domiciliary bed is $10 a day. Below the exemption — $300 a month unmarried, $1,500 married — there is no charge.
VeteransApplies statewideLong-term care charged at no more than $30 a day, or $930 in a 31-day month
Read it and check if you qualifyService-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business — a 3% State Spending Benchmark
The Commonwealth sets a 3% participation benchmark for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses on commodities and services contracts and on each design services contract. Status runs off federal VA verification rather than a state ownership test.
VeteransApplies statewideA 3% participation benchmark on state commodities and services contracts and on each design services contract
Read it and check if you qualifyChapter 115 Benefits — Monthly Cash and Medical Costs, Paid by Your City or Town
A means-tested, open-ended entitlement paid monthly by the municipality where you live: money for food, shelter, clothing, fuel and support of dependants, plus payment of medical and dental costs. The Commonwealth reimburses the town 75% of what it pays you.
VeteransApplies statewideA monthly payment set against a budget, plus payment of medical and dental costs
Read it and check if you qualifyVeteran Annuity — $2,500 a Year, Paid Once Annually
An annuity for veterans compensated at 100% by the VA, and for certain survivors, who live in Massachusetts. Since August 2025 it is paid as one cheque a year of $2,500. Applications and changes must be approved by 30 June.
VeteransApplies statewide$2,500 a year, in one payment
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans Memorial Cemeteries — No Charge for the Veteran, $300 or $150 for Family
Two Commonwealth-operated cemeteries, at Agawam and Winchendon. There is no charge to bury an eligible veteran. A spouse or dependant costs $300 for a full casket burial or $150 for a cremation interment, payable only at the time of interment.
VeteransApplies statewideNo charge for the veteran; $300 full casket or $150 cremation for a spouse or dependant
Read it and check if you qualifyNational Guard Tuition and Fee Waiver — and 130 Hours a Member Can Pass to Dependants
An active member of the Massachusetts National Guard gets a waiver of both tuition and fees at state colleges, universities and community colleges. The family education programme lets specified dependants draw on the same allowance — capped at 130 semester hours per member, transfers included.
VeteransApplies statewideTuition and fees waived at public institutions, up to 130 semester hours per member
Read it and check if you qualifyPublic Service Scholarship — for Children of the Killed, the Missing and the Captured
Undergraduate scholarships for children of prisoners of war or service members missing in action in Southeast Asia between 1 February 1955 and the end of the Vietnam campaign, and for children of veterans whose service was credited to the Commonwealth and who were killed in action or otherwise died as a result of that service.
VeteransApplies statewideA scholarship for undergraduate study at an institution of higher education in the Commonwealth
Read it and check if you qualifySAVE — a Peer Outreach Team Whose Job Is Preventing Veteran Suicide
Statewide Advocacy for Veterans Empowerment is a peer-to-peer mobile outreach team in the Executive Office of Veterans Services, specialising in suicide prevention, mental health and other urgent needs. It comes to the veteran, works with the National Guard, and reaches people with less-than-honorable discharges.
VeteransApplies statewidePeer outreach, advocacy and connection to mental health care — no cost stated
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans’ Burial Allowance — Up to $4,000, Paid by Your City or Town
Where the estate cannot pay for the funeral and burial, the burial agent of the city or town expends not more than $4,000 towards it, provided the whole cost of the funeral and burial is not more than $5,000. The Commonwealth reimburses the municipality part of what it pays out.
VeteransApplies statewideNot more than $4,000 towards the funeral and burial, where the whole cost is not more than $5,000
Read it and check if you qualifyEvery Veteran’s Grave, Kept by the Town — and a Flag on It Every Memorial Day
M.G.L. c.115 §9 puts a veterans’ graves officer in every city and town and makes that officer responsible for the care of every veteran’s grave inside it. Where private money does not cover the work, the municipality pays. A United States flag goes on those graves every Memorial Day.
VeteransApplies statewideGrave care at municipal expense where private funds do not cover it, and a United States flag every Memorial Day
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Servicemembers Case — a Court Step Massachusetts Puts in Front of a Foreclosure
Massachusetts built its own court procedure so that, before a mortgage foreclosure, a judge decides whether the owner has federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protections. A servicemember named as a defendant gets a Military Attorney appointed by the court, and a judge may stay the case or adjust the mortgage terms.
VeteransApplies statewideA court determination before any foreclosure, a court-appointed Military Attorney, and the chance to ask a judge for a stay or adjusted mortgage terms
Read it and check if you qualifyLeave to Observe Veterans Day, and to March on Memorial Day
Since 7 November 2018 all private employers in Massachusetts must grant leave to a veteran employee to observe Veterans Day, and must grant a veteran employee sufficient time to take part in a Memorial Day exercise, parade or service in their community of residence. Whether the leave is paid is the employer’s decision.
VeteransApplies statewideLeave on Veterans Day, and sufficient time for a Memorial Day event — paid or unpaid at the employer’s discretion
Read it and check if you qualifyUtility Discount Rate — Three Veteran Doors onto 25% to 71% Off Delivery
The Department of Public Utilities’ Consumer Division lists three veteran-specific programmes among the benefits that open the gas and electric discount rate: Chapter 115 veteran financial benefits, dependency and indemnity compensation for a surviving parent or spouse, and a veterans non-service-connected disability pension. The discount runs 25% to 71% of the delivery portion of the bill.
VeteransApplies statewideNot a veteran benefit25% to 71% off the delivery portion of your gas or electric bill
Read it and check if you qualifyState Park Parking — Daily Fees Waived on Three Plates, and Veterans-Only Spaces
The Department of Conservation and Recreation waives daily parking fees at all its facilities for vehicles carrying disability plates or placards, Purple Heart Recipient plates, or disabled veteran plates. Separately, designated veterans-only spaces are set aside at around thirty DCR facilities for any Massachusetts veterans plate — and for out-of-state veteran plates too.
VeteransApplies statewideDaily parking fees waived at all DCR facilities on three plate types, plus reserved spaces at around thirty facilities
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans Treatment Courts — Seven of Them, and You May Be Able to Move Your Case to One
The Trial Court’s Specialty Courts Department runs seven Veterans Treatment Courts, at Boston, Lawrence, Framingham, Dedham, Brockton, Holyoke and Gardner. Its own page states that where your case is in a court without one, transferring the case to a location that has one may be an option.
VeteransApplies statewideA court-supervised treatment session in place of the ordinary path through the case, at one of seven locations
Read it and check if you qualifyRides to VA Care — Named Regional Services, Not One Statewide Number
MassMobility publishes the Commonwealth’s list of transport services for veterans. The named ones include Soldier On with the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority in Berkshire County, VetRides for Hudson, Maynard and Stow, a Nathan Hale service from the Plymouth area, and a Norfolk County volunteer driver programme — alongside Ride Match, the searchable statewide database.
VeteransApplies statewideRegional rides to VA medical care, free in the services that publish a price
Read it and check if you qualifyWomen Veterans Network — Community and Advocacy, Routed Back to Chapter 115
The Women Veterans Network sits inside the Executive Office of Veterans Services. It runs an annual conference, monthly wellness sessions, a newsletter and the Deborah Sampson Award, and takes membership applications. Its own benefits page routes women veterans to the federal VA and to the two Massachusetts routes open to every veteran — the town Veterans’ Service Officer and the Chapter 115 benefit estimator.
VeteransApplies statewideMembership, an annual conference, monthly wellness sessions and a newsletter — no separate cash benefit
Read it and check if you qualifyThe HERO Act Stops the Registry Charging You — Registrations, Licence Fees, Excise and Sales Tax
At a 100% rating, or unemployability from a service-connected disability, the Registry waives registration fees on any and all vehicle registrations where the veteran is an owner, and driver’s licence transaction fees for every licence class. Excise tax and sales tax are waived on one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck. Special plate fees, reinstatement fees, permit and road test fees, Mass ID and professional credential fees are all still charged.
VeteransApplies statewideNo registration fee on any vehicle you own, no driver’s licence transaction fee, no excise or sales tax on one vehicle
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Veteran Indicator — Free Duplicate If Your Licence Is Not Due
A resident veteran can have the word "Veteran" printed on a driver’s licence or ID card. There is no added fee for the indicator itself, and if the credential is not up for renewal the duplicate carrying it is issued at no fee. Only the long-form DD-214, a DD-215 or an Honorable Discharge form are accepted as proof.
VeteransApplies statewideNo added fee for the indicator, and no fee for the duplicate if the credential is not up for renewal
Read it and check if you qualify
Does my county change the answer?
For the statewide records, no — the same law applies in all 14 counties. What changes is the office you file with and the rate your bill is calculated at, and we do not yet hold Massachusetts rates.
Every benefit here was checked against the statute or rule behind it, and each page shows the date. This is an informational match, not a government eligibility determination — the responsible agency decides your application.