Minnesota veteran benefits
- Verified veteran benefits
- 22
- plus 6 general-law and correction records
- Counties covered
- 87
- every one has its own page
- Veterans in this state
- 0.28M
- 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, the rating and permanence satisfies most offices without disclosing any diagnosis.
File before the deadline
The deadline for the market value exclusion is December 31 of the first assessment year. File with your county assessor.
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 Minnesota — the exclusion starts at 70%, and the words "total and permanent" on the letter double it.
2 likely, 36 possible
What you appear to qualify for — worth checking.
One question checks 30 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.
EX-POW Plates, Free — No Plate Fee, No Renewal Sticker Fee, Free Replacements
A former prisoner of war certified by the commissioner of veterans affairs gets EX-POW plates at no charge, on a passenger car, motorcycle or recreational motor vehicle. Renewal stickers cost nothing. A damaged plate is replaced free. The plates transfer to another vehicle the same person owns, and combined EX-POW and disability plates are available. What is NOT waived is the motor vehicle registration tax itself, so expect a bill for that — the saving is the plate and sticker fees, not the registration.
VeteransApplies statewidePlates, renewal stickers and replacements all free
Read it and check if you qualifyDisaster Relief With No Income Test — When the Governor Names Your County
When the governor issues an emergency executive order, veterans, surviving spouses and called-up reserve members living in a named county can get SSAP assistance that is EXPRESSLY NOT SUBJECT TO THE PROGRAMME'S INCOME OR ASSET LIMITS. It can offset a drop in household income or assets, meet increased costs caused by the emergency, and repair the primary residence or vital property. Two veterans in one household may each apply. This is the version of state veteran assistance that reaches people who would ordinarily be told they have too much to qualify.
VeteransApplies statewideEmergency assistance with the SSAP income and asset limits lifted
Read it and check if you qualifyTwo Years After Discharge: Fish and Small Game With No Licence, Deer Licence Free
A Minnesota resident discharged from federal active service may take small game and fish WITHOUT A LICENCE for 24 months after discharge, and the commissioner shall issue a deer licence with no fee. Carry your discharge papers — they are what stands in for the licence. The window is the whole of the benefit: it opens on discharge and closes 24 months later, which is exactly the period when someone is least likely to be reading a state benefits page. A further subdivision taking effect 1 March 2027 will add reduced-fee deer, small game and angling licences.
VeteransApplies statewideNo licence needed for small game or fishing for 24 months; deer licence free
Read it and check if you qualifyFree State Park Permit at ANY Disability Rating — Not Just 100%
Minnesota issues the annual state park permit free to a veteran with ANY level of service-connected disability. There is no minimum percentage: 10% qualifies exactly as 100% does. Purple Heart recipients qualify separately with no disability at all. The permit is displayed on a vehicle the veteran owns and occupies, and daily permits are available for a qualifying veteran without a vehicle. Proof is the VA determination letter or other official VA or DoD validation.
VeteransApplies statewideAnnual state park permit issued at no charge
Read it and check if you qualify$750 for Past Military Service — but Choose Between This and the Retirement Subtraction
Minnesota pays a refundable $750 credit to a separated member who has either 20 years' service, a 100% total and permanent service-connected rating, or an entitlement to federal military retirement pay. It is income-tested: the $750 falls by 10% of adjusted gross income over $30,000, so it runs out around $37,500. The point to get right is that YOU CANNOT TAKE BOTH this credit and the military retirement pay subtraction under Minn. Stat. 290.0132 subd. 21. For a lower-income retiree the credit is usually worth more; higher up, the subtraction is. Work out both before filing.
VeteransApplies statewide$750, phasing out above $30,000 of adjusted gross income
Read it and check if you qualify$120 for Every Month in a Combat Zone — Refundable, So It Pays Even at Zero Tax
Minnesota pays a credit of $120 for each month, or part of a month, of active service in a combat zone or qualified hazardous duty area after 31 December 2008. It is REFUNDABLE: if the credit is larger than your Minnesota tax, the commissioner refunds the difference, so it is money even for someone who owes nothing. A part-month counts as a whole month, which matters at both ends of a deployment. The test is Minnesota domicile at the time of the service, not now.
VeteransApplies statewide$120 for each month or part of a month of qualifying service
Read it and check if you qualifyMarket Value Exclusion for Veterans with a Disability
$150,000 of market value excluded at a 70% rating — $300,000 at total and permanent — before your property tax is calculated. It survives the veteran: a surviving spouse keeps the exclusion until remarriage or disposal of the property, and the spouse of a member who dies from a service-connected cause in active service is entitled to the full $300,000 on the same terms.
VeteransApplies statewide$150,000 of market value excluded at 70%+; $300,000 at total and permanent
Read it and check if you qualifyResident Tuition Whatever Your Address — and Credit for What the Military Taught You
Minn. Stat. 197.775 gives a veteran the resident undergraduate tuition rate at Minnesota public institutions regardless of where they live. For graduate programmes the rate applies if you were a Minnesota resident on entering service and enrol within two years of separating. Two further provisions are worth as much: Minnesota State MUST award academic credit for military training that meets American Council on Education standards, and military service is treated as a positive factor in graduate and professional admissions at the University of Minnesota. Credit for training shortens the degree, which is often worth more than the rate.
StudentsApplies statewideResident tuition rate, plus mandatory credit for qualifying military training
Read it and check if you qualifyA Veteran in Public Employment Cannot Be Fired Without a Hearing
Once past any initial probationary period, a veteran holding a position in Minnesota state civil service, or with a county, city, town, school district or other political subdivision, may be removed only for incompetency or misconduct SHOWN AFTER A HEARING, on due notice and written charges. The employer must give written notice of the intent to discharge and of the right to a hearing. The trap is the clock: FAILING TO REQUEST THE HEARING WITHIN 30 DAYS WAIVES REINSTATEMENT. Arbitrator lists come from the Bureau of Mediation Services.
VeteransApplies statewideRemoval only for incompetency or misconduct shown after a hearing
Read it and check if you qualifyTen Points at the County, City or School District — Fifteen If You Are Disabled
Minnesota's veterans preference reaches beyond state jobs. Counties, home rule charter and statutory cities, towns, school districts and other political subdivisions must add 10 points to a veteran's score on an open examination, and 15 points for a disabled veteran. A disabled veteran also gets 5 points on a first promotional examination. Where a school does not use a 100-point rating at all, it must instead GRANT AN INTERVIEW to a qualifying veteran applicant — which is the provision worth knowing, because most local hiring is not scored.
VeteransApplies statewide10 points on an open examination, 15 if disabled; an interview where there is no scored exam
Read it and check if you qualifyWar Service Plates — Vietnam, Korea, Pearl Harbor, the Gulf, and Combat Wounded
Minnesota issues special plates bearing service designations: VIETNAM VET, Pearl Harbor survivor, World War II, Korea, Persian Gulf, Laos War, Iraq and Afghanistan, and combat-wounded designations among others. They go on a passenger car, recreational vehicle or one-ton pickup, and on a motorcycle for certain designations. Service with an allied nation counts for some of them, which is unusual. The one procedural point that stops applications is that a CERTIFIED COPY of the discharge papers showing character of discharge is required — not a photocopy.
VeteransApplies statewideService designation plates on a car, RV, one-ton pickup or (for some) a motorcycle
Read it and check if you qualifyMilitary Retirement Pay Subtracted — or a Credit, Not Both
Military retirement pay comes out of Minnesota taxable income — unless the credit for past military service is worth more to you, because the statute makes you choose.
VeteransApplies statewideYour military retired pay, subtracted from Minnesota taxable income
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans Preference — Ranked Ahead, Not Points
Disabled veterans rank ahead of every other applicant, veterans ahead of every nonveteran — and a rejected veteran finalist must be told why, in writing.
VeteransApplies statewideRanked ahead of nonveterans — disabled veterans ahead of everyone
Read it and check if you qualifyMinnesota GI Bill — $5,000 a Year
Up to $5,000 a year and $15,000 lifetime, for school, apprenticeship or on-the-job training — for veterans, for serving Guard and reserve members with five or more cumulative years since 11 September 2001, and for families of the fallen and the severely disabled. The apprenticeship path can also generate two $1,000 job placement credits.
StudentsApplies statewideUp to $5,000 an academic year; $15,000 lifetime
Read it and check if you qualifyPermanent Free Angling — and Free Deer and Small Game
At 100% service-connected, the angling licence is free and PERMANENT — issued once, never renewed — with free firearm and archery deer and free small game beside it, and the driver’s-licence veteran designation accepted as the evidence at any agent.
VeteransApplies statewideAngling: free and permanent. Deer (firearm and archery) and small game: free
Read it and check if you qualifyRegistration Tax, Plate and Filing Fees Waived — Two Vehicles
A veteran with a total service-connected disability registers up to two vehicles at once with no registration tax, no administrative fee, no filing fee and no plate or sticker fees — and pays no motor vehicle sales tax on a purchase. Joint registration with a spouse or domestic partner keeps the exemption.
VeteransApplies statewideNo registration tax, administrative fee, filing fee, plate or validation sticker fees — up to two vehicles at once; no sales tax on a vehicle purchase
Read it and check if you qualifyExpedited and Temporary Licensure for Recent Veterans and Military Spouses
Every Minnesota professional licensing board must run a procedure to expedite your application, and to issue a temporary licence on an out-of-state one — but for a veteran the door closes two years after separation.
VeteransApplies statewideAn expedited application, and a temporary licence to work while it runs
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Eight Minnesota Veterans Homes
Skilled nursing, memory care and domiciliary care across eight state homes. What you pay is your chargeable income up to the cost of care — and the federal VA per diem is deducted from your bill, not the state’s.
VeteransApplies statewideA maintenance charge set by your income, capped at the cost of care
Read it and check if you qualifyUp to a 12% Procurement Preference, and Direct Awards to $100,000
A certified veteran-owned small business gets up to a 12% preference on state procurement — and the commissioner may award a contract to one outright, with no competitive solicitation, up to $100,000.
VeteransApplies statewideUp to 12% on price, plus a direct-award route to $100,000
Read it and check if you qualifySubsistence Assistance — Rent, Utilities and a Cash Allowance While You Cannot Work
When a medical condition stops you working at your usual occupation for 30 days or more, the state will pay shelter, utilities and health insurance premiums and add a cash allowance — for up to six 30-day periods.
VeteransApplies statewideShelter paid at the actual rent or mortgage, plus a personal needs allowance from $532 to $2,944 a month
Read it and check if you qualifyVeteran’s Relief Grant — One Grant, Once in a Lifetime
A discretionary grant paid straight to your creditors for rent, mortgage, utilities, home or vehicle repair, medical bills, childcare or tools. You get it once, ever.
VeteransApplies statewideAn amount set case by case, paid direct to the vendors you name
Read it and check if you qualifyDental and Optical Assistance — $1,500 a Year for Teeth, $600 for Eyes
Income- and asset-tested help with routine dental and optical care at the provider of your choice, with separate lifetime authorisations of up to $4,000 for dentures and $2,500 for the extractions that precede them.
VeteransApplies statewideUp to $1,500 a year of dental care and $600 of optical care, per person
Read it and check if you qualifyMinnesota National Guard Tuition Reimbursement
A tuition grant for a Guard member serving satisfactorily, benchmarked to the University of Minnesota’s lower-division liberal arts rate, running to 144 semester credits — and extended for deployment, injury or death in service.
StudentsApplies statewideUp to 100% of tuition, benchmarked to the University of Minnesota rate, to 144 semester credits
Read it and check if you qualifyBurial in a Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery — Four Sites, No Fee for the Veteran
A gravesite or niche, a pre-placed liner, a headstone and perpetual care. The statute forbids a plot or interment fee for an eligible veteran; a spouse or eligible dependant is charged $1,002.
VeteransApplies statewide$0 for the veteran, $1,002 for a spouse or eligible dependant, all burial options
Read it and check if you qualify"Support Our Troops" Grants — $4,000 a Calendar Year, Hard Ceiling
A statutory account funding direct grants to service members, Guard members, veterans in financial need and their immediate families. The maximum to any one individual is $4,000 in a calendar year.
VeteransApplies statewideUp to $4,000 to any one individual in a calendar year
Read it and check if you qualifyRecording Your Discharge With the County — No Fee
A discharge, release or transfer certificate may be recorded with any Minnesota county recorder by the person it was issued to without paying any fee. Access to what is recorded is then restricted by statute.
VeteransApplies statewideThe recording fee, waived — and a same-county copy of your DD214 for the rest of your life
Read it and check if you qualifyA State Grave Marker — Ordered by Your County Service Officer
The commissioner of veterans affairs may provide a marker to permanently mark the grave of a veteran buried inside Minnesota. The request must come from a county veterans service officer or a chartered veterans organisation.
VeteransApplies statewideA grave marker provided by the State, within available funds
Read it and check if you qualifyHonour Guard at the Funeral — $50 Paid to the Post That Renders It
The commissioner pays $50 for each honour guard detail a local veterans organisation provides at a deceased veteran’s funeral, and the post may pass some or all of it to a student who plays Taps.
VeteransApplies statewideAn honour guard detail — the $50 goes to the post, not to the family
Read it and check if you qualifyA County Soldiers’ Rest — Free Ground for the Veteran and the Spouse
Where a county board has bought and designated a soldiers’ rest, the ground must be used for veterans and spouses of veterans without charge for space — and charging for a lot in one is a misdemeanour.
VeteransApplies statewideNo charge for the burial space, where your county keeps a soldiers’ rest
Read it and check if you qualifyYour Veteran’s Benefit Is Judgment-Proof — For One Year After You Get It
A veteran’s pension, bonus, adjusted compensation, allotment or other benefit paid by Minnesota or by the United States is exempt from attachment, garnishment, seizure or sale on final process — for one year after receipt.
VeteransApplies statewideProtection from attachment, garnishment, seizure or sale — for 12 months after the money arrives
Read it and check if you qualifyApportioned VA Benefits Are Subtracted From Your Child Support
Where an apportioned veterans’ benefit is paid for a child because of the obligor’s eligibility, and the other parent receives it, the amount is subtracted from the obligor’s net child support obligation.
VeteransApplies statewideA dollar-for-dollar reduction in the net support obligation, equal to the benefit the child receives
Read it and check if you qualifyTen Days’ Leave When a Family Member Is Injured or Killed in Service
An employee whose parent, child, grandparent, sibling or spouse is injured or killed while serving in the armed forces may take up to ten working days of leave per occurrence — unpaid, from an employer of any size.
VeteransApplies statewideUp to ten working days per occurrence — leave without pay
Read it and check if you qualifyWomen Veterans Program — Access and Outreach, With the Services Themselves Federal
Minnesota runs a Women Veterans Program whose stated mission is equitable access, gender-specific responsiveness and outreach — but every health, trauma and prevention service it names belongs to the federal VA, the Department of Defense or the National Guard rather than to the state.
VeteransApplies statewideOutreach, navigation and advocacy — no separate state entitlement
Read it and check if you qualifyFree Tuition for a Deceased Veteran’s Spouse and Children — and Remarriage Does Not End It
A child or surviving spouse of a veteran who died as a result of military service is admitted to any eligible Minnesota public postsecondary institution free of tuition until a bachelor’s or equivalent degree, and receives a $750 educational assistance stipend each year. The statute defines an eligible spouse as the surviving spouse "regardless of whether the surviving spouse remarries". A 2026 act signed on 21 April 2026 adds fees to the waiver and opens the section to the families of prisoners of war and those missing in action.
StudentsApplies statewideFree tuition at an eligible Minnesota public institution until a bachelor’s degree, plus a $750 stipend each year
Read it and check if you qualifyGold Star Plates Free — Including Personalised Ones, and Siblings Are Inside
The commissioner issues GOLD STAR plates free of charge to a surviving spouse, parent or legal guardian, child, or sibling of a person who died while serving honorably in active service — and replaces them free if they are damaged. If the family member wants personalised Gold Star plates, the commissioner is forbidden to charge the ordinary personalised-plate fees. Moving the plates to another vehicle costs $5.
VeteransApplies statewidePlates free of charge, damaged plates replaced free, personalisation fees waived; $5 to transfer to another vehicle
Read it and check if you qualifyTwo Veteran Designations on the Licence — and Neither Is Free
On request and on payment of the required fee, the department must issue a driver’s licence or state identification card bearing either "Veteran" or "Veteran 100% T&P". A veteran under Minn. Stat. 197.447, or a retired or honorably discharged Guard or Reserve member, qualifies for the first; the second additionally needs satisfactory evidence of a 100 percent total and permanent service-connected disability.
VeteransApplies statewideThe word Veteran, or Veteran 100% T&P, on your licence or state ID — on payment of the required fee
Read it and check if you qualifyFree Metered Parking With No Time Limit — On a Certificate, Not on a Rating
A vehicle displaying the disability certificate or disability plates may park in a designated disabled space, in a metered space without paying the meter and without time restrictions unless separately posted, and without time limits in a restricted non-metered space. The test is a ten-part medical definition certified by a health professional, and it includes losing an arm or a leg without a usable artificial limb. A six-year or long-term certificate carries no fee.
VeteransApplies statewideNot a veteran benefitNo meter fee and no time restriction; $5 only for organisation, temporary and short-term certificates
Read it and check if you qualifyHeat Cannot Be Cut Off From 1 October to 30 April — and a VA Pension Letter Proves the Income
During the cold weather period a utility may not disconnect, and must reconnect, heating service for a household at or below 50 percent of the state median income that enters and keeps to a payment agreement — and the utility may not require more than ten percent of household income toward current and past heating bills. The statute names a pension from the federal veterans department as one of the documents that proves the income. There is no veteran-specific rule anywhere in the section.
VeteransApplies statewideNot a veteran benefitNo disconnection and mandatory reconnection October to April, with payments capped at ten percent of household income
Read it and check if you qualify
Does my county change the answer?
For the statewide records, no — the same law applies in all 87 counties. What changes is the office you file with and the local tax arithmetic, which we do not yet hold for Minnesota.
- Aitkin County
- Anoka County
- Becker County
- Beltrami County
- Benton County
- Big Stone County
- Blue Earth County
- Brown County
- Carlton County
- Carver County
- Cass County
- Chippewa County
- Chisago County
- Clay County
- Clearwater County
- Cook County
- Cottonwood County
- Crow Wing County
- Dakota County
- Dodge County
- Douglas County
- Faribault County
- Fillmore County
- Freeborn County
- Goodhue County
- Grant County
- Hennepin County
- Houston County
- Hubbard County
- Isanti County
- Itasca County
- Jackson County
- Kanabec County
- Kandiyohi County
- Kittson County
- Koochiching County
- Lac qui Parle County
- Lake County
- Lake of the Woods County
- Le Sueur County
- Lincoln County
- Lyon County
- McLeod County
- Mahnomen County
- Marshall County
- Martin County
- Meeker County
- Mille Lacs County
- Morrison County
- Mower County
- Murray County
- Nicollet County
- Nobles County
- Norman County
- Olmsted County
- Otter Tail County
- Pennington County
- Pine County
- Pipestone County
- Polk County
- Pope County
- Ramsey County
- Red Lake County
- Redwood County
- Renville County
- Rice County
- Rock County
- Roseau County
- St. Louis County
- Scott County
- Sherburne County
- Sibley County
- Stearns County
- Steele County
- Stevens County
- Swift County
- Todd County
- Traverse County
- Wabasha County
- Wadena County
- Waseca County
- Washington County
- Watonwan County
- Wilkin County
- Winona County
- Wright County
- Yellow Medicine County
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.