The Growing Crisis of Unclaimed Bodies

Depending on the state regulations, unclaimed bodies may be cremated and stored or scattered at sea. Some unclaimed bodies are buried by the government.

Across the United States, medical examiners, coroners, and funeral directors are seeing a troubling rise in the number of deceased individuals whose bodies go unclaimed. This points to, and results, in a number of problems: Why is this the case? And where do the bodies go?

The answers to the first are many, and as for the second, as The Atlantic reported in 2020, “solutions for managing the dead are getting weirder and more controversial.”

Why Are So Many Bodies Going Unclaimed?

Unlike previous eras, when mass casualties from war or pandemic were often the cause—think the Civil War or the 1918 influenza outbreak — today’s crisis is rooted in something less visible but equally devastating: social disconnection, economic hardship and the  unraveling of familial and community bonds.

Each year, up to 150,000 bodies in the U.S. are left unclaimed, according to Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans, authors of “The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels.”  A 2024 piece the sociologists published in the Los Angeles Times sheds light on the reality of unclaimed remains: These are not unidentified individuals. In many cases, their names and life histories are known. What’s missing is someone willing or able to take responsibility for their remains.

After eight years of research, Prickett and Timmermans identified a web of reasons that next of kin either can’t or won’t step forward. Families may be estranged due to personal conflicts, addiction, political divides, or mental illness. Others are fractured by the opioid epidemic, long-term homelessness or chronic poverty.

Demographic trends exacerbate the problem. The number of “kinless seniors” — older adults with no surviving close relatives — is growing. The close-knit family structures that once offered a safety net at the end of life are less common today. And for many families, the rising costs of burial or cremation — often thousands of dollars — are simply unaffordable.

Yet tracking the scope of the problem remains difficult. There is no federal standard for monitoring or reporting unclaimed bodies. Each state, county, and city uses its own system. Maryland is one of the few states that keeps reliable data, and it has seen its percentage of unclaimed bodies double over the past 20 years. In Los Angeles County — home to one of the nation’s largest homeless populations—the rate of unclaimed adult deaths rose from 1.2% in the early 2000s to over 3% in the early 2000s.

What Happens to the Unclaimed Dead?

When a body goes unclaimed, the responsibility for its disposition typically falls to local governments. A few states cover at least part of the costs. According to Direct Cremation, most are cremated to reduce costs and storage needs. The ashes may be stored in morgues, funeral homes, or government facilities for a set period.

As The Atlantic reports, “In smaller counties that have fewer unclaimed bodies, bodies are kept in coolers; those that are cremated are left in boxes or in a coroner’s closet.”

Some municipalities still use potter’s fields — public cemeteries for the indigent and unclaimed dead.

In certain cases, unclaimed bodies may be donated to medical science. However, this practice has come under scrutiny. For instance, a 2025 investigation by NBC revealed that the University of North Texas Health Science Center used over 800 unclaimed bodies for research without consent, generating millions in revenue. The scandal led to resignations and raised ethical concerns about the treatment of the unclaimed dead

A Final Resting Place — and a Final Ceremony

Despite these grim realities, there are ongoing efforts to ensure the unclaimed are treated with dignity. In Los Angeles County, an interfaith, multilingual memorial service has taken place every year since 1896. The ashes of hundreds of individuals are placed in a communal grave. Prayers are said. Names are read aloud. A public record is preserved. As an Associated Press news piece in 2024 reported, the public servants at L.A.’s public administrator’s office do this because they are committed to caring for the thousands who die alone in the nation’s most populous county.

The Deeper Implications

If he fate of unclaimed bodies reveals a stark mirror to society, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) offers one glimmer of hope. Led by Chuck Heurich, a senior physical scientist with the National Institute of Justice, NamUs allows law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners, victims’ advocates and families to share information and missing and unidentified people.

“A Story for Today”

In the end, the rise in unclaimed bodies is not just a failure of logistics or economics — it’s a failure of connection. As authors Prickett and Timmermans write in their book, “The story of the unclaimed is, urgently, a story for today.”