There have been a little over 3,500 Medals of Honor awarded in total, counting a small number of people who received it twice.

Quick Scoop

  • The Medal of Honor (often casually called the Congressional Medal of Honor) is the highest U.S. military decoration for valor in combat.
  • Since the 1860s, sources such as the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society report about 3,500–3,520 Medals of Honor awarded.
  • This total includes 19 double recipients (people who received two Medals of Honor), so the number of individuals is slightly lower than the total number of medals.

Approximate counts you can quote

  • “About 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients since the Civil War.”
  • More detailed older accounting: 3,512 Medals of Honor awarded to 3,493 recipients , with 19 receiving it twice (figures from a U.S. congressional report).

Because new Medals of Honor are still awarded, the exact number slowly increases over time, but it remains just over the 3,500 mark.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.