The progressing urbanization of space along with a desire for maintaining the existing cemetery resources aggravates the problem of guaranteeing a supply of new burial sites. The problem is particularly noticeable in large urban centers, irrespective of their geographic location. The paper focuses on the largest Polish cities and analyses the modes of cemetery management for the purpose of securing future burial places for their residents. By compiling existing data and sourcing information via direct contacts with representatives of municipal offices and managers of municipal cemeteries, a number of significant facts were collected, diagnosing the modes of cemetery management and hitherto burial practices. Clear differences were identified in the transparency of the pursued municipal policies with respect to cemeteries and styles of management, yet every city retains a continuous supply of burial sites. Furthermore, common regularities are perceptible on the national level, such as: priority of extension of existing cemeteries and investments increasing their burial density (e.g. construction of columbaria), planning new cemeteries at city outskirts with good accessibility with respect to the residential areas, no plans to liquidate the existing cemeteries, irrespective of their status of preservation. •Polish cities maintain liquid supply of burial sites.•There are major differences in the transparency of city policies towards cemeteries.•Rising cremation rate improves spatial compression of cemeteries.•Some cities offer preferential access to municipal cemeteries for their residents.