OBJECTIVES: To assess the clinical and economic burden of colorectal cancer in the US veteran population. METHODS: A retrospective study (October 01, 2005 to September 30, 2010) was conducted using the Veterans Health Affairs Medical SAS Datasets. Patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer were included in the study. Health care resource utilization and costs were assessed in the 12-month follow-up period. Patients' demographic, clinical and discharge statuses were compared using Chi-square testing and standardized differences. Student t-tests were used for the means of continuous variables. Mortality and survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan and Meier method and the PROC LIFETEST procedure. RESULTS: In patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (n=92,494) in the total mortality rates in the 12-month follow-up period were 33.11% (n=28,716), with 52.72% for patients age 39 and under, 25.53% for patients age 40 to 64, and 35.81% for patients age 65 and above. The most commonly ordered laboratory tests were sodium (4.12%), potassium (4.07%), glucose quant (3.97%), chloride (3.93%) and creatinine (3.87%). The average number of inpatient visits (0.58), emergency room (ER) (0.37), physician office (28.55) and outpatient visits (28.89) were calculated for colorectal cancer patients per patient, separately. We also calculated the percentage of inpatient (29.33%), ER (17.86%), physician office (99.74%) and outpatient visits (99.78%). Patient expenditures for inpatient visits ($12,032), ER ($139), physician office ($8,728) and outpatient visits ($9,005) were also computed. CONCLUSIONS: Based on currently available data, this analysis suggests that despite a standard mortality rate increase with patient age, the highest mortality rate for colorectal cancer patients in this population occurs among patients under age 40.