Compensation voltage(s) are applied to a non-volatile memory system during erase operations to equalize the erase behavior of memory cells. Compensation voltages can compensate for voltages capacitively coupled to memory cells of a NAND string from other memory cells and/or select gates. A compensation voltage can be applied to one or more memory cells to substantially normalize the erase behavior of the memory cells. A compensation voltage can be applied to end memory cells of a NAND string to equalize their erase behavior with interior memory cells of the NAND string. A compensation voltage can also be applied to interior memory cells to equalize their erase behavior with end memory cells. Additionally, a compensation voltage can be applied to one or more select gates of a NAND string to compensate for voltages coupled to one or more memory cells from the select gate(s). Various compensation voltages can be used.