Educational guide — not legal, financial, or funeral planning advice. This page states national medians only, because that is the only figure with a named, dated publisher.
The published figures
| Type | National median |
|---|---|
| Funeral with a casket and burial | $8,300 |
| Funeral with a casket, burial and vault | $9,995 |
| Funeral with cremation | $6,280 |
The National Funeral Directors Association, the funeral homes' own trade association, reports in its 2023 Member General Price List Study a median of $8,300 for a funeral with a casket and burial, up from $7,848 two years earlier. The same study reports a median of $6,280 for a funeral with cremation, including an alternative cremation casket and urn, up from $5,810. Both come from a survey NFDA mailed to 5,219 member funeral home owners in July 2023, to which 809 responded, so they record what NFDA's responding member firms charge rather than what any family paid. Neither median includes interment in a cemetery, monument or grave marker costs, or cash advances such as flowers or an obituary. Both are national medians, not the figure for any one state.
Excludes: Cemetery plot, marker, and opening/closing fees, which NFDA's survey does not include.
What sits on a burial bill and not a cremation bill
The two dispositions differ by a defined set of line items, each of which appears separately on the general price list the FTC Funeral Rule requires:
| Line item | Cremation | Burial |
|---|---|---|
| Casket | Not required. Under 16 C.F.R. §453.4(b)(1) a provider may not require the purchase of a casket for a direct cremation, and §453.3(e) requires an alternative container to be made available. | Purchased or supplied by the buyer; a provider must accept a casket bought elsewhere. |
| Outer burial container or vault | Not applicable | Required where the cemetery requires it — a cemetery rule, not a state statute in most states |
| Cemetery plot | Optional | Required, and billed by the cemetery |
| Opening and closing the grave | Not applicable | Required, and billed by the cemetery |
| Headstone or marker | Optional | Billed by the cemetery or a monument dealer |
| Embalming | Not required. Under 16 C.F.R. §453.5 a provider may not charge for unauthorised embalming. | Commonly performed where a viewing is held |
We found no independent published source for what any of those items costs, as of September 2026, so this page states no figure for any of them. What is published is the pair of national medians above, and the difference between them already reflects the funeral-home side of this list. The cemetery side is excluded from both.
Cemetery charges
The plot, opening and closing the grave, and the marker are set by each cemetery, billed separately from the funeral home, and excluded from the national medians. They fall on a burial. For a cremation they are optional. What may be done with cremated remains — interment in a plot or a columbarium niche, keeping them, scattering, or dividing them — is set by each state, and each state’s rule is documented, cited to the state code, in Average Cost of Cremation by State.
No independent source publishes cemetery charges nationally or by state.
State variation
No independent source publishes a state or regional figure for either disposition. What each state does set is law — the waiting period before a cremation, who may authorise one, and the scattering rules — and that is documented state by state, cited to the state code, in Average Cost of Cremation by State and Cremation vs. Burial Cost by State.
What’s driven the shift to cremation
Cremation is the majority disposition choice in the US. The Cremation Association of North America — the cremation industry’s own trade association — reports in its 2026 Annual Statistics Report that the US cremation rate was 62.8% in 2025, up from 57.2% in 2021, and projects 69.1% by 2030. The National Funeral Directors Association — the funeral homes’ own trade association — puts the 2025 rate at a projected 63.4%, with burial projected at 31.6%, in its 2025 Cremation & Burial Report. Neither body states, on the pages either publishes openly, the year in which cremation first passed half of US dispositions, so no crossover year is given here.
The reasons cited for the shift:
- Cost. The national medians above put a funeral with cremation below a funeral with a casket and burial, and cemetery charges fall on the burial side.
- Geographic mobility. Fewer people live near a family cemetery plot. Cremation removes the geographic anchor.
- Religious practice. Cremation is permitted in most major US religious traditions, several of which set their own conditions on it.
- Environmental considerations. Cremation and natural burial are each presented as alternatives to burial with embalming and a vault.
- Timing. A memorial after a cremation may be held at any later date and in any setting, without the scheduling a burial requires.
What the law gives a buyer
Under the FTC Funeral Rule a funeral provider must give a printed, itemized general price list, to keep, to anyone who inquires in person — not only on request, but as soon as discussion begins of prices, the overall type of funeral or disposition, or specific goods or services, and whether that discussion happens at the funeral home or elsewhere (16 C.F.R. §453.2(b)(4)(i)(A)–(B)). A telephone inquiry is treated differently: the provider must tell a caller any accurate information from its price lists, and any other readily available information that reasonably answers the question, but the duty to hand over the printed list runs to people who inquire in person (16 C.F.R. §453.2(b)(1) and §453.2(b)(4)(i)(A)).
A provider may not condition the furnishing of any funeral good or service on the purchase of another, except as required by law or as otherwise permitted by Part 453 (16 C.F.R. §453.4(b)(1)(i)).
What the record shows
Two national medians from one survey, published by the funeral homes’ own trade association, both excluding cemetery interment, the monument or marker, and cash advances. A defined list of line items that fall on a burial and not a cremation, none of which has a published price we could cite. Two national cremation rates, one reported and one projected, from the two trade associations that publish them. Beyond that: no state figure, no regional figure, and no line-item figure.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, cremation or burial?
On the only published figures — national medians from NFDA’s 2023 Member General Price List Study — a funeral with cremation has the lower median: $6,280 against $8,300 for a funeral with a casket and burial. Both exclude cemetery charges, which fall on a burial and are optional for a cremation.
Does the cost of cremation include a casket?
No. Under 16 C.F.R. §453.4(b)(1) a provider may not require the purchase of a casket for a direct cremation, and §453.3(e) requires an alternative container to be made available.
Does either figure include the cemetery?
No. The plot, opening and closing the grave, and the marker are billed by the cemetery and excluded from both medians.
Is there a state-by-state figure?
No independent source publishes one. Each state’s law — the waiting period, who may authorise a cremation, and the scattering rules — is documented in Average Cost of Cremation by State.
Related reading
- Average Cost of Cremation by State
- Cremation vs. Burial Cost by State
- How Much Does a Funeral Cost?
- What to Do When Someone Dies: A Step-by-Step Checklist
Educational information only — not legal, financial, or funeral planning advice. This page states national medians only. Sources: National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), 2023 General Price List Survey (national medians, effective 2023, last verified 2026-09-22); Cremation Association of North America (CANA) 2026 Annual Statistics Report (https://www.cremationassociation.org/industrystatistics.html); Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 453.