Educational guide — not insurance, financial, or funeral planning advice. This page states no coverage target: nobody publishes one, and we do not set one.
The documented figures
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.
| 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 |
Excludes: Cemetery plot, marker, and opening/closing fees, which NFDA's survey does not include.
These are national medians. They are not a state figure, not a regional figure, and not what any one family paid.
What is not published
- Cemetery charges. The plot, opening and closing the grave, and the marker are set by each cemetery and are billed separately from the funeral home. No independent source publishes them nationally or by state.
- Any state or regional funeral median. We found none as of September 2026.
- Any premium. No law sets what a final expense policy costs; each insurer files its own rates. The price tables that exist are published by sellers and by sites paid to refer customers to them, so none is cited here.
- Any coverage target. No statute, regulator or independent publisher states a face amount a buyer should hold, and this page states none.
What the law does give 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)).
That price list is the only document that states what a specific funeral, from a specific provider, in a specific market, actually costs.
How the two figures relate
A final expense policy pays a face amount in cash to the named beneficiary. Nothing in the policy ties the money to a funeral, and nothing in the funeral contract ties the bill to a policy. The arithmetic of setting one against the other needs two inputs:
- The itemized price of the disposition chosen, from the provider’s general price list, plus whatever the cemetery charges separately. Only the provider and the cemetery can state these.
- The face amount, which the policy document states.
The national medians above are the only published figure that stands in for the first, and they stand in for it nationally, not locally.
What the proceeds may be used for
The death benefit is paid to the named beneficiary in cash. It is not restricted to funeral use, not payable to a funeral home unless the beneficiary is one, and not tied to any particular disposition.
Under IRC §101(a)(1) the death benefit is excluded from the beneficiary’s gross income except as provided in §101(a)(2) and (a)(3), (d), (f) and (j): where the contract was transferred for valuable consideration, §101(a)(2) limits the exclusion to that consideration plus the premiums the transferee later paid; where the insurer pays the proceeds later than death, §101(d) prorates the excluded amount over the payment period and includes the remainder in gross income.
What the record shows
Two national medians, published by the funeral homes’ own trade association from a survey of its member firms, each excluding cemetery interment, the monument or marker, and cash advances. One federal rule that puts a duty on every funeral provider to hand over a printed, itemized general price list, as set out above. One federal tax rule on the proceeds. Beyond that: no state figure, no premium, and no coverage target, because no source we could find publishes any of them.
Related reading
- Do You Need Final Expense Insurance? What the Policies Say
- How Much Does Final Expense Insurance Cost?
- How Much Does a Funeral Cost?
- Cremation vs. Burial Cost
- What Is Final Expense Insurance?
- Final Expense Insurance Companies: Ratings and Terms
- Final Expense Agent Rules: Licensing, Disclosure, Complaints
Educational information only — not insurance, financial, or funeral planning advice. This page states no coverage target and no premium: no source we could find publishes either. Sources: National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), 2023 General Price List Survey (national medians, effective 2023, last verified 2026-09-22); FTC Funeral Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 453; 26 U.S.C. §101.