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.
These are national medians. They are not a state figure, not a regional figure, and not what any one family paid.
The line items on a funeral bill
A funeral bill is itemized, and the FTC Funeral Rule requires it to be. The items that appear are:
- The basic services fee, the provider’s own overhead, which the Funeral Rule permits to be non-declinable
- Embalming and body preparation, where a viewing is held
- The casket, or, for a direct cremation, an alternative container
- An outer burial container or vault, where the cemetery requires one
- Use of facilities and staff for a viewing and for the service
- Transportation of the body
- Cemetery charges — the plot, opening and closing the grave, and the marker — billed by the cemetery, not the funeral home
- Cash advances — flowers, an obituary, clergy honoraria — which the provider pays out and bills on
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. The figures that circulate come from funeral providers, from trade bodies funded by them, or from sites paid to refer customers to a provider.
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)). Under §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. Under §453.5 a provider may not charge for unauthorised embalming, and the general price list must disclose that embalming is not required by law except in certain cases.
That price list is the only document that states what a specific funeral, from a specific provider, in a specific market, actually costs.
State variation
No independent source publishes a state or regional funeral median. What each state does set is law — the waiting period before a cremation, who may authorise one, the scattering rules and the regulator — and that is documented state by state, cited to the state code, in Average Cost of Cremation by State.
Burial and cremation
The national medians above put a funeral with cremation below a funeral with a casket and burial. Both are national medians from the same survey, and neither includes cemetery charges, which fall on a burial and are optional for a cremation. The full comparison, and what each state’s law sets, is in Cremation vs. Burial Cost.
What the record shows
Three 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 requires every provider to hand over a printed, itemized price list. Beyond that: no state figure, no regional figure, and no line-item figure, because no source we could find publishes any of them.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the average funeral cost?
The only published figure is a national median. The National Funeral Directors Association, the funeral homes’ own trade association, reports $8,300 for a funeral with a casket and burial and $6,280 for a funeral with cremation, in its 2023 Member General Price List Study. Neither includes cemetery interment, a monument or grave marker, or cash advances.
Are cemetery costs included?
No. The plot, opening and closing the grave, and the marker are billed by the cemetery, separately from the funeral home, and the medians above exclude them. We found no independent published source for what they cost.
How do I find out what a funeral costs where I live?
From the provider’s general price list, which the FTC Funeral Rule requires it to hand over, printed and to keep, to anyone who inquires in person. No independent source publishes a local figure.
Related reading
- Cremation vs. Burial Cost
- Average Cost of Cremation by State
- What to Do When Someone Dies: A Step-by-Step Checklist
- How Much Final Expense Coverage? The Documented Costs
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); Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 453.