ABOUT YOUR FUTURE HOME BEFORE CHRST

NFDA Home > About Funeral Service > Trends and Statistics

About Funeral Service

NFDA Member Login

Username

Password

Remember Me

Forgot login?

Member Benefits

Statistics

General Funeral Service Facts

Median Cost of an Adult Funeral

Rates of Cremation and Burial

Data Sources

Members of the Media: If you have questions about the statistics below, would like additional information or data, or would like to interview an expert, please contact NFDA’s Public Relations team.

General Funeral Service Facts

According to the National Directory of Morticians Redbook, the number of funeral homes in the U.S. is:

2015: 19,391
2014: 19,486
2013: 19,624
2012: 19,680
2011: 19,841
2010: 19,902
2009: 20,557
2008: 20,915
2007: 21,080
2006: 21,088
2005: 21,495
2004: 21,528

Approximately 86% of funeral homes in the United States are privately owned by families or individuals. The remaining 14% are owned by publicly-traded corporations. (Service Corporation International (SCI) owns approximately 12% and Carriage Services Inc. and StoneMor Partners own approximately 1% each.)²

98% of NFDA-member funeral homes are owned by individuals, families, or closely held private corporations.

The average NFDA-member funeral home handles 113 calls per year and has three full-time and four part-time employees.³

NFDA-member Firm Caseload (i.e., number of decedents cared for)³

58.4% of NFDA members handled 150 cases or less; 24.5% reported 151-350 cases; 8.6% reported 351-500 cases; 5.2% reported 501-1000; 3.3% reported 1001 or more.

	1997	2002	2007	2012
Revenue¹ ($ Millions)
Cemeteries and Crematories	$2,988	$3,231	$3,350	$3,319
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	$9,633	$11,049	$11,943	$13,004
TOTAL	$12,621	$14,280	$15,293	$16,323

Employment¹
Cemeteries and Crematories	59,458	41,932	35,035	32,617
Funeral Homes and Funeral Servcies	105,365	106,263	102,978	108,385
TOTAL	164,823	148,195	138,013	141,002

[Back to Top]

Median Cost of an Adult Funeral⁴

Median Cost of a Funeral With Burial

Since the 1960s, NFDA has calculated the median cost of a funeral with burial by totaling the costs of the following items: basic services fee, removal/transfer of remains to funeral home, embalming and other preparation of the body (casketing, cosmetology, dressing and grooming), a metal casket, use of facilities and staff for viewing and a funeral ceremony, use of a hearse, use of a service car/van, and a basic memorial printed package (e.g., memorial cards, register book, etc.).

The national median cost of a funeral for calendar year 2014 was $7,181. If a vault is included, something that is typically required by a cemetery, the median cost is $8,508. The cost does not take into account cemetery, monument or marker costs or miscellaneous cash-advance charges, such as for flowers or an obituary.

Over the past decade, the median cost of an adult funeral in the United States has increased 28.6 percent. This is similar to the 2000-2009 period when the median cost of a funeral increased by 26.6 percent. The percent increase during the 1980s (1980-1989) was significantly higher (87 percent), reflecting the significantly higher inflation rates during that decade.

National Median Cost of an Adult Funeral with Viewing and Burial: 2004 vs. 2014
Item	2014*	2004*	% Change
Nondeclinable basic services fee	$2,000	$1,460	37.0%
Removal/transfer of remains to funeral home	$310	$195	59.0%
Embalming	$695	$498	39.6%
Other preparation of the body	$250	$174	42.9%
Use of facilities/staff for viewing	$420	$339	23.9%
Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony	$495	$395	25.3%
Hearse	$318	$225	41.1%
Service car/van	$143	$100	42.5%
Basic memorial printed package	$155	$95	63.2%
Metal casket	$2,395	$2,100	14.0%
Median Cost of a Funeral With Viewing and Burial	$7,181	$5,582	28.6%
Vault	$1,327	$998	33.0%
Total with vault	$8,508	$6,580	29.3%
2004 prices have not been adjusted for inflation. * Median Price – The amount at which half of the figures fall below and half are above.

National Median Cost of a Funeral With Cremation

The national median cost of a cremation in 2014 was $6,078. NFDA calculated the median cost of a cost of an adult funeral with cremation by totaling the costs of the following items: basic services fee, removal/transfer of remains to funeral home, embalming and other preparation of the body, use of facilities and staff for viewing and a funeral ceremony, use of a service car/van, basic memorial printed package, cremation fee, cremation casket and urn. The cost does not take into account vault, cemetery monument/marker costs or other miscellaneous cash advance charges.

National Median Cost of an Adult Funeral with Viewing and Cremation
Item	2014*
Nondeclinable basic services fee	$2,000
Removal/transfer of remains to funeral home	$310
Embalming	$695
Other preparation of the body	$250
Use of facilities/staff for viewing	$420
Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony	$495
Service car/van	$143
Basic memorial printed package	$155
Cremation fee (if firm uses a third-party)**	$330
Cremation casket	$1,000
Urn	$280
Median Cost of a Funeral with Viewing and Cremation	$6,078
* Median Price – The amount at which half of the figures fall below and half are above. **65% of respondents use a third-party crematory (i.e., the funeral home does not own a crematory)

[Back to Top]

Rates of Cremation and Burial⁵

Cremation was the method of disposition for 45.4 in 2013; 48.7% of people were buried in 2013.

NFDA Members: You may download a copy of the 2015 Cremation and Burial Report at no cost (login required).
Members of the Media: Please contact NFDA for a state-by-state breakdown of the rates of cremation and burial and further information about the 2015 NFDA Cremation

meanlittleboy2
JESUS IS LORD!!