A funeral with a viewing and burial costs a national median of $8,300 at the funeral home, according to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA). Add a burial vault, which most cemeteries require, and the median rises to $9,995. A funeral with a viewing followed by cremation has a median of $6,280. None of those figures include the cemetery: the plot, opening and closing the grave, and the headstone usually add another $2,500 to $9,500. All in, a traditional burial often lands around $12,500 to $19,500. A direct cremation with no service typically costs about $1,000 to $3,500.
The NFDA medians come from its 2023 Member General Price List Study, which is the newest national price survey NFDA has published. Prices at most funeral homes have risen since 2023, so treat these numbers as a floor for 2026 and 2027, not a quote. The rest of this guide breaks every number down line by line so you can see where the money goes.
Funeral Cost at a Glance
| Type of funeral | National median or typical cost | What is left out |
|---|
| Funeral with viewing and burial | $8,300 (NFDA median) | Vault, plot, grave opening, headstone, cash advance items |
| Funeral with viewing, burial and vault | $9,995 (NFDA median) | Plot, grave opening, headstone, cash advance items |
| Funeral with viewing and cremation | $6,280 (NFDA median) | Niche or urn plot, marker, cash advance items |
| Direct cremation, no service | Typically about $1,000 to $3,500 | Any service, urn upgrade, niche |
| Traditional burial, all in | Roughly $12,500 to $19,500 | Flowers, reception, travel |
A median is the middle price: half of funeral homes charge more and half charge less. It is not an average, and it tells you nothing about your own town. Big-city funeral homes and cemeteries often run well above it.
Funeral With Viewing and Burial: Line by Line
These are NFDA's national medians for each item that goes into a traditional funeral. They add up exactly to the $8,300 and $9,995 totals.
| Line item | National median |
|---|
| Basic services of the funeral director and staff | $2,495 |
| Transfer of the body to the funeral home | $395 |
| Embalming | $845 |
| Other preparation (cosmetics, dressing, hair) | $295 |
| Staff and use of the funeral home for the viewing | $475 |
| Staff and use of the funeral home for the funeral | $550 |
| Hearse | $375 |
| Service car or van | $175 |
| Basic printed materials (programs, register book) | $195 |
| Metal casket | $2,500 |
| Total, funeral with viewing and burial | $8,300 |
| Burial vault | $1,695 |
| Total with vault | $9,995 |
Source: NFDA 2023 Member General Price List Study.
Two lines make up more than half the bill: the basic services fee and the casket.
The basic services fee is the one charge you cannot decline. It covers the funeral home's overhead: planning, permits, coordinating with the cemetery, and filing the death certificate. Every other line is optional under federal rules, even if a particular funeral home packages them together.
The casket has the widest range of any item. NFDA uses a $2,500 metal casket for its median, but caskets run from under $1,000 for a simple model to $10,000 or more for hardwood or bronze. You can buy one from an outside seller, and the funeral home has to accept it without a handling fee.
The vault (also called an outer burial container or grave liner) keeps the ground from sinking over the casket. No federal law requires one, but many cemeteries do. A plain concrete grave liner usually costs less than a sealed vault.
Funeral With Viewing and Cremation: Line by Line
A cremation funeral keeps most of the same services and swaps the casket, hearse and vault for a cremation fee, a container and an urn.
| Line item | National median |
|---|
| Basic services of the funeral director and staff | $2,495 |
| Transfer of the body to the funeral home | $395 |
| Embalming | $845 |
| Other preparation | $295 |
| Staff and use of the funeral home for the viewing | $475 |
| Staff and use of the funeral home for the service | $550 |
| Service car or van | $175 |
| Basic printed materials | $195 |
| Cremation fee (if the funeral home uses an outside crematory) | $400 |
| Cremation container | $160 |
| Urn | $295 |
| Total, funeral with viewing and cremation | $6,280 |
Source: NFDA 2023 Member General Price List Study.
The cremation itself is only $400 of that total. Most of the cost is the viewing and service. Skip those, and you are close to a direct cremation, which is why direct cremation costs so much less. Our cremation cost guide compares every type of cremation, from direct cremation to a full service.
Cemetery Costs: The Part the Medians Leave Out
The NFDA figures stop at the funeral home door. If the plan is a burial, the cemetery bills separately, and its prices vary more than anything else on this page. There is no national survey of cemetery prices, so the ranges below are rough.
| Cemetery charge | Typical range | Notes |
|---|
| Burial plot | Roughly $1,000 to $5,000 | Public and rural cemeteries sit at the low end. Private cemeteries in large cities can charge far more. |
| Opening and closing the grave | Typically around $500 to $1,500 | Often higher on weekends and holidays. Billed even if you already own the plot. |
| Headstone or grave marker | Roughly $1,000 to $3,000 | See the headstone table below. |
| Installation or setting fee | Typically a few hundred dollars | Charged by the cemetery or the monument dealer. |
| Perpetual care or endowment fee | Varies; sometimes built into the plot price | Pays for mowing and upkeep. |
For a sense of the low end, one Wisconsin city cemetery's 2026 fee schedule charges $950 to open and close a grave for a casket burial. Private cemeteries in expensive metro areas often charge double that or more.
How Much Does a Headstone Cost?
Headstone prices depend on size, material and how much engraving you want. These are approximate retail ranges, not official figures:
| Type of marker | Approximate cost |
|---|
| Flat granite marker | About $500 to $2,000 |
| Flat bronze marker | About $1,500 to $3,500 |
| Upright granite headstone, simple | About $1,500 to $5,000 |
| Double (companion) upright headstone | About $3,000 to $8,000 |
| Custom monument | $10,000 or more |
Many cemeteries limit what you can place, such as flat markers only, so ask for the cemetery's rules before you order. Like a casket, you can buy a headstone from any monument dealer, not only the cemetery.
Cash Advance Items
Funeral homes often pay certain bills on your behalf and add them to your statement. These are called cash advance items. NFDA leaves them out of its medians. Common ones:
- Certified copies of the death certificate. States set the fee, often around $10 to $30 a copy. Families usually need several for banks, insurers and Social Security.
- Obituary notice. Newspapers charge by length. A few hundred dollars is common, more in large papers.
- Clergy or officiant honorarium, often $100 to $300.
- Musicians, flowers and a reception, anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
Ask whether the funeral home adds a markup to cash advance items. The written statement you get before paying has to show it.
What Three Common Funerals Actually Cost
Here is how the pieces combine. The first and third rows use NFDA medians. The others are estimates built from those medians and the ranges above.
| Choice | Funeral home | Cemetery and extras | Rough total |
|---|
| Direct cremation, no service | About $1,000 to $3,500 | Urn upgrade or niche optional | About $1,000 to $3,500 |
| Funeral with viewing and cremation | $6,280 median | Niche or urn plot if wanted, cash advances | About $6,500 to $9,000 |
| Immediate burial, no viewing or embalming | About $4,300 to $5,800 (basic services, transfer, hearse, casket) | Vault, plot, opening, marker: about $4,200 to $11,200 | About $8,500 to $17,000 |
| Funeral with viewing, burial and vault | $9,995 median | Plot, opening, headstone: about $2,500 to $9,500 | About $12,500 to $19,500 |
That spread is why the type of funeral matters more than the funeral home. Cremation versus burial is the biggest single decision on the bill. NFDA projected a U.S. cremation rate of 63.4% for 2025, against a 31.6% burial rate, and price is a large part of the reason.
Your Rights Under the FTC Funeral Rule
The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule applies to every funeral home in the country. It gives you these rights:
- Prices by phone. A funeral home must tell you its prices over the phone if you ask, and it cannot make you give your name or address first.
- A General Price List you can keep. When you visit, you get an itemized price list for every item and service.
- Buy only what you want. You can pick individual items instead of a package. The basic services fee is the only charge you cannot decline.
- Casket and vault price lists first. You can see the casket and outer burial container prices before you see the products.
- Outside caskets and urns. The funeral home cannot refuse a casket or urn you bought elsewhere, and cannot charge a fee to handle it.
- No routine embalming. No state requires embalming for every death. Refrigeration is often an option, and direct cremation or immediate burial do not need it. Some funeral homes require embalming for a public viewing.
- Simple cremation containers. A funeral home that offers cremation must offer an alternative container, such as cardboard or unfinished wood. No law requires a casket for cremation.
- A written statement before you pay that itemizes everything you chose.
The Funeral Rule does not cover cemeteries without an on-site funeral home or outside casket and monument dealers. Ask cemeteries for their written price list anyway. Most will provide one.
Ways to Lower the Cost
- Call two or three funeral homes for prices. The same service can differ by thousands of dollars in one town, and the phone-price right makes this quick.
- Buy the casket or urn elsewhere. Online and local casket sellers often charge well under the funeral home's price.
- Skip embalming and choose a private family viewing, or hold a memorial service after a direct cremation or immediate burial.
- Pick a concrete grave liner instead of a sealed vault if the cemetery allows it.
- Use a public or religious cemetery, which often charges less than a private one.
- Look into whole-body donation. Many medical school programs cover transport and cremation at no cost and return the remains to the family.
Help Paying for a Funeral
Some government benefits cover part of the bill, though none cover all of it.
| Benefit | Amount | Who gets it |
|---|
| Social Security lump-sum death payment | $255, one time | A surviving spouse who lived with the person, or an eligible spouse or child getting survivor benefits |
| VA burial allowance, death not service-connected | Up to $1,032 for burial plus up to $1,032 for a plot (deaths on or after October 1, 2026) | Family of an eligible veteran who paid the costs; conditions apply |
| VA burial allowance, service-connected death | Up to $2,000 (deaths on or after September 11, 2001) | Family of a veteran whose death was service-connected |
| VA national cemetery burial | Grave, opening and closing, liner, headstone or marker and upkeep at no cost | Eligible veterans and often spouses and dependents |
| State and county burial assistance | Varies widely | Usually low-income families; rules set locally |
A veteran buried in a private cemetery can usually get a government headstone or marker at no charge, though the family pays the cemetery's setting fee. Our VA burial benefits guide walks through every VA option, and our guide to help paying for a funeral lists state, county and charity programs.
The $255 from Social Security has not changed since 1954, and the VA amounts cover a fraction of the medians above. That gap is why many families plan ahead. Common ways to set money aside include a payable-on-death savings account, a life insurance policy, or a prepaid plan with a funeral home. Burial insurance is a small whole life policy meant for exactly this bill, and our comparison of prepaid funeral plans vs funeral insurance explains how the two differ. Premiums depend on age, health and the insurer, so compare written quotes rather than any advertised rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an average funeral cost in 2026?
The newest national figures are NFDA's 2023 medians: $8,300 for a funeral with viewing and burial, $9,995 with a vault, and $6,280 for a funeral with viewing and cremation. NFDA has not published a newer national price survey, and prices at many funeral homes have gone up since 2023. With cemetery costs added, a traditional burial in 2026 often runs about $12,500 to $19,500.
What is the cheapest way to have a funeral?
Direct cremation is usually the cheapest option, at typically about $1,000 to $3,500. Whole-body donation to a medical school can cost nothing in many programs. Immediate burial without a viewing is the lowest-cost burial, though the cemetery charges still apply.
How much does a headstone cost?
A flat granite marker usually costs about $500 to $2,000, and a simple upright granite headstone about $1,500 to $5,000. Bronze and companion stones cost more, and the cemetery often charges a separate setting fee. Eligible veterans can get a government headstone or marker at no cost.
Is a burial vault required?
No federal or state law requires a vault, but many cemeteries require some kind of outer container so the ground does not sink. A concrete grave liner usually meets that rule for less than a sealed vault. NFDA's median vault price is $1,695.
Does Medicare or Medicaid pay for a funeral?
No. Medicare does not pay for funeral or burial costs, and Medicaid does not pay for funerals either. Some states run separate burial assistance programs for low-income residents, often through the county or the state human services agency. Our guide to help paying for a funeral covers them.
Who pays for a funeral if there is no money?
Usually the family pays, often with help from the person's estate, life insurance, or the benefits listed above. If no one can pay, many counties provide a basic burial or cremation, called an indigent burial. Rules and what is included vary by county.
Do funeral homes have to give prices over the phone?
Yes. Under the FTC Funeral Rule, a funeral home must give price information by phone when you ask, and it cannot require your name or contact details first. In person, it must give you a General Price List you can keep.
