Feature

NFDA's 2023 General Price List Survey puts the median US funeral-home bill at $8,300 for viewing-and-burial versus $6,280 for viewing-and-cremation — a $2,020 gap driven almost entirely by the $2,500 casket and $1,695 vault, since both paths carry nearly identical basic-services, embalming and facility fees.

Every NFDA-surveyed funeral line item, from casket to crematory fee, sortable by cost, path, and year — showing exactly where the $2,020 gap originates.

By Helen Marsh · 2026-08-02 · 1 min read

NFDA’s 2023 General Price List Survey puts the median viewing-and-burial funeral at $8,300, against $6,280 for viewing-and-cremation — a $2,020 gap. Nearly every basic-services, embalming, and facility fee is identical between the two paths; the difference comes almost entirely from the $2,500 casket and $1,695 vault that only the burial path carries. Cremation’s share of U.S. deaths has climbed from 47.9% in 2015 to 63.4% in 2025, with NFDA projecting 82.3% by 2045.

Sort and compare. Click any column header below to reorder all 28 line items, totals, and trend figures by cost, year, or path.

Cost Composition, Burial vs. Cremation

Common Line Items (Both Paths): $5,425Burial-Only: Hearse and CasketVault Add-On (Optional)Cremation-Only: Casket, Fee and Urn

Hover a segment for its line items and exact cost. The $8,300 burial total excludes the optional vault; $9,995 includes it. Cremation's total is $6,280.

Every Line Item, Burial vs. Cremation

Type ↕	Item ↕	Year ↕	Burial Path ↕	Cremation Path ↕	Unit ↕	Source Note ↕
Line Item	Basic services fee (non-declinable)	2023	$2,495	$2,495	USD	Choicemutual.com and Worthyfarewell.com both reprint $2,495 for both paths; a third reprint (azfcca.org) shows $2,459 on its burial-specific table only — treated as a transcription variant, flagged in method.
Line Item	Transfer of remains to funeral home	2023	$395	$395	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints of the 2023 NFDA GPL Survey.
Line Item	Embalming	2023	$845	$845	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints.
Line Item	Other preparation of the body	2023	$295	$295	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints (listed as 'cosmetic preparations' on one).
Line Item	Use of facilities/staff for viewing	2023	$475	$475	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints.
Line Item	Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony	2023	$550	$550	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints.
Line Item	Hearse	2023	$375	—	USD	Burial-path only in NFDA's own calculation; azfcca.org/choicemutual.com reprints omit a hearse line from the cremation-path table.
Line Item	Service car/van	2023	$175	$175	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints.
Line Item	Basic memorial printed package	2023	$195	$195	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints.
Line Item	Casket (median metal casket, burial path)	2023	$2,500	—	USD	Matches across azfcca.org, choicemutual.com and funeralwise.com.
Line Item	Burial vault / outer burial container	2023	$1,695	—	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com. This is a funeral-home/GPL item (FTC-required line #16), not a cemetery cost, so it is kept in scope; NFDA reports it as an add-on to the $8,300 base total, not folded into it.
Line Item	Alternative cremation container (cremation casket)	2023	—	$160	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints.
Line Item	Cremation fee (crematory charge)	2023	—	$400	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints.
Line Item	Urn	2023	—	$295	USD	Matches across azfcca.org and choicemutual.com reprints.
Line Item	Direct cremation (no viewing, no ceremony)	2023	—	~$2,250	USD	Single explicit NFDA attribution found (worthyfarewell.com, citing NFDA 2023 data). Order-of-magnitude corroborated by Funeralocity's independent 2026 figure of $2,202 (different source/year, via choicemutual.com), but no second verbatim NFDA reprint was found — marked ~, see gaps.
Line Item	Immediate/direct burial (no viewing, no ceremony)	2023	~unresolved	—	USD	Sources conflict and are not clearly NFDA-attributed: funeralwise.com gives an unattributed 'under $2,000' range, while Funeralocity (via choicemutual.com) gives $5,138 for a differently-labeled 'direct funeral'. No reliable single NFDA median found — see gaps.
Total	Median total (funeral-home charges only) — viewing + burial, no vault	2023	$8,300	—	USD	NFDA 2023 GPL Survey headline figure; confirmed directly on the live nfda.org/news/statistics page and in every reprint checked. Excludes cemetery plot, opening/closing, monument.
Total	Median total (funeral-home charges only) — viewing + cremation	2023	—	$6,280	USD	NFDA 2023 GPL Survey headline figure; confirmed directly on the live nfda.org/news/statistics page and in every reprint checked.
Total	Median total including burial vault — viewing + burial	2023	$9,995	—	USD	NFDA's own reported total once the vault add-on is included; matches across choicemutual.com and funeralcostanalyzer.com.
Trend	Median total — viewing + burial	2021	$7,848	—	USD	Prior NFDA GPL Survey wave (biennial), cited as the 2021 comparator in the 2023 survey press coverage (azfcca.org, funeraldirectordaily.com).
Trend	Median total — viewing + cremation	2021	—	$5,810	USD	azfcca.org/tributetech.com reprint gives $5,810; funeraldirectordaily.com's reprint gives $5,801 for the same figure — a $9 discrepancy between two secondary reprints, flagged in method; $5,810 used as it appears in two independent reprints.
Trend	Median total — viewing + burial (nominal, unadjusted)	1960	$708	—	USD	Single-source (funeraldirectordaily.com, citing NFDA long-run comparison); not independently cross-checked, marked as historical color rather than a load-bearing figure.
Trend	US cremation rate	2015	~47.9%	—	Percent	cremation.green states 47.9% for 2015; other reprints (tributetech.com, us-funerals.com) describe 2015 only narratively as 'the first year cremation edged ahead of burial,' which is not numerically consistent with 47.9% — flagged in gaps.
Trend	US cremation rate	2019	54.6%	—	Percent	cremation.green (cremation-today article); not independently cross-checked against a second source for this specific year.
Trend	US cremation rate	2024	61.8%	—	Percent	Cited to CANA (Cremation Association of North America) via us-funerals.com; a separate NFDA projection for the same year (61.9%) appeared in search snippets but was not confirmed via direct WebFetch, so only the CANA-sourced figure is used here.
Trend	US cremation rate	2025	63.4%	—	Percent	NFDA 2025 Cremation & Burial Report. Confirmed directly on the live nfda.org/news/statistics page (primary) and corroborated by cremation.green's separate write-up of the same report.
Trend	US burial rate	2025	—	31.6%	Percent	NFDA 2025 Cremation & Burial Report. Confirmed directly on the live nfda.org/news/statistics page (primary).
Trend	US cremation rate (NFDA projection)	2045	82.3%	—	Percent	NFDA projection. Confirmed directly on the live nfda.org/news/statistics page (primary) and corroborated by cremation.green.

Cremation Is Overtaking Burial

US cremation rate (dashed = NFDA projection)US burial rate (single point, 2025)

Hover a point for its exact value and year. The 2015 figure is single-sourced and marked with a tilde in the table below.

Sources

eCFR :: 16 CFR Part 453 -- Funeral Industry PracticesprimaryUS Government (eCFR) — Fetched via r.jina.ai proxy after a direct redirect loop. Confirms the rule citation and quotes required GPL line items under §453.2(b)(4)(ii)-(iii): forwarding/receiving remains, direct cremation, immediate burial, transfer of remains, embalming, other preparation, use of facilities/staff for viewing/ceremony/memorial service, use of equipment/staff for graveside service, hearse, limousine, casket prices, outer burial container prices, and basic services fee.
Complying with the Funeral RuleprimaryFederal Trade Commission — Direct WebFetch returned HTTP 403; fetched via r.jina.ai proxy instead. Cross-confirms the same 16 required GPL line items as the eCFR text.
NFDA Media Center / StatisticsprimaryNational Funeral Directors Association — Live and directly fetchable (no 403/404). Confirms verbatim: median viewing+burial cost $8,300 (2023), median viewing+cremation cost $6,280 (2023), 2025 projected cremation rate 63.4%, burial rate 31.6%, 2045 projected cremation rate 82.3%, and industry size stats (15,401 funeral homes, $16.3B revenue).
2023 NFDA General Price List Study Shows Inflation Increasing Faster than the Cost of a Funeral (NFDA PDF)primaryNational Funeral Directors Association — Direct fetch and r.jina.ai proxy fetch both returned HTTP 404 as of this research; the underlying press release URL (nfda.org/news/media-center/nfda-news-releases/id/8134/...) also 404s live. Content instead verified via two independent verbatim reprints, listed below.
2023 NFDA General Price List Study Shows Inflation Increasing Faster than the Cost of a FuneralsecondaryArizona Funeral, Cemetery & Cremation Association (verbatim reprint of NFDA press release) — Full itemized burial-path and cremation-path tables with 2023 vs 2021 figures and % change; publication date Dec 12, 2023.
How Much Does A Funeral Cost? (2026 Breakdown By State)secondaryChoice Mutual — Independent reprint of the same 2023 NFDA itemized table; used to cross-check every line-item price. Also cites Funeralocity (non-NFDA) figures for direct cremation ($2,202) and 'direct funeral' ($5,138), both dated 2026.
2023 Average Funeral Cost: Burial & Cremation Breakdown (NFDA)secondaryWorthy Farewell — Explicitly attributes the $2,250 direct-cremation median to NFDA 2023 data; also reprints basic services fee, transfer, embalming, and casket figures consistent with the other two reprints.
Cost of a Funeral and Average Funeral Costs: A Complete GuidesecondaryFuneralwise — Gives unattributed ranges for direct cremation ($750-$4,500 / $750-$2,200) and direct burial ('under $2,000'); NFDA is not explicitly cited for these specific ranges, unlike its other figures on the same page ($8,300/$6,280), so these were treated as a gap rather than an NFDA figure.
NFDA says 'Inflation has increased faster than the Cost of a Funeral'secondaryFuneral Director Daily — Reprints 2021 ($7,848 burial / $5,801 cremation) and 2023 figures, plus a single 1960 nominal comparison point ($708).
Funeral Costs Aren't Rising as Fast as Inflation, According to NFDAsecondaryTributeTech — Confirms the 5.8% burial / 8.1% cremation two-year increase figures; does not reproduce the full itemized table.
2026 National Funeral Cost Index — 50-State Funeral Price Data & AnalysissecondaryFuneral Cost Analyzer — Cross-check only for the $9,995 'total with vault' figure; its own 2022-2026 yearly cost table looked smoothly interpolated/estimated rather than sourced to a real NFDA yearly series, so that table was NOT used as a data source.
Cremation Today: Trends And Statistics For Cremation In The U.S.secondaryCremation.green — Source for 2015 (47.9%) and 2019 (54.6%) cremation-rate figures; does not explicitly attribute every number to NFDA on the page.
Dissecting The NFDA's 2025 Cremation & Burial Report StatssecondaryCremation.green — Independent corroboration of the 2025 (63.4%/31.6%) and 2045 (82.3%) NFDA rate figures, plus notes the 2015 crossover year narratively.
What was the Cremation Rate in the US in 2025? How is this affecting 2026 prices?secondaryUS Funerals Online — Source for the 2024 61.8% rate, attributed to CANA (Cremation Association of North America) rather than NFDA; also reprints the NFDA 2025/2045 figures.
Funeral Consumers Alliance (funerals.org)secondaryFuneral Consumers Alliance — Checked as a candidate for a state-level/consumer-advocacy price survey per the task instructions; the homepage references an affiliate 'Price Survey Best Practices' page but no actual state-level itemized price data was found accessible from it — not used as a data source, noted in gaps.

Method

Ran 8 distinct WebSearch queries (NFDA GPL survey, FTC Funeral Rule line items, direct cremation/burial pricing, cremation rate trend, historical median cost trend, and two follow-ups after the search budget was exhausted mid-session) plus roughly 25 WebFetch calls. nfda.org's own 2023 GPL Survey PDF and its dedicated press-release page both returned HTTP 404 on every attempt (direct and via r.jina.ai proxy), consistent with the task's warning that nfda.org may 403/404; the FTC's eCFR and business-guidance pages returned 403/redirect-loop on direct fetch and were successfully read via the r.jina.ai reader proxy instead. Every 2023 itemized line-item price was cross-checked across at least two independent verbatim reprints of the same NFDA press release (azfcca.org and choicemutual.com) before being used; where those reprints disagreed (basic services fee: $2,459 vs $2,495; 2021 cremation total: $5,801 vs $5,810) both variants are noted in the row's source_note rather than silently picking one. The two 2023 headline totals and every cremation/burial-rate percentage were additionally confirmed directly against a live, directly-fetchable NFDA page (nfda.org/news/statistics), which counts as primary-source verification despite the survey PDF itself being unreachable. Direct cremation and direct burial (the FTC's own required 'immediate burial' GPL line item) proved to be the weakest-sourced rows: only one reprint explicitly attributed a direct-cremation figure to NFDA, and no source gave a clean NFDA-attributed direct-burial median at all — both are flagged with ~ and explained in gaps rather than presented as solid figures.

Gaps

We couldn't find NFDA's original 2023 GPL Survey PDF or press release live (both 404); all itemized figures rely on secondary reprints, cross-checked in pairs as noted above. We couldn't find a clean, NFDA-attributed median for 'immediate/direct burial' — the FTC's own required GPL line item — despite dedicated searches; the two figures found ('under $2,000' unattributed, and $5,138 attributed to Funeralocity for a differently-labeled 'direct funeral') are inconsistent with each other and neither is confirmed as an NFDA figure, so this row is marked unresolved rather than guessed. The direct-cremation figure ($2,250) has only one explicit NFDA attribution found, not the two independent verbatim reprints achieved for the other line items. We couldn't find a continuous year-by-year NFDA median-cost time series (NFDA's survey is biennial; only 2021 and 2023 waves, plus one unrelated 1960 nominal data point, were found) — a longer, denser cost trend simply doesn't appear to be publicly published by NFDA outside its biennial press releases. We couldn't find an accessible state-level or academic funeral price survey with itemized figures (Funeral Consumers Alliance's site references affiliate price surveys but doesn't expose the data itself), so no state-level or academic comparison rows are included. The 2015 cremation-rate figure (47.9%) is single-sourced and sits awkwardly against other sources' narrative claim that 2015 was the year cremation first overtook burial (which implies >50%); we report the number found rather than reconciling the narrative.