Funeral Cost
Planner
Price a funeral item by item, the way the FTC Funeral Rule makes funeral homes quote it. National medians in today's dollars, your state's death certificate fee, and the benefits that may offset the bill.
A budget to plan with. Prices start at the national medians in the NFDA 2023 General Price List Study, its most recent, restated in today's dollars with the BLS funeral price index. Your city will differ, and each funeral home's General Price List sets its actual prices.
Free, with no account. Your plan saves in this browser as you go.
1. Disposition
What happens to the body. Pick one; the item list below changes to match.
2. Your state
The one state cost that is public and exact is the death certificate. Every state sets its own fee, and this planner carries the figure from each state's vital records office. Funeral and cemetery prices are set by each business, so the state changes nothing else here.
Choose a state and the planner prices your certified copies from that state's own fee schedule. Each bank, insurer, court, and agency that needs proof of death may ask for its own certified copy.
3. The items
These are the categories the Funeral Rule makes every funeral home price separately. Check what you want. Amounts start at the NFDA median where one exists; edit any of them. Unchecked items add nothing.
Today's dollars multiply each 2023 median by the rise in the BLS consumer price index for funeral expenses, up 10.2 percent from its 2023 average to August 2026. Why another calculator says $16,000
The funeral home's fee for arranging the funeral, filing permits, and coordinating everything else.
Non-declinable. Every funeral home charges it on every arrangement. It’s the one fee you can’t cross off.
$2,748 today (NFDA 2023: $2,495)
Moving the person who died from the place of death to the funeral home.
$435 today (NFDA 2023: $395)
Chemical preservation of the body. Funeral homes usually require it for a public viewing.
The Funeral Rule: not required for direct cremation or immediate burial in most cases. Refrigeration is an accepted alternative.
$931 today (NFDA 2023: $845)
Dressing, hair, makeup, and placing the body in the casket.
$325 today (NFDA 2023: $295)
Use of the funeral home's room and staff for a viewing or visitation.
$523 today (NFDA 2023: $475)
Use of the funeral home's room and staff for the funeral service, body present.
$606 today (NFDA 2023: $550)
Staff and equipment for a service at the grave.
No NFDA median, get quotes
The vehicle that carries the casket to the cemetery.
$413 today (NFDA 2023: $375)
A car for the family on the day of the service.
No NFDA median, get quotes
The largest single item on most funeral bills. The NFDA median is for a metal casket.
You can buy a casket anywhere (online or from a retailer) and the funeral home must accept it without charging a handling fee.
$2,754 today (NFDA 2023: $2,500)
A concrete or metal liner around the casket that keeps the ground above it from sinking.
No state law requires one. Many cemeteries do. Ask the cemetery before you pay for it.
$1,867 today (NFDA 2023: $1,695)
The grave space itself. Sold by the cemetery, not the funeral home.
No NFDA median, get quotes
The cemetery's charge to dig the grave and fill it.
No NFDA median, get quotes
The permanent marker on the grave. Sold by monument dealers and cemeteries.
No NFDA median, get quotes
Total budget, burial
$8,735
The national median for a funeral with viewing and burial is $8,300 (NFDA 2023), about $9,143 in today's dollars. Your total is $408 under the today's-dollars figure.
The NFDA figure also counts a service car ($175) and printed memorial package ($195), and leaves out the vault, all cemetery costs, and death certificates.
What may offset it
Two federal benefits pay toward a funeral. Each has its own eligibility rules; check the ones that apply and the total above shows your cost after them.
The non-service-connected amounts are for deaths on or after October 1, 2026 and change every October 1. The service-connected amount is for deaths on or after September 11, 2001. Eligibility and the application are at va.gov. Burial in a VA national cemetery comes with the gravesite, opening and closing, perpetual care, a government headstone or marker, and a burial flag at no cost to the family, and an eligible spouse or dependent can be buried there too: cem.va.gov.
Check a quote
Got a number from a funeral home? Type it in and see how it sits against your plan and the national median. Then read the quote for the four things below.
- Is it itemized? The Funeral Rule requires a written statement listing each item you chose and its price, not one lump sum.
- Does it include the cemetery? A funeral home’s quote usually leaves out the plot, opening and closing the grave, and the marker.
- Is anything marked required? No state law requires a vault, and embalming isn’t required for direct cremation or immediate burial in most cases.
- Did they add a handling fee for a casket or urn you bought elsewhere? They can’t.
Your rights under the FTC Funeral Rule
- You can get prices over the phone. Call and ask; the funeral home must answer. You don’t have to give your name or come in.
- In person, you get a written, itemized General Price List to keep, before you discuss any arrangement.
- You pick only what you want, item by item. You can decline anything except the basic services fee and whatever your state law actually requires.
- A funeral home can’t misstate the law. No state law requires a vault. Embalming isn’t required for direct cremation or immediate burial in most cases. Any container works for cremation.
Source: FTC, The Funeral Rule. These rights print on your plan so you have them in the room.
Funeral Cost Plan
Burial
Prepared October 21, 2026 · Medians: NFDA 2023, in August 2026 dollars (BLS)
Itemized budget
- Basic services fee, $2,748 (non-declinable)
- Transfer of remains, $435
- Embalming, $931
- Other preparation of the body, $325
- Viewing / visitation, $523
- Funeral ceremony, $606
- Hearse, $413
- Casket, $2,754
Total budget$8,735
For comparison: the national median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial was $8,300 in the NFDA's 2023 General Price List Study, its most recent (nfda.org). In today's dollars that is about $9,143, using the BLS funeral price index for August 2026, up 10.2 percent since 2023 (bls.gov, series CUUR0000SEGD02). The NFDA figure doesn’t include cemetery costs or a vault.
Your rights under the FTC Funeral Rule
- You can get prices over the phone. Call and ask; the funeral home must answer. You don’t have to give your name or come in.
- In person, you get a written, itemized General Price List to keep, before you discuss any arrangement.
- You pick only what you want, item by item. You can decline anything except the basic services fee and whatever your state law actually requires.
- A funeral home can’t misstate the law. No state law requires a vault. Embalming isn’t required for direct cremation or immediate burial in most cases. Any container works for cremation.
Source: Federal Trade Commission, The FTC Funeral Rule. consumer.ftc.gov/articles/ftc-funeral-rule
How to use this plan
Take this list to more than one funeral home and ask each for its General Price List. Prices for the same service vary by thousands of dollars within the same city.
The plan updates as you check items and edit amounts. Print shows only the plan.
What to do with this plan
- Call before you visit. The Funeral Rule requires price quotes over the phone. Three calls take an hour and can save thousands.
- Ask every funeral home for its General Price List. They must hand it to you in writing when you visit. Compare it line by line against this plan.
- Get cemetery prices separately. The plot, opening and closing the grave, and the marker are cemetery charges. The funeral home's total doesn’t include them.
- If money is the constraint, say so first. Direct cremation and direct burial are the two cheapest routes, and a memorial service can happen anywhere, on any date, at any budget.
What’s included
- An itemized funeral budget built on the categories the FTC Funeral Rule makes every funeral home quote
- National median prices from the NFDA 2023 General Price List Study, restated in today's dollars with the BLS funeral price index, editable line by line
- Your state’s death certificate fee, from the state vital records office, for as many certified copies as you need
- The Social Security and VA benefits that may offset the bill, with the current figures and where to apply
- A quote check: type in the total a funeral home gave you and see how it compares, and what to look for on it
- A plan to download as a PDF or Word file, or print, with your Funeral Rule rights on it, ready to take to more than one funeral home
- Free, with no account. Your plan saves in this browser. Premium also syncs it to your MORTL account, so it opens on your other devices.
The short answer
The median American funeral with viewing and burial runs $8,300 before cemetery costs, and $6,280 with cremation, per the National Funeral Directors Association's 2023 price study, still its most recent. In today's dollars those are about $9,143 and $6,918, using the BLS funeral price index to August 2026. Your number depends on the disposition, the casket, what you decline, and your state's death certificate fee, and under the FTC Funeral Rule you can decline more than funeral homes volunteer. The planner on this page builds your own total by state, free.
Reviewed October 2026 · Prices vary widely by state and between providers in the same town. · Sources: NFDA 2023 General Price List Study, FTC Funeral Rule, BLS consumer price index, funeral expenses (CUUR0000SEGD02)
What a funeral costs in 2026, itemized →Why a calculator says $16,000 when the NFDA says $8,300 →How to arrange a funeral, step by step →
About this tool
What Funeral Cost Planner helps you do
Price a funeral item by item using the categories the FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to quote. These categories can help you see where costs add up. Estimate them before meeting with a provider so you can compare the provider's itemized prices with the amount you plan to spend.
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