Average funeral cost by state, from what families actually paid

All 51 states, ranked by spending per death

Each row divides the 2022 revenue of the state’s death-care businesses by its deaths in 2022, then brings the result to September 2026 with the BLS funeral price index (the national index, so the same factor applies to every state). Funeral homes are Census industry 812210, cemeteries and crematories 812220.

How to read a state’s figure

Funeral homes account for 76% of the national total and cemeteries and crematories for the rest. A family that chooses a direct cremation pays mostly the funeral home side, often with a crematory fee inside it; a family that buries pays both, and the cemetery side can include a plot, the opening and closing of the grave, an outer burial container and a marker. The cost of cremation page takes the cremation side apart.

The number of deaths per business says something about competition and scale. A state where each funeral home handles few deaths a year spreads its fixed costs, the building, the vehicles, the staff on call, over fewer families. That does not set any one price, but it is one reason two neighboring states can differ.

Death counts come from the Census Bureau’s population estimates, which report deaths for years running from July to June. The page uses the mean of the two years that straddle calendar 2022; nationally that comes within one percent of the final count published by the National Center for Health Statistics. A state’s figure moves with its revenue, so a large cemetery company headquartered in one state does not shift it: the Census counts revenue at each establishment, where the service is sold.

Carrying a state’s figure forward

The 2022 figure is the latest one the Census will publish until the 2027 Economic Census is released. The BLS index carries it to today; to see what it will be when it is needed, the funeral cost calculator grows it at the trend of funeral prices up to the median age at death in your state, then takes off the VA allowance, the Social Security payment and what you have set aside. The funeral inflation page shows the index year by year since 1987.

What the figure does not tell you

It does not tell you what a particular funeral home charges. Under the FTC Funeral Rule every home must give you its General Price List when you ask in person, and prices by phone if you call; two or three lists from homes near you will tell you more about your own bill than any average. It does not include costs outside death-care businesses, such as flowers bought from a florist, travel, a reception or newspaper notices paid directly. And it mixes all ages and all circumstances, including deaths where the county paid for a basic burial.