Funeral costs and help
Cost of cremation: add up the price list, then take off what is paid
Type the lines of a cremation price list. The total is set against what a death costs on average in your state, then the federal payments come off.
Independent site, not an insurer or a broker, and not a funeral home or a government agency.
A cremation price list, added up
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Your price list adds up to
$2,200
| Share of spending per death in Texas | 27% |
| VA burial allowance, if eligible | none |
| Social Security, spouse or child | − $255 |
| Left to pay | $1,945 |
The amounts loaded are an example to type over, not prices we read anywhere. The VA plot allowance is left out here because a cremation may not use a plot.
The cost of cremation is set by the funeral home or crematory that performs it, and every one of them must show it on a General Price List under the FTC Funeral Rule. A direct cremation, with no viewing or ceremony beforehand, is usually the lowest-priced line on that list, and a home that offers it must let you use an alternative container instead of a casket. No public source publishes cremation prices by state, so this page does not print an average price. What can be measured is the spending of all death-care businesses: $8,219 per death nationally at September 2026 prices, of which $1,957 goes to cemeteries and crematories. A veteran’s family may receive a VA burial allowance of $1,032 or more for a cremation, and a surviving spouse $255 from Social Security. The calculator adds up the lines of your own price list and takes both off.
Data read and sums checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the figures are worked out
The lines of a cremation price list
A General Price List groups its prices in a set order. For a cremation, the lines that usually matter are these.
- Basic services of the funeral director and staff. The one fee you cannot decline. It covers planning, permits, coordination with the crematory and overhead. Some homes include it in the direct cremation price; the list must say so.
- Transfer of the remains to the funeral home, often with a distance limit and a charge per mile beyond it.
- Direct cremation, a single price that the Rule requires to be listed, with the container options.
- Crematory fee, if the home uses an outside crematory and passes the charge on.
- Urn, from the home or bought anywhere else: the home may not make you buy one from it.
- Cash advance items: certified copies of the death certificate, permits, an obituary notice. The home pays them for you and must tell you if it adds a charge to them.
Type each line from the list into the calculator. The amounts loaded there are only an example, not a price this site has read; a real list from two or three homes near you is the only reliable figure.
The cemetery side, by state
The Census counts crematories with cemeteries (industry 812220), so the cemetery side of spending per death covers both. States where that side is small spend most of their death-care money at funeral homes, which is what a family choosing cremation would mostly pay. The table shows the states with the largest and the smallest cemetery side, at September 2026 prices.
| State | Cemeteries and crematories, per death | Funeral homes, per death | Cemetery share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | $5,622 | $7,615 | 42% |
| California | $3,834 | $5,744 | 40% |
| Maryland | $3,544 | $6,828 | 34% |
| New York | $3,393 | $7,607 | 31% |
| New Jersey | $3,019 | $8,329 | 27% |
| District of Columbia | $2,578 | $5,476 | 32% |
| Pennsylvania | $2,481 | $6,458 | 28% |
| Illinois | $2,385 | $7,629 | 24% |
| North Dakota | $653 | $8,250 | 7.3% |
| Maine | $604 | $5,079 | 11% |
| Arkansas | $540 | $5,695 | 8.7% |
| Montana | $510 | $4,213 | 11% |
| South Dakota | $501 | $9,408 | 5.1% |
| Mississippi | $455 | $5,849 | 7.2% |
| Idaho | $334 | $4,186 | 7.4% |
| Vermont | $266 | $4,529 | 5.6% |
These are averages across every kind of funeral, not cremation prices. They show where the money goes in each state, and they are a reasonable ceiling to hold a cremation quote against: a direct cremation priced above the whole spending per death of your state deserves a second list.
What the federal government pays toward it
The VA burial allowance applies to cremation as to burial, when the veteran met one of the VA’s conditions, such as dying while receiving a VA pension or compensation or in VA care. The plot or interment allowance can pay toward placing the ashes in a grave or a niche. Social Security pays its $255 to a surviving spouse, or to an eligible child, whatever kind of funeral it is. The VA burial page has the amounts for every date of death since 2013.
Scattering, keeping or burying the ashes
Once the cremation is done, the cost of what happens to the ashes depends on the choice. Keeping them at home or scattering them adds little to the bill, though states and local authorities set their own rules on where ashes may be scattered. Placing them in a cemetery plot, an urn garden or a columbarium niche brings back part of the cemetery side: the space itself, the opening and closing, and often a marker. A veteran’s ashes may be placed in a VA national cemetery. Ask for the cemetery’s own price list for these items; the Funeral Rule applies to funeral providers, and a cemetery that also sells funeral goods and services is covered for those.