How much does a funeral cost in 2025?

The median cost of a traditional funeral with burial and viewing is about $8,300, according to a 2023 report from the National Funeral Directors Association, the most recent data available.

Cremation is less expensive, costing just under $6,300.

But that’s just the median: From flowers and caskets to urns and headstones, many choices impact the final cost.

Whether you’re organizing your own farewell or preparing to say goodbye to a loved one, here’s what you can expect and how to plan ahead.

The median price for a funeral with burial and viewing in 2023 was $8,300, according to NFDA, up from $7,845 in 2021. That includes standard expenses, including:

• Basic service: $2,495
• Transfer of remains: $395
• Metal casket: $2,500
• Embalming: $845
• Body preparation: $295
• Facility use for viewing and ceremony: $1,025
• Hearse usage: $375
• Service car/van: $175
• Printing packages: $195

The NFDA’s pricing doesn’t include cemetery fees, however, as some states don’t allow funeral homes to own or operate a cemetery. These charges include:

• Cemetery plot: $1,000 to $4,500
• Headstone: $1,000 to $3,000
• Burial vault: $1,000
• Opening and closing the grave: $1,000 to $2,500

Many cemeteries also charge an ongoing maintenance fee to ensure the upkeep of the grounds and the individual plot. The cost of this “perpetual care” or “endowment care” varies greatly, but is usually a percentage of the plot price or a flat annual fee.

While it includes some of the same expenses, cremation is a more affordable option than burial. Here’s a breakdown of the $6,280 median price:

• Basic service fee: $2,495
• Transfer of remains: $395
• Embalming: $845
• Body preparation: $295
• Facility use for viewing and ceremony: $1,025
• Service car/van: $175
• Printing packages: $195
• Cremation fee: $400
• Cremation container: $160
• Urn: $295

The average cost of a funeral is just that, an average, said funeral director Jimmy Olson, who has owned Olson Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for 25 years.

“Every funeral is about that individual,” Olson added. “We want to personalize and make that funeral as personal as possible.”

A headstone can run anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000, but the size, material and engraving will affect the final price.

Casket selection is another major factor, according to Jack Mitchell, a third-generation funeral director at Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home in Baltimore, Maryland.

“There’s great variation,” Mitchell said. “Our prices range from just under $2,000 to over $7,000, but there are caskets out there for over $10,000.”

That may seem steep, but Mitchell added, “to many people, the casket has great [importance] and that’s what they want to do for their loved one.”

A cremation urn is less expensive, but still a very personal matter. Olson recalled one family requesting that the departed, a creamery owner, be deposited in an ice cream carton.

“If that’s what they want, that’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “Just recently, I put someone in his cowboy boots.”

Some funeral expenses aren’t negotiable, though, including transporting the body, reserving the facility and booking the service. These can add up to nearly $4,000, which might give people sticker shock.

But, Olson says, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes.

“I pay someone to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said. “People don’t just magically get transferred from their house or the hospital. We go get them. We’ll go out at two o’clock in the morning. We go to accident scenes, to trauma scenes, to the home or the hospice facility.”

Beyond handling the body, his team has to be ready to provide comfort and answer questions.

“We don’t wait until office hours at 9 a.m.,” Olson said, “Families are sitting there, wanting to talk to us.”

A funeral home also takes care of the death certificate, writes the obituary, organizes clothing and makeup for the deceased and manages everything else that happens between death and interment.

A majority of funeral homes allow you to prepay for selected services. You’ll sit down with the funeral director, make your selections and put money into a trust for when the day comes.

Many people think their life insurance policy will cover the costs of a funeral. In fact, final expense insurance is designed for that very purpose.

But it could be some time before those funds become available.

“If you have a life insurance policy, the average time till you’re paid is four to six to eight weeks,” Olson said. “You’ve got the funeral home charges, the cemetery plot, the minister, the organist, the newspaper notices and the death certificate. These all have to be paid before the funeral.”

Olsen and Mitchell agree that preplanning is the best way to make a funeral more manageable, both financially and emotionally. You’ll have the chance to compare prices and lock in prices. You’ll also decide what’s important, taking a huge burden off grieving loved ones.

Preplanning is also a time to inform everyone about any arrangements made in advance.

“Maybe your grandpa bought 12 graves 50 years ago and you’ve got a family plot,” Olson said. “So you’ll just have to pay the opening and closing costs. Or, maybe those costs are prepaid, too.

Perhaps, most importantly, preplanning helps you digest the situation calmly and make a more rational decision.

“Every day I hear, ‘Just put me in a coffee can,’ or, ‘Throw me in an old pine box,'” Olson said. “Then I show them the pine box and they’re like, ‘That’s not what we want.”

“People joke about it because they’re uncomfortable,” he added, “but it’s a conversation that has to happen.”

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