Latest 2026 funeral data define federal shopping rights, compare burial and cremation medians, and flag coverage gaps. The FTC Funeral Rule, the federal price-disclosure rule for funeral sellers, provides the rights while National Funeral Directors Association figures provide the costs.
Use the definitions to buy only what you want. Use the comparisons to set a budget. Use the caveats to ask about missing totals.
Table of Contents
- What can you control at the funeral home?
- How do burial and cremation prices compare?
- Why is the median not your total?
- Where do shopping protections stop?
What can you control at the funeral home?
The Federal Trade Commission requires sellers that offer both funeral goods and services to give in-person shoppers a General Price List to keep and to give accurate prices by phone, according to the Funeral Rule text. Take the list home and compare it across sellers before you sign. The Federal Trade Commission says the list must tell you that you may choose only the goods and services you want.
The basic-services fee is the sole charge you cannot decline, so you can reject a bundled package. Use the list this way: The Federal Trade Commission says a funeral home must accept a casket you bought elsewhere without adding a handling fee. It also says the home cannot condition other services on buying its casket, and must disclose that embalming is usually not required by law.
- Take the General Price List to keep and compare
- Mark only the items you want
- Ask which line is the non-declinable basic-services fee
- Ask for prices by phone and then in writing
How do burial and cremation prices compare?
The National Funeral Directors Association reports national medians of about $8,300 for a funeral with viewing and burial and $6,280 for a funeral with viewing and cremation, according to this Georgia funeral cost report. That leaves a burial premium near $2,000 for the funeral-home portion alone. The National Funeral Directors Association projects 63.4% cremation versus 31.6% burial in 2025, rising to 82.3% versus 13.0% by 2045.
Cremation is now double burial nationally and the gap is widening. For planning, treat viewing as the cost driver in both medians. A family choosing direct cremation without viewing will see different funeral-home charges than these viewing-included baselines.
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Why is the median not your total?
The medians cover funeral-home goods and services only. Cemetery and third-party charges sit outside that number. Ryco Life Solutions, citing National Funeral Directors Association methodology, lists the main exclusions as cemetery plot, grave opening and closing, vault or marker, and cash advances, described in its funeral cost guide.
Cash advances include items the funeral home pays for you, such as obituary fees, flowers, and clergy honoraria. Ask for three written totals: funeral-home charges, cemetery charges, and cash advances. Practical all-in burial totals often run thousands higher than the $8,300 median once land, labor, and merchandise are added.
Where do shopping protections stop?
The Federal Trade Commission says the Funeral Rule does not cover cemeteries that sell only plots, stand-alone crematories, or casket-only sellers. As of its 2020-2026 review, the Rule also does not require funeral homes to post prices on websites. That means online comparison remains incomplete even when a funeral home has a website.
Two sellers can look similar online and charge very different in-store totals. Call each provider directly and ask for its itemized prices in writing. Get the cemetery and crematory totals the same way before you sign.
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