• Funeral Service Facts
• Funeral Costs
• Cremation Facts
• Death Rate

Funeral Service Facts
   Updated January 27, 2010

• There are 20,915 funeral homes in the United States.
• There are approximately 105,668 individuals working in the funeral service industry. 70,669 are non-licensed funeral service personnel and 35,000 are licensed funeral directors eligible for NFDA membership.
• Eighty-eight percent of funeral homes in the U.S. are owned by individuals, families, or closely held private corporations. The remaining 12 percent are owned by corporations whose stock is publicly traded.
• The funeral service industry generates $12 billion in revenue each year, creating a significant economic impact on America's cities, towns and villages.
• The average NFDA funeral home handles 112 calls per year and has three full-time and three part-time employees.
• In 2008, 71 percent of deaths were casketed and had some form of ritual or ceremony, according to the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America.

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Funeral Costs
   Updated January 27, 2010

The cost of a regular adult funeral includes the following general items; costs do not include cemetery, monument or marker costs, or miscellaneous cash advance charges such as flowers or obituaries:

* Data is taken from the 2006 NFDA General Price List Survey. NFDA mailed 3,000 self-administered surveys to member funeral homes in July 2007. Given the response rate of 38 percent, the data is statistically reliable. Respondents were asked to give GPL pricing information for certain funeral products and services as of December 31, 2006. This data was released to the public in June 2008; NFDA anticipates releasing new pricing data in late-2010 or 2011.

Cost of an Adult Funeral: 1960 - Present

Notes:

• Surveys not conducted every year
• Costs reflect the average prices for non-declinable basic service fee, removal/transfer of remains to funeral home, embalming, other preparation of the body, use of facilities/staff for viewing, use of facilities/staff for ceremony at funeral home, hearse ¬and¬ service car/van, basic memorial printed package, and a metal casket.
• Costs do not include outer burial container, cemetery, monument or marker costs or miscellaneous cash advance charges such as flowers or obituaries.

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Cremation Facts
   Updated January 27, 2010
   Cremation data courtesy of the Cremation Association of North America.

• Cremation was the method of disposition for 36.02 percent of deaths in 2008, compared 23.75 percent in 1998, according to the Cremation Association of North America.
• The ten states with the highest rate of cremation are:
  • Nevada: 69.48%
  • Hawaii: 68.01%
  • Oregon: 67.92%
  • Washington: 67.62%
  • Arizona: 64.75%
  • Montana: 63.31%
  • Maine: 60.03%
  • Colorado: 59.77%
  • Vermont: 59.06%
  • New Hampshire: 58.21%
• The ten states with the lowest rate of cremation are
  • Mississippi: 11.26%
  • Alabama: 13.97%
  • Kentucky: 14.06%
  • Tennessee: 18.02%
  • Texas: 18.41%
  • Louisiana: 18.54%
  • West Virginia: 19.91%
  • Arkansas: 22.40%
  • South Dakota: 23.17%
  • Utah: 24.48%
• In 2015, the cremation rate is expected to climb to 46.04 percent. By 2025 it is expected to reach 58.85 percent.

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Death Rate
   Updated January 27, 2010

• In 2008, there were 2,485,947 deaths in the United States, according to the National Vital Statistics Department of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
• In 2008, the U.S. death rate was 8.1 people per thousand.
• The U.S. death rate is expected to begin increasing by the year 2030 when the rate is projected to be 8.9 people per thousand. It is expected to increase to 9.6 people per thousand by 2040.

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