Our Data Methodology
Transparent about what our data represents — so you can trust the numbers and cite them with confidence.
1. The FTC Funeral Rule & Why This Data Exists
Since 1984, the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule (16 CFR Part 453) has required every funeral provider in the United States to give consumers an itemized General Price List (GPL) at the beginning of any in-person arrangement discussion. Providers must also disclose prices over the telephone when asked.
What the Funeral Rule requires:
- An itemized General Price List provided at the start of any arrangement conference
- Separate price disclosures for caskets and outer burial containers
- Telephone price disclosure upon request
- The right for consumers to select only the services they want
- Prohibition on requiring embalming without permission (except where state law mandates it)
The GPL is a legally mandated public document. Funeral homes are required to provide this pricing to any consumer who asks — and many publish their GPL directly on their website. Our research compiles these publicly available prices into a format that makes comparison easier.
2. Where Our Data Comes From
All of our pricing data originates from publicly available sources:
Funeral Home General Price Lists
Published on funeral home websites or provided upon request as required by the FTC Funeral Rule. Each GPL includes an effective date and itemized pricing for all services offered.
NFDA General Price List Study
The National Funeral Directors Association conducts an annual survey of member funeral homes across all U.S. census divisions, providing national and regional median costs for 15+ service categories.
State Regulatory Records
Licensing and pricing data from state funeral regulatory agencies, including the California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, New York Division of Cemeteries, and Texas Funeral Service Commission.
Published Industry Research
Supplemental data from funeral industry publications, consumer advocacy organizations, and state-level pricing studies.
For each funeral home in our dataset, we record the effective date of the GPL, the source, and every individual line item with its corresponding price. When prices are listed as ranges (e.g., “Caskets: $1,295 to $9,195”), we capture both the low and high values.
3. How We Normalize Pricing
Funeral homes structure their pricing in wildly different ways. One home lists 40 individual line items; another publishes only 5 package prices. To make meaningful comparisons, we normalize all pricing into a standard set of 20 FTC-aligned service categories:
For each category, we report three values:
- Low — the lowest price observed for that service
- Median — the 50th percentile, which is more resistant to outliers than a simple average
- High — the highest price observed
When a funeral home only publishes package prices, we attribute those to our “Package” categories rather than attempting to decompose them into individual services. We'd rather have an honest “N/A” than a fabricated breakdown.
4. Verification & Quality Control
Every data point goes through multiple checks before publication:
Source Verification
Every price is traced back to a specific GPL with an effective date. We don't use anonymous or unverifiable data.
Outlier Detection
Prices that fall significantly outside expected ranges are flagged for manual review. A “$50 embalming” or “$15,000 basic services fee” gets a second look.
Cross-Reference
State-level averages are compared against NFDA survey data and other published benchmarks to ensure our figures are in the right ballpark.
Regular Updates
We periodically review and refresh our data to reflect current pricing. Every state data page shows when it was last updated.
5. Limitations & What This Data Does Not Cover
We believe in being upfront about what our data does and does not represent.
Current Coverage
Known Limitations
- Metro bias: Our data skews toward funeral homes that publish pricing online, which tend to be in metropolitan areas. Rural funeral homes are underrepresented, though NFDA survey data helps partially offset this.
- Per-category sample sizes vary: Not every funeral home lists every service individually. Some publish only package prices. This means our sample size for “Basic Services Fee” may differ from “Direct Cremation” within the same state.
- GPL dates vary: Funeral homes update their price lists at different times. Our sample may include GPLs with effective dates spanning 2–3 years. We note the date range in each state's dataset.
- Expanding coverage: We currently publish data for 10 states and are actively adding more, prioritized by population and data availability.
- Merchandise ranges are wide: A single funeral home may offer caskets from $1,200 to $15,000. Our “low/high” reflects this real spread, not estimation error.
- Not a substitute for quotes: This data is meant to inform, not replace, direct conversations with funeral homes. Actual costs depend on your specific choices and circumstances.
6. How to Cite This Data
We encourage journalists, researchers, and bloggers to cite our data. We only ask that you link back to the specific data page you reference.
Funeral Price Guide. (2026). Funeral pricing data: [State name]. Retrieved March 4, 2026, from https://funeralpriceguide.com/data/[state]
For press inquiries or data requests beyond what we publish, please contact us. We're happy to provide additional context or methodology details for editorial use.