How much does a funeral cost?
Between $1,650 and $4,690 for the main options at the three providers below, and the shape of the bill matters more than the headline. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes a direct cremation at $1,650 and an immediate burial at $4,000, itemised with no packages at all. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama publishes a traditional funeral service as a package at $4,690, and separately shows that its basic charges alone are $2,990, plus a $10 state administrative fee it lists on its own line, before a casket, a hearse or a grave. Tulip Cremation Northern California, which does cremation only, publishes $1,290 to $3,015. Every one of those is that provider’s own list with its own effective date, which is rarer than it sounds: the law requires a funeral home to hand you the list or quote it by telephone, and does not require anyone to publish it.
$1,900
basic services of funeral director and staff, the fee you cannot decline
$4,690
traditional funeral service, priced as a whole package
$1,290 to $3,015
direct cremation, at a provider that offers no viewing
Cost breakdown
Each table below comes from one source, named underneath it, with the date that source last revised the figures. Everything is a United States figure in USD.
Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia, published General Price List
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Basic services of funeral director and staff | $1,900 |
| Direct cremation | $1,650 |
| Immediate burial | $4,000 |
| Embalming | $900 |
| Removal from place of death, within 25 miles | $450 |
| Additional miles beyond 25 | $2.75 per mile |
| Other preparation of the body, including organ donor, trauma or infectious disease cases | $300 |
| Dressing and casketing | $250 |
| Use of facilities and staff for a funeral at the funeral home | $380 |
| Use of staff for a funeral away from the funeral home | $400 |
| Memorial service without the body, Monday to Friday | $325 |
| Memorial service without the body, weekend | $500 |
| Hearse, day of service | $425 |
| Limousine, day of service | $425 |
| Rental casket | From $890 |
| Caskets, complete list provided at the funeral home | From $1,800 to $33,000 |
| Vault or outer burial container, complete list at the funeral home | From $1,595 |
| Live stream in the chapel | $450 |
| Forwarding remains to another funeral home | $2,250 |
| Receiving remains from another funeral home | $1,650 |
Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama, published General Price List
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Offering A, traditional funeral service, burial within 35 miles | $4,690.00 |
| Offering B, traditional service with no visitation | $4,340.00 |
| Offering C, traditional service with no visitation and no embalming | $3,540.00 |
| Offering D, graveside service with visitation at the funeral home | $4,195.00 |
| Basic services of funeral director and staff | $1,795.00 |
| Arranging fee | $1,595.00 |
| Total basic charges, the two above combined | $2,990.00 |
| State administrative fee, per final disposition, listed separately | $10 |
| Embalming | $1,150.00 |
| Facilities for viewing, per additional day | $350.00 |
| Conducting more than one service | $260.00 |
| Transportation of remains, per mile | $4.00 |
Tulip Cremation Northern California, published General Price List
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Direct cremation, full published range | $1,290.00 to $3,015.00 |
| Direct cremation with a container you provide | $1,290.00 |
| Direct cremation with an alternative container | $1,295.00 |
| Direct cremation with a casket of your choice, plus the casket | $1,290.00 |
| Basic services of funeral director, staff and overhead | $650.00 |
| Cremation fee, already inside the direct cremation price | $350.00 |
| Additional crematory fee, 300lb or more | $500.00 |
| Sheltering in refrigeration, first five days | $300.00 |
| Sheltering in refrigeration, each day beyond five | $50.00 |
| Collection of the decedent and delivery to the crematory | $300.00 |
| Additional mileage outside the service area, per mile | $8.50 |
| Shipping within the United States | $100.00 |
| Unwitnessed scattering at sea | $300.00 |
| Alternative container | $5.00 |
| Urns | $5.00 to $400.00 |
A bar for each row of the table above, 12 of them, drawn to the same scale so the spread is visible at a glance. The figure beside each bar is the one the table prints.
What changes the price
- Burial or cremation, which is the largest single decision
- Nothing else on the bill moves the total as far. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes a direct cremation at $1,650 and an immediate burial at $4,000, and those two figures come from the same list on the same day, so the gap is the disposition rather than the home.
- The basic services fee, which you cannot decline
- Every funeral carries it whatever else you choose, and it is the floor at that home. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia charges $1,900. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama splits the same idea in two, a basic services fee of $1,795.00 and an arranging fee of $1,595.00, which it totals itself at $2,990.00, and it lists a $10 state administrative fee separately for each final disposition. Tulip Cremation Northern California charges $650.00. Comparing homes on anything else before comparing this is comparing the decoration.
- Whether the home sells packages or lines
- These are two different things to buy and they do not compare directly. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama prices a traditional funeral whole, at $4,690.00 for Offering A, and states that the packages are available only with a casket bought from that home. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia prices nothing as a package, so its total is whatever you add up.
- The casket, which is usually the widest number on the list
- Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes caskets from $1,800 to $33,000 and a rental casket from $890, so the same funeral can differ by tens of thousands on this line alone. This is the item the Funeral Rule entitles you to see priced before you are shown any of them, precisely because the cheaper ones are often not on display.
- Embalming, which is usually optional
- It is a real charge and often an avoidable one. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama publishes embalming at $1,150.00 and states on its own list that it is not required by law. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes it at $900. Dryden also prices a traditional service without visitation or embalming at $3,540.00 against $4,690.00 for the full one.
- Distance, which is priced per mile once you leave the area
- Every list here bands transport and then charges beyond it. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia includes removal within 25 miles at $450 and charges $2.75 a mile beyond. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama prices its packages for burial within 35 miles and charges $4.00 a mile for transportation. Tulip Cremation Northern California charges $8.50 a mile outside its service area.
How to pay less
- Ask for the basic services fee first, at every home you ring
- It is the one charge nobody can waive, so it is the only honest way to rank homes before you know what you want. It ranges from $650.00 at Tulip Cremation Northern California to $2,990.00 in combined basic charges at Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama, which lists a $10 state administrative fee on its own line besides.
- Ask what the package excludes before comparing it to a list
- A package can look cheaper than an itemised total and carry a condition. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama states that its offerings are available only with a casket bought from that home, so the package price and the casket price have to be added before it can be set against anything.
- Ask for the casket price list before you are shown caskets
- The Federal Trade Commission gives you that right specifically so you can ask about the ones not on display. At Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia the published range runs from $1,800 to $33,000, and a rental casket starts at $890.
- Decline embalming if the arrangement does not need it
- Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama prices the same traditional service at $4,690.00 with visitation and embalming and at $3,540.00 with neither, and says on its own list that embalming is not required by law.
- Count the miles before you accept a package
- Package prices are quoted inside a radius and the meter starts outside it. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama prices within 35 miles and charges $4.00 a mile beyond; Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia includes 25 miles and charges $2.75 a mile after that.
Questions
Why is it so hard to find funeral prices online?
Because almost nothing requires them to be there. The Federal Trade Commission requires a funeral home to give you an itemised General Price List when you visit and to quote prices by telephone if you ask, and in its own words, although they are not required to do so, many funeral homes mail their price lists and some post them online. The three on this page chose to publish.
Does any state require prices to be posted online?
California comes closest of the states checked here. The California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau states that a funeral establishment with a website must either post its General Price List on that website, or list all of its goods and services there and give you the price list when you ask. That is a requirement to publish something rather than to publish the list itself.
What is the cheapest thing on a General Price List?
Usually a direct cremation, because it removes the viewing, the embalming and most of the facilities charges. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes $1,650 for one, and Tulip Cremation Northern California publishes a range of $1,290.00 to $3,015.00.
Is the package price the whole price?
Not necessarily, and the conditions are on the list. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama states that its package offerings are available only with a casket purchased from that home, and prices transportation beyond 35 miles separately at $4.00 a mile.
Why do two homes quote such different basic fees?
Because the fee covers that home’s overhead as well as its staff time, and because some split it. Tulip Cremation Northern California charges $650.00 and provides cremation only with no viewing at all. Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama charges $1,795.00 for basic services plus a $1,595.00 arranging fee, which it totals at $2,990.00.
Are these the prices I will pay?
Only at these three, in Decatur, in Heflin, or through Tulip in Northern California. They are published lists rather than a national average, which is the point of quoting them, and each carries its own effective date. Use the checklist on this site to write down what your own home quotes and compare it against these.
Where these figures come from
Every figure here is a price published by the provider named beside it, in US dollars, in the United States, and each of the three lists carries its own effective date: 1 April 2026 for Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia, 29 July 2026 for Tulip Cremation Northern California, and 1 October 2026 for Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama, which replaced its previous list. The Plummer and Tulip lists were read on 23 September 2026 and the Dryden list on 9 October 2026. These are three homes in three states and not a national average; a funeral home a mile from any of them may publish nothing at all, which is lawful. Two of the three lists state that prices are subject to change without notice. A published price is not a quote, and the itemised page of the Tulip list was checked against a rendering of the document because two text extractions of the same PDF disagreed about which amount belonged to which line.