Find the Best Funeral Home (2025)

FAQs

What is the best priced funeral? ›

The cheapest option for a funeral: direct cremation

A direct cremation also offers greater financial control and flexibility over how you say goodbye, as opposed to the familiar formula offered by most local funeral homes. A provider must offer more than a super-low price.

For many families, direct cremation is the most cost-effective funeral arrangement available. Direct cremation means your loved one's remains are cremated shortly after death without embalming. The average time between death and cremation is only 10 days.

Direct cremation is one of the most cost-effective options when it comes to burying your loved one. It also offers more flexible memorial options for families who prefer a more unique, personalized approach.

There are different tiers of caskets, coffins, flowers, memorial stones, cemetery plots, and other miscellaneous services that can easily take a $7,000 funeral to $25,000 or more. You can expect the total cost of your funeral to range between $5,000 - $25,000, depending on the services your family chooses to go with.

The most expensive part of a funeral is typically the basic services fee of a funeral home. The median cost of basic services fees is about $2,300. If you choose a traditional funeral and burial, your highest cost will likely be a metal casket. Metal caskets can cost around $2,500.

In California, the cost of a full funeral ranges from $2,770 to $10,000 or more depending on the style of service, materials used, transportation, and location of service. If you pass unexpectedly without savings or a life insurance policy, your family may struggle to pay for your final arrangements and other expenses.

Other alternatives include having a family-only visitation and graveside prayers. The most cost-effective option is to follow a cremation with a memorial service or gathering at someone's home, a public park, the deceased's favorite restaurant or other low-cost location.

Individual taxpayers cannot deduct funeral expenses on their tax return. While the IRS allows deductions for medical expenses, funeral costs are not included. Qualified medical expenses must be used to prevent or treat a medical illness or condition.

If you cannot afford a burial or cremation, you can sign a form with the county coroner's office and the state will bury or cremate the body for you. This will be at no cost, but you won't have any say in where or how.

What is cheaper than a casket? ›

Casket and Headstone Costs

When comparing costs of cremation urns, memorials, caskets, and headstones, it's easy to see cremation is the more affordable option.

Choose a simple funeral package

This may also be referred to as a direct cremation. A crematorium attendant will say a few words before respectfully committing your loved one for cremation without any mourners present.

A coroner or a medical examiner, not a mortician, makes the decision to conduct an autopsy. Performing autopsies is done to establish the reason for death, particularly in situations where the death occurred abruptly, without warning, or probably as a result of illegal actions.

The funeral director is generally the person who owns and operates the funeral home. They oversee the logistics of the entire end-of-life process, and they're also the person who runs a funeral service.

As with any business, owning a funeral home can be profitable, provided you practice good business habits. Death care is also considered a recession-proof profession, as funeral home spending remains relatively constant even during times of economic downturn.

The average funeral costs between $7,000 and $12,000. The viewing, burial, service fees, transport, casket, embalming, and other prep are included in this price. The average cost of a funeral with cremation is $6,000 to $7,000.

A low-cost funeral option for many families is either a direct burial or cremation. These options mean that the deceased is buried or cremated immediately, with no embalming.

We advocate for pre-planning your funeral rather than pre-paying for the same. Not only will the former help absolve grieving family members from making emotional decisions, but it will also provide you with several less complicated ways to self-fund your funeral expenses.