Methodology: How Our Funeral Cost Figures Are Built

Written by Paul Paradis · Last updated

This page explains where the numbers on Funeral Cost Analyzer come from, which of them are official and which are our own estimates, how we date our reviews, and how a mistake gets fixed. It is the short technical companion to our editorial standards.

Data sources

We separate two kinds of figures, and every page should make it clear which one you are looking at.

How the state estimates are built

Each state starts from two figures we set: a traditional-funeral estimate and a cemetery-plot estimate. Both are anchored to NFDA national benchmarks and adjusted for regional cost differences, and the 2026 figures were adjusted for inflation by 10.3% using the BLS funeral-expense CPI. The other table lines are derived from those two. The casket is 30% and embalming 10% of the funeral figure; the burial vault is 40% and opening and closing 50% of the plot figure. Burial totals add those lines plus the headstone range printed in each table.

State cremation rates shown on state pages are rounded editorial estimates, labelled “Est.”; the national 63.4% rate is NFDA’s published projection, and official state-by-state rates are published by the Cremation Association of North America (CANA). Metro figures apply cost-of-living multipliers between 0.95× and 1.35× to the state figure. National and regional averages in the National Funeral Cost Index are simple, unweighted means of the state estimates. Where a page cites a specific state fee, statute or survey, that figure is sourced; derived lines are not.

The build itself checks the arithmetic. Before the site is published, a script confirms that every computed figure in a state page’s sentences matches that page’s own cost table, and another confirms that the totals quoted in page descriptions match the tables. A build with a mismatch fails and is not published.

Limits: no estimate is a quote. Prices at funeral homes in the same city can differ widely, and the only reliable local price is a provider’s General Price List, which the FTC Funeral Rule lets you request, including by phone.

How review dates work

The “Reviewed” date beside a byline is the date of the page’s last real content change, read from the site’s version history. Edits that only change a date, punctuation or a heading do not move it, so a page cannot look freshly reviewed just because a date was bumped. Pages without a recorded content change show their own last-modified date. Beyond that, cost data is re-checked when NFDA, the VA or a state publishes new figures and at least once a year, and because the VA adjusts its allowances each October 1, the VA guide was updated to the October 1, 2026 rates.

How corrections are made

Send a correction through the contact page or to contact@funeralcostanalyzer.com. Corrections are reviewed within 5–10 business days, and errors in a price, a legal statement or anything a family might act on are handled first. If the error is confirmed, the page is fixed, its review date moves, and material changes are listed below and in the editorial standards. Every change to the site is also public in its version history on GitHub.

Corrections and updates log

These entries come from the site’s public version history; the number links to the change itself.