Gitnux/Report 2026

Funeral Industry Statistics

With UK cremation now at 78.6% of deaths registered in 2023 and US cremation climbing to 60.4% in 2022, this page tracks how fast end of life care is shifting toward cremation and greener options. You will also see what compliance and customer expectations require, from FTC Funeral Rule price disclosures to the jump from just 35.5% cremation in 2000, plus practical signals like 96% of US funeral homes offering payment plans and 92% of consumers reading online reviews before choosing a provider.
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November 10, 2026Updated
Funeral Industry Statistics
Elif DemirciWritten by Elif Demirci·Edited by Megan Gallagher·Fact-checked by Jonathan Hale
Published ·Updated
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Before any source is gathered, an editor locks the question, what qualifies, and how the piece will be judged.

02Source Research

Search agents collect the source set and pull each data point out with its provenance attached.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 39 days

01 Industry overview

The funeral industry at a glance

The U.S. funeral industry generates $16.3 billion in funeral-home revenue, while cremation is projected to account for 63.4% of dispositions in 2025, reshaping services, pricing and investment.

$16.3B[8]
Funeral-home revenue
63.4%[8]
Projected cremation rate, 2025
61,500[18]
Funeral service workers, 2025
$8,300[29]
Median burial funeral cost, 2023
Market size
U.S. funeral homes generate $16.3 billion in revenue, while crematories and cemeteries generate an additional $4.274 billion. NFDA counts 15,401 funeral homes operating in the United States.[8]
Forecast & CAGR
Industry revenue is projected to grow at an annualized 2.3% rate to $20.6 billion by 2029. The forecast reflects continued volume growth from cremation and slower revenue per case compared with traditional burial services.[1]
Market share & regions
The U.S. cremation rate is projected at 63.4% in 2025, compared with a 31.6% burial rate. NFDA projects cremation to reach 82.3% of U.S. dispositions by 2045, while Canada’s rate is projected to reach 91.2%.[8]
Segmentation
Funeral-industry revenue is divided mainly among funeral planning services at 35.5%, resale of merchandise at 26.9%, body preparation and interment at 12.1%, cremation at 5.6%, transportation at 4.8% and other activities at 12.4%.[1]
Key players & concentration
The U.S. market remains highly fragmented by ownership: approximately 75% of funeral homes are family- or privately owned. NFDA reports 15,401 funeral homes, while Service Corporation International reported $4.3 billion in 2025 consolidated revenue across funeral and cemetery operations.[8][19]
Pricing
The 2023 national median cost was $8,300 for an adult funeral with viewing and burial, excluding cemetery interment and cash-advance charges, and $6,280 for a funeral with viewing and cremation. The burial-funeral median increased 5.8% from 2021, while the cremation-funeral median increased 8.1%.[29][8]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Cremation adoption, digital arrangements and interest in environmentally oriented services are major growth drivers: 61.4% of surveyed consumers said they were interested in exploring green funeral options in 2025. Qualified personnel availability was identified by NFDA-member firms as their greatest business challenge over the next four years.[8]
Consumer behavior & competition
Nearly 30% of consumers in NFDA’s 2025 study completed arrangements entirely online, while 44% said they would not feel confident planning without a funeral director. Among consumers who visited a funeral-home website, 29.2% completed all arrangements online and 39.4% began online before following up with a funeral director.[8][15]
M&A
Consolidation continued in 2025: Carriage Services acquired eight funeral homes, one cemetery and one cremation-focused business in Florida for an aggregate $56.5 million, and purchased real property for an existing funeral home for $2.5 million.[19]
Regulation
The FTC Funeral Rule requires providers to disclose itemized prices for goods and services, including embalming, transportation, facilities, caskets, outer burial containers, immediate burial and direct cremation. Providers must also give consumers accurate price information from their General Price List when asked by telephone.[42][51]
Latest news
NFDA’s 2025 Cremation & Burial Report projects that cremation will reach 63.4% of U.S. dispositions in 2025 and 82.3% by 2045. The report also states that nearly 36% of member firms already offer online cremation arrangements, with another 25% planning to do so within four years.[8]
report visual · Comparison

Revenue of the largest funeral companies

Matthews International leads with $1.5B in annual revenue (group level, converted to USD).

Matthews International$1.5B
Dignity Group Holdings$418M
Carriage Services$417M
Propel Funeral Partners$150M
Westerleigh Group$106M
source-verifiedmatw.com · lifeservicesgroup.co.uk · investors.carriageservices.com · financialfilings.com · s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com2026

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Funeral Industry

The leading companies in the funeral industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 7, 2026 · Next review December 7, 2026

Verdict

Service Corporation International leads Gitnux's 2026 funeral ranking with an Overall score of 9.9, with 1,485 funeral locations and 500 cemeteries at December 31, 2025. Matthews International is the highest-ranked memorialization and cremation equipment manufacturer at 9.6, backed by manufacturing memorials, caskets, urns, burial vaults and cremation equipment for funeral businesses.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in funeral homes

    Service Corporation International

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.9 · Funeral homes

    Why we picked it: It runs a large North American funeral-home and cemetery footprint under a unified network scale.

    See in ranking ↓Visit sci-corp.com ↗

  2. Leader in memorialization & cremation products

    Matthews International

    US

    Ranked #2 · 9.6 · Memorialization & cremation products

    Why we picked it: It supplies memorialization and cremation equipment to funeral operators through product manufacturing.

    See in ranking ↓Visit matw.com ↗

  3. Leader in funeral plans

    Dignity Group Holdings

    GB

    Ranked #3 · 8.4 · Funeral plans

    Why we picked it: It provides end-of-life services in the UK segment covering funeral homes and crematoria operations.

    See in ranking ↓Visit dignityfunerals.co.uk ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the funeral industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Service Corporation International

Funeral homes · US

9.9
2

Matthews International

Memorialization & cremation products · US

9.6
3

Dignity Group Holdings

Funeral plans · GB

8.4
4

Everstory Partners

Crematories & cemeteries · US

8.4
5

Nirvana Asia

Integrated death-care services · MY

8.4
6

Foundation Partners Group

Funeral homes, crematories and cemeteries, United States · US

8.4
7

Carriage Services

Funeral homes and cemeteries, United States · US

8.4
8

Propel Funeral Partners

Funeral homes, crematoria and cemeteries, Australia and New Zealand · AU

8.0
9

Westerleigh Group

Crematoria and funeral plans, United Kingdom · GB

7.8
10

Wilbert Funeral Services

Burial vaults and funeral products, North America · US

7.0

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 7, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Elif Demirci. (2026, February 13). Top 10 companies in the funeral industry. In Funeral Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/funeral-industry-statistics/#top-companies

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

NFDA-member funeral homes show a measured digital shift: 36.3% offered online cremation arrangements in 2024, with 25.0% planning to do so within four years.

Automation in the funeral industry

  • 25.0% of NFDA-member funeral homes planned to offer online cremation arrangements within four years, according to the 2024 industry survey.[1]
  • 36.3% of NFDA-member funeral homes offered online cremation arrangements in 2024, enabling families to complete part of the process digitally.[1]

Digital Transformation in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • 98% of surveyed public-sector organizations worldwide reported having some form of digital-transformation strategy in 2025.[2]
  • 74% of EU businesses reached a basic level of digital intensity in 2024, compared with 73% of SMEs and 98% of large businesses.[3]
  • 72% of EU enterprises had at least basic digital intensity in 2025, including 96% of large enterprises and 69% of small enterprises.[3]
  • 71% of EU small and medium-sized enterprises reached at least a basic level of digital intensity in 2025.[3]

Technology Adoption in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • 48% of nonprofits reported using artificial intelligence in 2025, up from 31% in 2024.[4]
  • 52.9% of EU enterprises with at least 10 employees conducted meetings remotely via the internet in 2024.[3]
  • 20.0% of EU enterprises with at least 10 employees used artificial-intelligence technologies in 2025, up from 13.5% in 2024.[3]
  • 45% of philanthropic organizations reported that their technology leader reported directly to the chief executive or president in 2024.[5]

Cloud Computing in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • 60% of surveyed charities said their cloud journey was largely complete in 2025.[6]
  • 93% of surveyed nonprofits said they wanted to move their current technology to the cloud in the prior GiveSmart study.[7]
  • 85.2% of EU enterprises using paid cloud services used them for email in 2025, while 71.7% used office software and 71.5% used file storage.[3]
  • 52.7% of EU enterprises used paid cloud-computing services in 2025, up 7.4 percentage points from 2023.[3]
  • 80% of surveyed nonprofits were more likely to adopt a cloud-based solution in 2024 than two years earlier.[7]

Big Data in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • 40% of EU enterprises performed data analytics internally or through another organization in 2025.[3]
  • 13.85% of EU enterprises used an external enterprise or organization to perform data analytics in 2025.[3]
  • 5.92% of EU enterprises performed analytics on data from smart devices or sensors using their own employees in 2025.[3]
  • 33.02% of EU enterprises performed data analytics using their own employees in 2025.[3]
  • 7.28% of EU enterprises performed analytics on government-authority open data using their own employees in 2025.[3]

IoT in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • 67% of EU internet users used internet-connected home-entertainment solutions in 2024.[3]
  • 29% of EU enterprises used interconnected devices or systems that could be monitored or controlled remotely via the internet in 2021.[3]
  • 76% of EU internet users used internet-connected devices or systems in 2024.[3]
  • 32% of EU internet users used a smartwatch, fitness band or similar wearable in 2024.[3]
  • 15% of EU internet users used smart meters or smart lights for home energy management in 2024.[3]

Innovation in the funeral industry

  • 13.9% of NFDA-member funeral homes planned to begin offering livestreaming in the near future.[1]
  • 61.4% of U.S. consumers said they were interested in exploring green funeral options, up from 55.7% in 2021.[8]
  • More than half of NFDA-member funeral homes had begun offering livestreaming since the start of COVID-19, according to NFDA’s industry research.[1]
  • 58.3% of U.S. consumers had attended a funeral at a non-traditional location, such as somewhere other than a funeral home or place of worship.[8]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

The data model challenge shows up as governance and interoperability gaps: 52% of public-sector organizations reported projects to improve interoperability in 2024–2025.

Data Quality in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across 46 U.S. state governments, 89% of CIOs rated data quality as important, very important or critically important in 2024.[9]
  • Among surveyed nonprofits, 10% said data was embedded in organizational culture with an integrated data platform in 2024.[10]
  • Across 46 U.S. state governments, 95% of respondents said increased AI and generative-AI adoption would affect the importance of data management in 2024.[9]
  • Among surveyed nonprofits, 9% described themselves as highly data-driven in 2025, while 34% said data was collected but not fully leveraged.[11]
  • Across 350 public-sector organizations in 23 countries, 41% said in 2024–2025 that they could access data at the speed needed for decision-making.[12]
  • Across 46 U.S. state governments, 22% had an established data-quality program in 2024, while 78% did not.[9]

Data Governance in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across 350 public-sector organizations in 23 countries, 53% identified ineffective data governance and management as a challenge in 2024–2025.[12]
  • Across 350 public-sector organizations in 23 countries, 52% had ongoing projects to improve interoperability of their data and IT systems in 2024–2025.[12]
  • Across 350 public-sector organizations in 23 countries, 61% said achieving interoperability was a key priority of their data and IT strategy in 2024–2025.[12]
  • Among surveyed nonprofits globally, 37% reported having a data-handling policy in 2025.[13]
  • Across 36 OECD countries, 80% reported implementing the principle of managing data with integrity in 2025.[14]
  • Across 36 OECD countries, 83% reported policy initiatives promoting ethical data management in 2025.[14]

KPIs in the funeral industry

  • 37.4% of U.S. consumers in 2025 called or visited more than one funeral home when planning a funeral.[15]
  • 36% of families in the 2025 FCCBS visited other funeral-home or cemetery locations in person, visiting three locations on average.[16]
  • 87% of families in the 2025 FCCBS visited the funeral-home or cemetery location they ultimately selected.[16]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Revenue is expected to rise more slowly than case volume, with cremation adoption driving volume while revenue per case slows toward $20.6 billion by 2029.

Growth in the funeral industry

  • The global funeral and cremation services market was valued at $70.6 billion in 2024.[17]
  • 5.8% is the projected compound annual growth rate for the global funeral and cremation services market from 2025 to 2030.[17]
  • 4% growth is projected for U.S. funeral service worker employment from 2025 to 2035.[18]
  • The global funeral and cremation services market is projected to reach $98.5 billion by 2030.[17]

Differentiation in the funeral industry

  • 12.7% of U.S. respondents preferred making funeral prearrangements online in 2025.[8]
  • 47.9% of U.S. respondents said online funeral planning was a good experience but still required assistance from a funeral director in 2025.[8]
  • 3.9% of U.S. respondents said social media was their first interaction with a funeral home in 2025.[8]
  • 50.1% of U.S. respondents said their first interaction with a funeral home was in person in 2025.[8]

Mergers and acquisitions in the funeral industry

  • 8 funeral homes, 1 cemetery and 1 cremation-focused business were acquired by Carriage Services in 2025.[19]
  • $56.5 million was the aggregate price of Carriage Services’ 2025 acquisitions of eight funeral homes, one cemetery and one cremation-focused business.[19]
  • $182.9 million was spent by SCI on business acquisitions in 2024.[19]
  • 26 funeral homes and 6 cemeteries were acquired by SCI in 2024.[19]

Strategic partnerships in the funeral industry

  • 1 software provider and 1 personalized-memorial platform were named in Osiris Software’s 2025 strategic partnership announcement.[20]
  • 1 preferred provider was designated in SCI’s 2024 partnership with Global Atlantic for preneed insurance in North America.[21]
  • 2 death-care technology companies formed a strategic partnership to expand personalized memorial offerings in 2025.[20]
  • 10 years is the term of the preferred preneed-insurance partnership formed between Global Atlantic and SCI in 2024.[21]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Capacity constraints are explicit in the workforce outlook, with 5,800 U.S. funeral service worker openings projected annually, on average, from 2023 through 2033.

Hiring in the funeral industry

  • 4% growth in U.S. funeral service employment is projected from 2023 to 2033.[1]
  • 5,800 U.S. funeral service worker openings are projected annually, on average, from 2023 through 2033.[1]

Employee retention in the funeral industry

  • 29% of inactive funeral directors identified an unhealthy work environment as a reason for leaving the field.[22]
  • 37% of inactive funeral directors cited low pay or inadequate benefits as a reason for leaving the profession.[22]
  • 34% of active funeral directors identified an unhealthy work environment as a factor making them seriously consider leaving.[22]
  • 30% of active funeral directors reported routinely working more than 44 hours per week.[22]

Remote Work in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among U.S. public-sector workers in 2024–2025, 41.0% of federal-government employees worked at home, compared with 41.9% in state government and 24.4% in local government.[18]
  • In 2025, 4% of surveyed U.S. state and local governments hired new staff to work exclusively offsite.[23]
  • Across U.S. public-sector workers, 33.6% could work at home in 2024–2025, and 29.4% did so, according to annual averages.[18]
  • In 2025, 7% of surveyed U.S. state and local governments reported having at least some staff working outside their metropolitan area or state.[23]

Hybrid Work in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • In 2025, 67% of surveyed U.S. state and local governments reported that flexible work practices had a positive productivity impact.[23]
  • In 2025, 35.6% of surveyed Florida nonprofits with paid employees offered hybrid office/home work arrangements.[24]
  • Among U.S. state and local governments with hybrid schedules in 2025, 61% had designated shared in-office days.[23]
  • In 2025, 75% of U.S. local and state governments with at least 2,500 full-time-equivalent employees reported using hybrid work.[23]
  • In 2025, 36% of U.S. local and state governments with fewer than 250 full-time-equivalent employees reported using hybrid work.[23]

Employee Engagement in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • In 2025, Audit Wales reported an 84% participation rate in its employee engagement survey, up from 80% in 2023.[25]
  • In 2025, employee engagement ranged from 57% to 71% across the U.K. Civil Service’s main organizations.[26]
  • In 2025, Audit Wales recorded an overall employee engagement score of 73% using the Civil Service People Survey methodology.[25]
  • In 2025, New South Wales public-sector employee engagement increased to 63.6 points from 62.3 points in 2024.[27]
  • Across the U.K. Civil Service, the employee engagement index was 65% in 2025, up one percentage point from 2024.[26]

Change Management in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • In 2025, 41.7% of surveyed nonprofits shared change-management lessons internally, while 30.9% shared them both internally and externally.[28]
  • In 2025, 59.4% of surveyed nonprofit organizations reported reviewing change initiatives to capture lessons learned.[28]
  • In 2025, fewer than half of surveyed nonprofits said their organization evaluated whether change initiatives had a positive impact on performance.[28]
  • Across 1,235 nonprofit professionals in 75 countries, 64.0% believed organizational changes were implemented in ways that could be maintained over time in 2025.[28]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Online purchasing behavior is mixed with human follow-up: 29.2% completed all arrangements online after visiting a website, while 44.4% lacked confidence without a funeral director.

Customer experience in the funeral industry

  • 64% of U.S. consumers said they would arrange livestreaming so distant relatives could participate in a funeral.[29]
  • 47.9% of U.S. consumers said online funeral planning was a good experience but that they still needed assistance from a funeral director.[15]
  • 44.4% of U.S. consumers said they would feel not very confident or not at all confident planning a funeral without a funeral director’s help.[29]
  • 36.9% of U.S. consumers said they were satisfied with online funeral planning and accomplished everything they wanted online.[15]

Customer retention in the funeral industry

  • 16.1% of funeral consumers cited having a prepaid funeral with the funeral home as a reason for selecting it.[8]
  • 57.4% of funeral consumers cited having previously served their family as a reason for selecting a funeral home.[8]
  • 15.4% of funeral consumers cited having a pre-arranged funeral with the funeral home as a reason for selecting it.[8]

Customer acquisition in the funeral industry

  • 34.8% of U.S. consumers said an online review either solidified their funeral-home choice or steered them toward a particular funeral home.[15]
  • 40% of U.S. consumers said they had used a funeral home they found on Facebook, nearly double the 21% reported in 2023.[29]
  • 37.4% of U.S. consumers called or visited more than one funeral home when making arrangements.[30]

Customer loyalty in the funeral industry

  • 98% of cremation customers and 98% of burial customers rated quality of service as important in choosing a funeral-home location.[19]
  • 97% of funeral customers said they would definitely or probably recommend their funeral-home location or services to others in an SCI survey.[19]
  • 90.2 was the reported NPS for cremation with memorial services, compared with 87.3 for traditional burial services.[31]

Lead generation in the funeral industry

  • 74% of U.S. consumers had visited a funeral-home website, primarily to find obituaries, prices, planning information or service options.[15]
  • 15% of U.S. consumers said their first interaction with a funeral home was online.[15]
  • 3.9% of U.S. consumers said their first interaction with a funeral home was through social media.[15]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Affordability drives choice in NFDA’s 2025 study, reported by 40% of respondents. Facebook-based discovery is also significant at 40% of U.S. consumers in 2025.

Marketing in the funeral industry

  • 40% of respondents in the 2025 NFDA study said affordability was the leading reason for choosing a funeral home.[32]
  • 40% of U.S. consumers in 2025 had used a funeral home they found on Facebook, nearly double the 21% recorded in 2023.[29]
  • 73% of deathcare professionals reported using paid social-media or search-engine strategies in the 2024 Connecting Directors survey.[33]

Digital marketing in the funeral industry

  • 78% of U.S. consumers planned to begin researching funeral and cemetery providers online in 2025.[34]
  • 69% of U.S. consumers expected to visit funeral-home websites directly when researching providers in 2025.[34]
  • 60% of recent U.S. funeral and cemetery customers conducted online research before selecting a provider in 2025.[34]

Branding in the funeral industry

  • 61% was the average U.S. consumer rating of the funeral, cemetery and cremation profession in 2025.[35]
  • 55% was the U.S. consumer rating for the honesty of the funeral profession as a whole in 2025.[35]
  • 73% was the U.S. consumer rating for the honesty of funeral professionals in 2025.[35]

Social media in the funeral industry

  • 22% of deathcare professionals reported using Instagram to market their services in 2024.[33]
  • 34% of deathcare professionals said they would use social media more for business if they had more time to create and monitor content in 2024.[33]
  • 82% of deathcare professionals reported using Facebook to market their services in 2024.[33]
  • 15% of deathcare professionals reported using none of the listed social-media platforms in 2024.[33]
  • 16% of deathcare professionals reported using LinkedIn to market their services in 2024.[33]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Operations and execution tie to financial outcomes in consolidation. Carriage Services’ total funeral-home segment revenue reached $269.212 million in 2025.

Operational efficiency in the funeral industry

  • 2.3% was the increase in Carriage Services’ total funeral-home segment revenue in 2025, reaching $269.212 million.[19]
  • $2.865 million was the increase in funeral-home adjusted operating profit for Carriage Services in 2025 compared with 2024, attributed partly to operational improvements.[19]
  • 3.7% was the increase in Carriage Services’ operating funeral-home revenue in 2025, reaching $239.601 million.[19]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the public sector and nonprofit sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across UK public-sector organizations, third parties received £21 billion, or about 81% of digital and data spending, in 2023.[26]
  • Among surveyed nonprofit leaders, 53% outsourced IT support and data management in 2025.[36]
  • Across OECD governments, outsourced expenditure averaged 9.5% of GDP in 2021, including purchases of goods and services from non-government providers.[14]
  • Among surveyed nonprofit leaders in organizations with $3 million–$200 million revenue, 100% outsourced at least one business function in 2025.[36]
  • Across UK public-sector digital and data spending, contractors, managed-service providers and IT consultants accounted for 55%, or £14.5 billion, in 2023.[37]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Price transparency is central to pricing configuration: 64.3% of U.S. respondents said funeral homes should be required to post prices online in 2025.

Pricing strategy in the funeral industry

  • 64.3% of U.S. respondents said funeral homes should be required to post prices online in 2025.[15]
  • 90.1% of U.S. respondents said a funeral home’s General Price List was helpful and easy to understand in 2025.[15]
  • 52.6% of U.S. respondents who contacted more than one funeral home received a General Price List in 2025.[15]
  • $5,714 was Carriage Services’ average revenue per funeral contract in 2023.[19]

Cost reduction in the funeral industry

  • $2.9 million was the year-over-year increase in Carriage Services’ funeral-home adjusted operating profit in 2025, reflecting cost-efficiency efforts.[19]
  • 3.1% was the increase in Carriage Services’ operating funeral-home adjusted operating profit in 2025.[19]

Profitability in the funeral industry

  • $269.212 million was Carriage Services’ total funeral-home segment revenue in 2025.[19]
  • $94.617 million was Carriage Services’ operating funeral-home adjusted operating profit in 2025.[19]
  • 16.2% was the increase in Service Corporation International’s consolidated funeral gross profit in the first six months of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.[19]

Financial planning in the funeral industry

  • $3.8 million was the increase in Carriage Services’ other funeral-related revenue in 2025, including preneed insurance commissions and delivered preneed trust and insurance contracts.[19]
  • 40% of U.S. consumers said they would consider attending an end-of-life education event if one were offered in their community in 2025.[31]
  • $2.9 million was the increase in Carriage Services’ other adjusted operating profit from preneed-related activities in 2025.[19]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Online transactions are treated as products and services: 67% of U.S. consumers considered online pricing important in 2025, and 52% valued online payment options.

Product development in the funeral industry

  • 47% of U.S. consumers in 2025 considered the ability to complete paperwork online an important funeral-home or cemetery product or service.[34]
  • 52% of U.S. consumers in 2025 considered online payment options an important funeral-home or cemetery product or service.[34]
  • 67% of U.S. consumers in 2025 considered online pricing an important funeral-home or cemetery product or service.[34]

Value proposition in the funeral industry

  • 44.9% of U.S. consumers in 2025 said they would be much more likely to engage a funeral home that posted its General Price List online.[15]
  • 90.1% of U.S. respondents in 2025 found the General Price List helpful and easy to understand.[15]
  • 48% of U.S. consumers who planned a funeral online in 2025 still needed assistance from a funeral director.[29]
  • 44.4% of U.S. consumers in 2025 said they would feel not very confident or not at all confident planning a funeral without a funeral director’s help.[29]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Sustainability demand sits beside emerging grief-technology questions, with 1.27% of U.S. funeral directors reporting customers often requested environmentally sensitive burials in 2025.

Sustainability in the funeral industry

  • 1.27% of U.S. funeral directors in 2025 said customers often requested environmentally sensitive burials.[38]
  • 0.24% of U.S. funeral directors in 2025 said customers always requested environmentally sensitive burials.[38]
  • 42.53% of U.S. funeral directors in 2025 said customers never requested environmentally sensitive burials.[38]

ESG in the funeral industry

  • 262 metric tonnes of nitrogen oxides were estimated from UK gas cremations in 2021.[39]
  • 80% less carbon dioxide is emitted by electric cremators than by gas-powered cremators, according to a UK bereavement-services analysis.[39]
  • 33% less nitrogen oxide is emitted by electric cremators than by gas-powered cremators, according to a UK bereavement-services analysis.[39]
  • 75,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide were estimated from UK gas cremations in 2021.[39]

Ethics in the funeral industry

  • 18% of U.S. respondents in 2026 said they would consider voice cloning that recreates a deceased loved one’s voice.[40]
  • 72% of U.S. respondents in 2026 said it was important for future generations to access and learn about the lives and memories of people who had died.[40]
  • 79% of U.S. respondents in 2026 considered grief-technology tools creepy.[40]
  • 20% of U.S. respondents in 2026 considered grief-technology tools comforting.[40]

Carbon footprint in the funeral industry

  • 349 kilograms of CO2e can be emitted by visits to memorial places over 20 years in Planet Mark’s funeral-industry example.[41]
  • 125 kilograms of CO2e are associated with the operational stage of natural-gas cremation in Planet Mark’s funeral-industry lifecycle estimate.[41]
  • 130 kilograms of carbon dioxide are produced by an average gas cremation, according to a UK bereavement-services analysis.[39]
  • 0.5 kilograms of nitrogen oxide are produced by an average gas cremation, according to a UK bereavement-services analysis.[39]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Localization and education needs appear in NFDA’s global study: nearly half of respondents had never planned a funeral, based on more than 4,000 consumer surveys in 2025.

Globalization in the funeral industry

  • More than 4,000 consumer surveys formed the basis of NFDA’s global funeral-preference study in 2025.[8]
  • 40.0% was Asia-Pacific’s share of global funeral and cremation services market revenue in 2024.[17]
  • 20 countries across six continents were included in NFDA’s first global consumer study of funeral preferences in 2025.[8]

Cultural adaptation in the funeral industry

  • 96% of respondents in NFDA’s 2025 global study said funerals were healing experiences, regardless of culture or disposition method.[8]
  • Nearly half of respondents in NFDA’s 2025 global study had never planned a funeral, indicating a need for localized guidance and education.[8]
  • 50% of U.S. consumers favored cremation in NFDA’s 2025 generational study.[8]
  • 91% of U.S. consumers surveyed by NFDA in 2025 considered talking about death healthy and normal.[8]

Stakeholder management in the funeral industry

  • 73.6% of U.S. respondents considered having the body or cremated remains present at a memorial service very or somewhat important in 2025.[15]
  • 58.3% of U.S. consumers preferred speaking directly with a funeral director when making prearrangements in NFDA’s 2025 study.[15]
  • 31.8% of U.S. consumers preferred combining online tools with a funeral director when making prearrangements in 2025.[15]
  • 90.1% of U.S. respondents said the General Price List was helpful and easy to understand in NFDA’s 2025 survey.[15]

Distribution channels in the funeral industry

  • 63.6% of U.S. consumers said they would arrange for friends or relatives to participate in a funeral or memorial through streaming in 2025.[15]
  • 66.9% of U.S. consumers obtained funeral pricing directly from a funeral home in NFDA’s 2025 study.[15]
  • 20.7% of U.S. consumers obtained funeral pricing by phoning a funeral home in NFDA’s 2025 study.[15]

Key questions about the Funeral Industry

What is the current market size for U.S. funeral-home revenue?
The U.S. funeral industry generates $16.3 billion in funeral-home revenue. Crematories and cemeteries generate an additional $4.274 billion.
How fast is industry revenue expected to grow through 2029?
Industry revenue is projected to grow at an annualized 2.3% rate to $20.6 billion by 2029. The forecast reflects continued volume growth from cremation and slower revenue per case compared with traditional burial.
Which companies lead the funeral industry?
Service Corporation International leads Gitnux's 2026 funeral ranking with an Overall score of 9.9, with 1,485 funeral locations and 500 cemeteries at December 31, 2025. Matthews International is the highest-ranked memorialization and cremation equipment manufacturer at 9.6, backed by manufacturing memorials, caskets, urns, burial vaults and cremation equipment for funeral businesses.
What digital shift is most measurable in funeral-home operations?
NFDA-member firms reported adoption of online cremation arrangements: 36.3% in 2024 and 25.0% planned within four years, in the 2024 industry survey. Nearly 30% of consumers in NFDA’s 2025 study completed arrangements entirely online.
How fragmented is the U.S. funeral market by ownership?
Approximately 75% of funeral homes are family- or privately owned. NFDA reports 15,401 funeral homes operating in the United States.
What compliance obligation affects how prices must be disclosed?
The FTC Funeral Rule requires itemized price disclosures for goods and services, including embalming, transportation, facilities, caskets, outer burial containers, immediate burial and direct cremation. Providers must also give accurate price information from the General Price List when asked by telephone.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Elif Demirci. (2026, February 13). Funeral Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/funeral-industry-statistics
MLA
Elif Demirci. "Funeral Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/funeral-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Elif Demirci. 2026. "Funeral Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/funeral-industry-statistics.

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