2023 Price Survey of North Carolina Funeral Homes
Click on these links to a PDF of Funeral Home Names Alphabetized or by City-Town
For the 2023 Funeral Home Price Survey, the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service (NCBFS) was asked for contact information for the more than 750 licensed funeral homes in our state.
This database was extremely helpful because it was current and contained both email addresses and telephone numbers. Our Board of Directors, composed of twelve (12) volunteers, then set out to gather price information from these funeral homes. We knew from experience that General Price Lists (GPL’s) are in most cases NOT found on funeral home websites. We remain hopeful that the Federal Trade Commission will update their Funeral Rule later this year to require this action.
Board members checked websites first, then either emailed or called (or both, and on multiple occasions!) to request the price information. Sometimes, in-person visits were required to obtain the information. Responses from funeral home staff when asked for their price lists ran the gamut from “I’ll get that in the mail to you today!” to those who refused even after they were reminded it was our right to receive this information.
The reader will need to interpret our “NP” (Not Provided) with this in mind. “NA” simply means the service was not applicable to that funeral home/crematory.
Rules for Funeral Homes
Funeral businesses are required by the rules of the Federal Trade Commission to give prices over the phone and to give a printed copy of a General Price List (GPL) to anyone appearing in person and requesting information about funeral goods and services. Prices are “subject to change without notice.” Funeral Consumers Alliance North Carolina (FCANC) made a good faith attempt to report the price information as accurately as possible. Please contact the funeral home directly to confirm current pricing.
FCANC compiles this survey as a public service to give consumers a general comparison of funeral prices. FCANC is a non-profit, non-sectarian all volunteer organization dedicated to educating the public about the many options available in planning disposition of bodily remains. We are also advocates for consumer choice at end-of-life, and monitor pertinent legislation and regulatory activities.
Most people haven’t heard of the most important set of consumer protections available to grieving families — the Funeral Rule. Made effective in 1984, this Federal Trade Commission rule is like a consumer’s bill of rights when shopping for a funeral. The Funeral Rule gives consumers:
- The right to pick and choose only the items they want — funeral homes can’t require you to buy a package of goods and services.
- The right to printed, itemized price lists — funeral homes are required to give you a printed price list at the beginning of any arrangements discussion.
- The right to factual information — funeral directors must be truthful and cannot claim that things like embalming or certain caskets are required by law when that’s not true.
- The right to see a price list for caskets before going into the showroom.
- The right to get price quotes over the phone.
- The right to build or buy their own casket outside the funeral home without paying a “casket-handling fee” to the funeral director.
While funeral products and services often are purchased at an emotional time, they are a business transaction. Funeral homes know this well, and grieving people are not usually in the mood to negotiate or question. As consumers, we need to take responsibility for educating ourselves about what we do and don’t want in a funeral, and what we can and can’t afford.
Whatever you choose — burial, a full funeral, cremation, alkaline hydrolysis, or a simple memorial service — you can get the most from your funeral dollar by shopping around ahead of time. Learning how to compare prices and services among funeral homes will put you in control when a death occurs. Consumer surveys show that most people simply use the same funeral home they’ve used before, just because they’ve used it before. But if you don’t shop around, you might be paying thousands more than you need to for comparable services elsewhere in town.
Three Prices Included in Survey
We decided to include only THREE prices which are comparable among providers: those for Basic Services Fee, Direct Cremation, and Immediate Burial. Spreadsheets will let you quickly scan prices of each. Definitions for these are provided here:
Basic Services Fee — All funeral homes charge what’s called the “basic services fee,” the only charge that you cannot decline to pay. The fee is meant to cover all the administrative things common to all funerals, simple or elaborate, such as planning the service, filing necessary paperwork and procuring permits, coordinating arrangements with the cemetery or crematory or any other third parties, and overhead expenses related to the funeral home facility and operations.
Direct Cremation — Simple cremation without ceremony where purchaser provides the container.
Immediate Burial — Simple burial without ceremony where purchaser provides the casket.
Both immediate burial and direct cremation are regarded as “minimal services.” This typically means the body is picked up at the place of death and transported directly to the cemetery or crematory. As with other types of disposition, the purchaser has the right to provide their own container or select one from the funeral home. The cost for the service does not include the container unless stated otherwise. Although some funeral homes state that the cost of their basic services is included in the cost for immediate burial or direct cremation, what they really seem to mean is that the cost of the basic services provided is included proportionally.
In their price for Direct Cremation, some providers will tell you that the price of the cremation itself is not included; others state that cremation is included “if relevant,” a very confusing statement! An update to the Federal Trade Commission’s publication, “Complying with the Funeral Rule” (April 2015) now eliminates the “cremation, if relevant” language. Providers must either include the words “and cremation” or explain that an “…added crematory charge will be estimated or itemized in the Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected.”
While price is an important factor when choosing a funeral home, reputation and quality of service also should be given consideration. Unfortunately, those are more difficult to measure. Is the mortuary a local family business or owned by a large corporation (such as SCI or Dignity)? Will you be expected to sit through a high-pressure sales routine? Are the funeral directors straight with you in answering questions? Will they support you in having just the type of arrangements you want and can afford?
Ask for Recommendations
Ask clergy, social workers, neighbors and friends—and that includes FCANC members!— for their recommendations. We encourage you to shop around and plan ahead when you are not under any pressure. That way you can be assured of final arrangements that are consistent with your values as well as your budget.
2023 Price Survey alphabetical by Funeral Home Name
2023 Price Survey listed by City-Town
Previous Price Survey: View a pdf of the 2021 Price Survey of NC Funeral Homes