1. Basic services of funeral director and staff — $1,995 median

The GPL's only non-declinable fee: it covers arrangement conferences, permits, death certificates coordination, and overhead, and it's added to every arrangement except direct cremation and immediate burial packages (which already include it). It's also where funeral homes differ most — our sample runs from a few hundred dollars to $5,000+ for the same legally identical service (n=116). When two funeral homes quote wildly different totals for the same funeral, this line is usually why.

2. Embalming — $785 median

The most misunderstood line (n=154). No state requires embalming for a typical death when disposition happens promptly; refrigeration is the standard alternative, and direct cremation and immediate burial never involve it. Where it becomes practically required is public viewing — most funeral homes require embalming for one as policy. The Funeral Rule requires your express permission before embalming and requires the GPL to say you usually have the right to decline it. If you're choosing a simple arrangement, this $785 line should not appear on your bill.

3. Transfer of remains — $400 median

Moving the deceased from the place of death to the funeral home (n=145). Watch the radius: the listed price covers a stated mileage (often 25–30 miles), with a per-mile charge beyond it. After-hours removals can carry a surcharge. It's a legitimate, mostly consistent fee — the median hides less spread here than anywhere else on the list.

4 & 5. The package floors: direct cremation and immediate burial

These two lines are complete arrangements — transfer, paperwork, care, and disposition with no ceremony — and they're the only apples-to-apples numbers across funeral homes: $1,940 median for direct cremation and $2,433 for immediate burial, each priced with the container or casket provided by the family. When comparison-shopping, compare these lines first; every other number on the GPL varies with what you add.

What's deliberately not on the funeral home's list

Cemetery charges (plot, opening/closing, marker) come from the cemetery's own price list. Caskets and urns live on separate, also-required price lists — and you may buy them anywhere. Cash advance items — flowers, obituaries, clergy honoraria, certified death certificate copies — are passed through, sometimes with a markup the GPL must disclose. A complete funeral budget reads three price lists, not one: here's the full stack with medians.

The four rights that save the most money

Prices by phone — they must quote them, no name required. Itemized choice — you can buy any single item; packages are optional. Outside caskets and urns — accepted without handling fees, by law. Declining embalming — for any arrangement without a public viewing. Exercising just the first one — calling three funeral homes and asking for the basic services fee and the two package lines — is the highest-value twenty minutes in funeral planning.

Source: 197 General Price Lists published online by U.S. funeral homes — the itemized price disclosure the FTC Funeral Rule requires every funeral home to provide — collected and parsed in July 2026, covering 51 states and Washington, D.C. Figures are medians of listed prices; "n" is the number of price lists behind each number. Small samples are shown as-is, not hidden — treat any figure with n under 3 as indicative only. Prices change; always request the funeral home's current GPL.