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Burial

Burial involves two sets of decisions: those with the funeral home, and those with the cemetery. Understanding both helps you avoid surprises.

Edited by Steven Royster, Licensed Funeral Director (FL) Updated How we create content

Types of burial

  • Traditional burial: usually embalming, a visitation and funeral, then burial in a casket, typically within a vault or liner.
  • Direct (immediate) burial: burial soon after death without embalming or viewing, often with a short graveside service. It removes many funeral home charges, though cemetery costs remain.
  • Green or natural burial: no embalming, a biodegradable casket or shroud, and usually no vault, in a natural burial ground or a conventional cemetery section that allows it.
  • Entombment: placement in a mausoleum crypt above ground.
  • Burial of cremated remains: in a cremation plot, an urn garden, or an existing family grave.

Choosing a cemetery

Consider location and accessibility for visitors, religious affiliation (some cemeteries serve particular faiths), rules on monuments and decorations, whether green burial is allowed, and the cemetery's long-term care arrangements. Ask for the cemetery's written price list and rules before buying. Cemeteries are regulated mainly by states, and many are not covered by the FTC Funeral Rule, so ask about every charge.

Questions to ask:

  • What does the plot price include? Is there an endowment or perpetual care fee?
  • What is the opening and closing fee, and is it higher on weekends or holidays?
  • Do you require a vault or grave liner? Can we buy one elsewhere?
  • What are the rules for markers or headstones — size, material, flat or upright — and is there a setting or installation fee?
  • Can more than one person (or cremated remains) be buried in the plot?

Eligible veterans, and often their spouses and dependents, can be buried in a VA national cemetery at no cost for the gravesite, opening and closing, liner and marker. See veterans burial benefits.

Caskets

Caskets range from simple wood or cloth-covered models to premium hardwood, copper and bronze. In the NFDA's 2023 price study, the median price of a metal casket was about $2,500, and many cost much more. Points to know:

  • Funeral homes must show you a casket price list before showing you caskets.
  • You can buy a casket from a third party (including online), and the funeral home must accept it without a handling fee.
  • "Protective" or "sealer" caskets with gaskets cost more; the FTC Funeral Rule prohibits claims that they will preserve the body indefinitely.
  • For green burial, choose a casket or shroud that meets the burial ground's requirements.

Burial vaults and grave liners

No state law generally requires a vault or liner, but many cemeteries require an outer burial container so the ground doesn't settle. A grave liner is a basic concrete box; a burial vault is sealed or lined and costs more. Ask the cemetery what the minimum requirement is, and know that funeral homes must give you an outer burial container price list. The NFDA's 2023 study put the median vault price around $1,700.

Grave markers and headstones

  • Flat markers (flush with the ground) are usually the least expensive and are required in some "memorial park" cemeteries.
  • Upright headstones cost more and may require a foundation.
  • Check the cemetery's rules before ordering. You can usually buy from an independent monument company; the cemetery may charge an installation or setting fee.
  • Markers are often set weeks or months after burial, once the ground settles and the stone is made.
  • Eligible veterans can receive a government headstone or marker for any cemetery.

Graveside services

A graveside (committal) service can follow a funeral or stand alone. It's usually brief — 15 to 30 minutes — with words from an officiant, a reading or prayer, and sometimes the lowering of the casket. Ask the funeral home about chairs, a tent, and what to do in bad weather; dress for the ground and conditions.

Green burial

Green burial avoids embalming, uses biodegradable materials, and usually omits a concrete vault. Some burial grounds also protect land as conservation areas. Availability varies by region. The Green Burial Council certifies providers and burial grounds.

Burial costs

Burial usually costs more than cremation because of the casket and cemetery charges. See cremation vs. burial costs and estimate with the funeral cost calculator.

Burial vs. cremation

Sources and references

  1. Federal Trade Commission: Shopping for Funeral Services
  2. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations: 16 CFR Part 453 — Funeral Industry Practices
  3. National Funeral Directors Association via Connecting Directors: 2023 NFDA General Price List Study Shows Inflation Increasing Faster than the Cost of a Funeral (NFDA release, reprinted)
  4. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Eligibility for burial in a VA national cemetery
  5. Green Burial Council (nonprofit): Green Burial Council

Rules, benefit amounts and prices change. Where a source is a government agency, check it directly for current figures. See our sources and fact-checking policy.