The growth of cremation services in the United States

Introduction

Cremation is now the usual U.S. disposition in industry projections, not a rare alternative. That change can surprise relatives who still remember when burial was the default. It can also confuse a family that treats a national percentage as a price. A high cremation rate does not mean a low General Price List.

This guide explains the figures NFDA published with its 2025 Cremation and Burial Report, how they differ from older 2024-report summaries on this site, and which Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule rights apply when you sit down with a licensed provider. It is consumer education. Cremation by ZIP does not cremate, bury, or arrange services, and this article is not legal advice for any state.

If you need a typical local cost window after the trend:

• ZIP calculator
• Direct cremation guide
• Cremation cost breakdown
• Cremation vs. burial
• FTC Funeral Rule / General Price List

What NFDA published for 2025 and 2045

On October 6, 2025, the National Funeral Directors Association released its 2025 Cremation and Burial Report. The public news release states that the U.S. cremation rate is projected to reach 63.4% in 2025, more than double the burial rate of 31.6%. The same release projects that by 2045, cremation will account for 82.3% of dispositions, while burials will decline to 13.0%.

Those leftover percentage points are “other” dispositions — donation, entombment, removal from the state, and similar categories that NFDA does not fold into the cremation or burial columns. They are not a pricing remainder.

NFDA also projects that all 50 states and the District of Columbia will surpass a 50% cremation rate by 2035. That is a coverage statement (every state above half), not a published national rate for 2035. An earlier NFDA 2024 report had projected a U.S. cremation rate of 74.7% in 2035 and 82.1% in 2045. We cite the 2024 74.7% figure only as historical context from that older report. We do not round it up or treat it as a 2025-report national number.

The 2025 release also projects Canadian cremations at 91.2% by 2045. That is Canada, not a U.S. ZIP.

The long view: from about 5% to a majority

Cremation was uncommon in the United States for most of the twentieth century. Historical tables circulated with Cremation Association of North America (CANA) data put the U.S. cremation rate at 4.94% in 1972 and 5.69% in 1973 — the first year clearly above 5%. That is the honest basis for the familiar line that cremation was “about 5%” in the early 1970s.

CANA’s later annual reports track a different series than NFDA’s member-oriented Cremation and Burial Report. The two organizations do not always publish the same percentage for the same year. When this site cites a rate, we name the report year. For current U.S. projections on this page, we use the NFDA 2025 public release. For the early-1970s starting point, we use the CANA historical table.

The first dedicated U.S. crematory opened in 1876 in Washington, Pennsylvania. Nearly a century passed before the national rate crossed 5%. Growth after that point was much faster. A long history still does not set today’s local bill.

• History of cremation in the United States

What a cremation rate is not

A cremation rate counts dispositions. A General Price List counts dollars. A county can sit well above 60% cremation and still have funeral homes whose direct-cremation line is above the national midpoint this calculator uses.

This site’s ZIP calculator still uses NFDA 2023 member General Price List study midpoints — $2,750 for direct cremation with a funeral-home container, $6,280 for a funeral with viewing and cremation, and $8,300 for a funeral with viewing and burial (vault not included) — then applies a documented ZIP multiplier. Those dollars come from a price-list study, not from the 2025 rate report.

Direct cremation is usually the lowest funeral-home package on a list. A funeral with viewing, then cremation, can approach some burial packages before cemetery charges. Families who hear “cremation is growing, so it must be cheap” are mixing a trend with a package.

• Cremation cost breakdown
• Why cremation share keeps growing (2024-report context)

Planning choices that often travel with cremation

Growth in cremation share is partly about timing. Adult children may live in other states. A later memorial can wait until people can travel. That flexibility is a scheduling reason, not a price reason, and it is not a requirement.

Cremation also changes what “a physical memorial” can mean. Some families keep an urn at home. Some buy cemetery interment of the urn later. Some scatter only where the law and the landowner allow it. This article does not state ash-scattering or cemetery rules for any state. Ask the cemetery, the land manager, and the licensed provider.

A comparison of method is useful only at a high level. The bill is still the itemized list.

• A later memorial is optional. It is not included just because cremation is common.
• Cemetery interment of an urn is a cemetery purchase, not a line the national cremation rate explains.
• An urn bought elsewhere is a consumer right under the Funeral Rule; it is not a product this site sells.

• Cremation with a memorial
• Cremation vs. burial

FTC Funeral Rule rights that still apply

The Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule is a consumer-protection rule for most funeral providers. It is not a cremation-rate rule. It still applies when cremation is the majority choice. Three rights matter on almost every cremation shopping call.

First, you have a right to an itemized General Price List. You may see prices for the goods and services the funeral home offers, and you may pick only the items you want, with some legal exceptions the provider should explain. A packaged “cremation special” does not erase the right to see the itemized list.

Second, if you choose direct cremation, the provider must make an alternative container available. You do not have to buy a casket for direct cremation. The alternative container is an unfinished wood box, fiberboard, or similar container offered for cremation — not a decorative urn.

Third, you may use an urn you purchase elsewhere. A funeral home may not require you to buy its urn as a condition of the cremation. Ask them to state any “cash advance” or handling fee in writing on the itemized statement.

• How to ask for a General Price List

Questions to take to a licensed provider

Use this list on the phone or in the arrangement office. It is a shopping list, not a script that binds any firm. Cremation by ZIP cannot quote a funeral home’s General Price List for them.

1. May I have your current General Price List in writing, including the direct-cremation line?
2. What is the price of direct cremation when we use your alternative container?
3. If we bring an urn purchased elsewhere, what — if anything — do you charge to handle it?
4. Which lines on the list are required by law in this state, and which are optional?
5. Does this quote include the medical examiner or coroner fee, death certificates, and clergy — or are those cash advances?
6. If we want a memorial later, which of those charges are on your list versus a venue we hire ourselves?

• Request a quote (we are not the provider)
• Contact Cremation by ZIP

How to use this site after you read the rates

Start with the ZIP calculator for a typical local window. Then open the direct-cremation or cremation-versus-burial guide if you are still choosing a package. Then call licensed providers and ask for the General Price List.

This site lists licensed firms only where a person has checked the legal name and address. Empty ZIPs still get the calculator. A missing listing is not a claim that cremation is unavailable.

• Treat 63.4% (2025) and 82.3% (2045) as national projections from NFDA’s 2025 public release.
• Treat the calculator dollars as NFDA 2023 midpoint estimates after a ZIP multiplier — not a quote.
• Treat the Funeral Rule rights as the shopping rules, not as a discount.
• Come back to this page when later NFDA or CANA reports replace these dated figures.

• ZIP calculator
• California listings hub
• All locations