Every two years the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Massachusetts (FCAWM) conducts a project to gather price information from local funeral homes and share the information with the public.
In January 2022 FCAWM volunteers sent letters to 86 funeral home locations in the four counties we serve, requesting a copy of the General Price List (GPL), a document that federal law requires them to provide to customers. A stamped returned envelope was provided to help busy business owners comply promptly. By the end of March (our deadline), we had received GPLs from some. During the spring our dedicated committee volunteers called, emailed, and sometimes visited funeral homes to obtain additional GPLs. By June 30 we had gathered GPLs for over 60 locations and price information over the phone for another five. We learned that one funeral home (Hafey) had closed. By mid-August we had GPLs for 75% of the funeral homes (64 of the 85 locations). We also had partial price information for five more, bringing the overall response rate to 81%. That is significantly higher than in past years.
From the GPLs we selected six price categories of services to display in our Price Comparison Chart. We worked with a web designer to improve the format of the display; the 2022 chart now sorts quickly and easily, and can be viewed on devices of different sizes.
Results reveal significant variation in price for the same service definition. It pays to shop around!
For example, “Immediate Burial” prices range from $1670 to $5245.
The range for “Direct Cremation” is $1185 to $5095, which may or may not include the crematory’s fee or Medical Examinator’s fee. We asked each funeral home whether these extra fees are included in their quoted price. You can see their answers, yes or no, on our price charge.
To estimate the cost of a full funeral you would begin with the “Basic Services Fee,” which ranges from a low of $1400 to a high of $3275, and add the cost of any goods or services that you wish the funeral home to provide (e.g., embalming, casket, visiting hours, a funeral ceremony).
If you obtain a General Price List (GPL) from a funeral home that did not reply to our survey, please forward a copy to us. Thank you!
A complete directory of the funeral homes, with addresses and links to their websites, is available on our website.