Funeral Home

How these numbers were built: establishment counts and industry size come from the U.S. Census Bureau (County Business Patterns and SUSB for NAICS 8122, Death Care Services); funeral director wages and the employment outlook come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (SOC 39-4031); cremation and burial trends, ownership, and the consumer price picture come from the National Funeral Directors Association; financing terms and the size standard come from the SBA; business survival and exit signals come from the Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics; the owner cash margin comes from Carriage Services’ 2024 funeral field EBITDA margin less rent, checked against BizBuySell’s 2021 to 2025 funeral home sales, which also give the resale multiples and cost of goods; and the cost to open comes from the opening kit, priced line by line from startup cost guides, hearse listings, mortuary equipment prices and funeral home insurance ranges for a leased building. Every source below links to the underlying public material so you can check any figure yourself. These are starting assumptions; the moment you enter a real home’s service count, average charge, cremation mix, and fixed costs, your numbers should replace ours. Figures are current as of 2025-2026 and refreshed as the sources update.

The margin band is owner cash flow (SDE) before any owner pay for a staffed home in a leased building, worked out from Carriage Services’ 2024 funeral field EBITDA margin (39%) less rent, and checked against BizBuySell’s 2021 to 2025 funeral home sales (34% to 42% where the owner is often the director). Cost of goods is anchored to BizBuySell’s U.S. funeral home averages (about 23% of revenue) and staff pay to BLS wages for funeral home managers and morticians; the facility and fleet band and the operating metrics are calibrated to NFDA statistics and are directional.