So. . . . What’s the “Average size” funeral home in the United States?

Every so often when I am researching for articles I stumble across something that really fascinates me.  Well, it happened last week and I enjoyed using the information to decipher what the “Average Size” of a funeral home is/was in the United States according to data compiled in 2023 which means that most of the data is from 2022.

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I came across this listing of data for state compiliation of funeral homes and cemeteries that was derived from the United States Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and IBIS World Industry Reports.  If you don’t know about IBIS World, they are a global research firm whose website states that their, “analysts leverage economic, demographic and market data, then add analytical and forward-looking insight, to help organizations of all types make better business decisions”.

I learned of IBIS World during my time on the Board of Directors for the University of Minnesota and spent time at the university’s Carlson School of Management which had a subscription for students and faculty (and board members) to use.  They are fascinating documents and I enjoyed dissecting the funeral, cremation, and cemetery editions every year.

According to the data from those sets of documents a total “Economic Impact” of funeral services, cemeteries, and cremations could be estimated for the United States.  The data suggested that for 2022:

• The United States had 15,703 funeral homes
• 106,188 people were employed by those funeral homes
• 76.2% of funeral homes were family or privately owned
• Funeral homes generated a total revenue of $16.096 billion in the United States
• Cemeteries generate $4.250 billion in the United States
• From those numbers, an “Average Revenue per Funeral Home” can be established.  That number would be $1.025 million per funeral home.

So, by revenue, the “Average Size” funeral home in the United States in 2022 would be just over a million dollars in revenue.  If one would add the average inflation rate of 2023 (3.4%) and 2024 (2.9%) to that number, the average size funeral home in the United States for 2025, as determined by revenue, would be approximately $1.09 million in revenue.

The statistics provided allow one to do this for each and every state.  I simply took the “Revenue” number listed and divided by the number of funeral homes in the state to get an “average size” funeral home.  Here was some of my findings for “average size” per state:

• Minnesota:      $ 937,540 per funeral home
• Texas:     $ 1,123,000 per funeral home
• Vermont:   $ 675,500 per funeral home
• California:  $ 1,494,396 per funeral home

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Whenever this much data is compiled there is bound to be some that is not totally accurate.  Because of that, I would argue that these numbers are “not absolutely” accurate but do “give a reflection” of the industry across the country.

When I was in my funeral home management days I loved finding statistics like these because they gave me some type of indication where my funeral home fell in the realm of the funeral home universe.

At some point in time, I realized that I managed a “larger than average” funeral home and I was able to use that to my advantage in negotiating supplier arrangements.  I found that it just made sense that if my funeral home could provide more casket sales to a supplier or more preneed insurance policies to an insurer I was more valuable to those suppliers than smaller firms. . . . and if they wanted to do business with my firm then I should get better pricing that a smaller funeral home firm if I used their products exclusively.

Over the years, simply knowing where I sat in the hierarchy of funeral homes was financially beneficial to me with suppliers and also beneficial when it came time to sell because I knew what firms would be interested in a firm of my particular size.

I find data useful. . . . and the more you have, the better decisions you can make.

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