Including burial and viewing services, the median cost of a funeral in the U.S. is $7,360. The average cost in Arizona is $6,681. Judith Stapley, executive director of the Arizona Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, believes these lower costs are related to the higher-than-average use of cremation services. Stapley noted that Arizona has a cremation rate of 68%, significantly higher than the national rate of 50%. The average cost of cremation is about $600, which can be thousands of dollars fewer than traditional services. Stapley also commented on the lower cost of cremation in Arizona compared to surrounding states: “Talking to some of the people from Southern states where they have low rates of cremation, their normal basic cremation is closer to $3,000 where in Arizona, you’re looking at around $600. The rate of cremation is going to continue to go up. It just is. [This] will keep us below average until the rest of the nation catches up.”
See Maddy Ryan, Arizonans Pay Less for Funeral Services Compared To Rest of Nation, Cronkite News, December 25, 2017.
