North America Funeral Service Market Outlook, 2029

As the mosaic of end-of-life services for North America gradually continues to evolve, so does the funeral and cremation market, supplying innovative solutions in memory of loved ones from virtual memorials to green funerals. Sustainability is increasingly entering the focal point of concern in the North American funeral and cremation services market. Growing consumer awareness coupled with environmental considerations is accelerating demand for green funerals. Green funerals are deeply concerned with causing minimal harm to the environment from funeral rites, using biodegradable coffins, sites for natural burial, and eco-friendly cremations.

Providers are developing a variety of choices in sustainability, including natural burials without embalming or the use of recyclable materials. The largest market in North America is the U.S., which has numerous providers with diverse characteristics and a strong trend toward cremation. These would include the huge-population and huge-death-rate states such as California, Texas, and Florida, which reflects a massive cultural shift away from traditional burials. The funeral and cremation services market in North America is regulated by government policies aimed at consumer protection, environmental care, and regulation of the industry.

Through the enforcement of the Federal Trade Commission, the hallmark of this statute in the United States is transparency in pricing and prohibition of misleading sales practices through clear, itemized costs under the Funeral Rule. At the provincial level, Canada regulates licensing and health and safety standards, and it stipulates an open and transparent service. With regard to the environment, cemeteries will have to adhere to green-burial and eco-friendly cremation methods as environmentally conscious policies become paramount. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the population 65 years and older will almost double by the year 2060. This demographic shift is one of the main forces impelling the funeral and cremation services market.

According to the research report "North America Funeral and Cremation Services Market Outlook, 2029," the North America Funeral and Cremation Services market was valued at more than USD 17 Billion in 2023. Several forces are driving the North American funeral and cremation services market. One of the major drivers is the ageing population; the U.S. It has been projected by the Census Bureau that the population aged 65 years and above will almost double by 2060, thereby increasing the demand for end-of-life services.

Cost is another factor that may create high demand since cremation might be cheaper as compared to the traditional style of burial, therefore becoming a favorite for many families. Another driver of the change is cultural shifts are changing attitudes toward death and funerals, with a decline in religious affiliation, result in high cremation rates and growing acceptance of other funeral practices. A number of restraints trouble the market, including a complex regulatory environment and price sensitivity on the side of consumers.

This would entail compliance with the state and federal regulations that funeral homes are subject to, such as the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, which mandates transparency in their offerings and prohibits certain sales tactics. The exorbitant prices of full service funerals, as well, could eventually alienate families as so many have gravitated to cheaper ways of disposition, like direct cremation or green burial. The competition is stiff, with an ideal mix of large national chains and small independent providers putting pressure on price and hence a need for service differentiation.

The major participants in the North American funeral and cremation services market include Service Corporation International, which is the largest operator with more than 1,900 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Carriage Services Inc. offers customized service and operates a network of funeral homes and cemeteries; Growth for Park Lawn Corporation occurs through acquisition in both countries. StoneMor Partners L.P. operates a series of cemeteries and funeral homes with a focus on pre-need sales and customer service.

For instance, Washington, a state in the United States of America, legalised alkaline hydrolysis as a valid method of human body disposal as of 2020.

Market Drivers

• Aging Population: The significant aging population in North America, particularly within the baby boomer generation, is a primary driver for the funeral and cremation services market. As this demographic ages, the demand for end-of-life services continues to rise. This includes not only traditional funerals but cremation services and pre-need planning, which involves making funeral arrangements in advance. The increase in life expectancy and the large number of individuals reaching advanced age contribute to a steady and growing demand for these services. The market adapts by offering a variety of options, from elaborate funerals to simpler, more affordable cremation services.
• Personalization and Customization: In North America, there is a marked trend toward personalized and customized funeral services. Families are increasingly looking to create unique ceremonies that reflect the deceased's personality and preferences. This includes a wide range of options such as themed funerals, multimedia presentations, personalized music, and customized caskets or urns. The desire for meaningful and individualized services drives innovation in the market, encouraging service providers to offer a broad spectrum of customizable options. This trendextends to memorial services and aftercare, where families seek personalized ways to remember and honor their loved ones.

Market Challenges

• High Costs of Funeral Services: The high cost of traditional funeral services is a significant challenge in North America. Expenses related to caskets, burial plots, and elaborate ceremonies can be substantial, often leading to financial strain for families. This has led to a rise in the popularity of more affordable options like direct cremation, which bypasses traditional funeral services entirely. Funeral homes and service providers are challenged to find a balance between offering high-quality services and keeping them affordable for a broad range of customers. Additionally, the high costs deter some families from opting for traditional services altogether, impacting the revenue streams of funeral service providers.
• Regulatory Compliance: The funeral and cremation services industry in North America is subject to strict regulatory oversight. Providers must adhere to a range of health, safety, and licensing requirements, which can be complex and costly to maintain. Compliance with these regulations ensures the safety and dignity of services, but it adds an operational burden. Navigating these regulatory landscapes while maintaining high service standards and managing costs presents a significant challenge. Providers must stay informed about changing regulations and ensure that their practices meet the necessary standards, which can require continuous investment in training and infrastructure.

Market Trends

• Green Funerals: There is an increasing trend towards eco-friendly or green funerals in North America. Consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious and are seeking sustainable options for end-of-life services. This includes the use of biodegradable caskets, natural burial grounds, and environmentally sustainable cremation practices. The growing awareness of environmental issues and the desire to reduce the ecological footprint of funerals are driving innovation in this area. Green funeral services appeal to a segment of the market that values sustainability, and this trend is expected to continue growing as environmental concerns remain at the forefront of consumer priorities.
• Technological Integration: /b> Technology is playing an increasingly important role in the funeral and cremation services market. This includes online memorial services, virtual funerals, and digital legacy management. Technology enhances accessibility and convenience for families, allowing for remote participation in services and the digital management of end-of-life arrangements. Virtual funerals became particularly prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a way for loved ones to attend services despite travel restrictions. This trend towards digital and virtual services is likely to continue, as it offers a flexible and modern approach to memorializing loved ones.

Cremation leads the funeral and cremation services market as it is less expensive compared to traditional burials.

In general, cremation services cost a fraction of that for a traditional burial, making the former an attractive choice for many families, more so the ones with lower budgets or looking for value for money. This large savings in cost has been a motivator for many families to be able to treat their dearly departed loved ones in a dignified way without overwhelming expenses. Cremation allows much more flexibility and ease of planning and arrangement in end-of-life services. Families want to have a memorial service at another time, which often provides more opportunity to plan and offers out-of-town relatives and friends the opportunity to travel.

But with cremation, more final disposition options for the remains are offered, such as scattering the ashes in a meaningful place, keeping them in an urn at home, or putting them in a columbarium niche. This flexibility makes this an opportunity to personalize it and make the event of a loved one's passing even more peculiar and fitting. There are environmental issues that add to the popularity of cremation.

The inescapable conclusion of this trend is that, on one hand, traditional burials take up space, which is fast running out in most urban centres, and on the other, rely on large amounts of wood, metal, and embalming chemicals that have severe environmental implications. Recently, there is a raise in cremation rates is a change in societal mores and the effect of these changes on attitudes toward death and memorialization. As the population has become more mobile and less religiously affiliated, traditional burial practices are not strongly upheld as they once were.

The Immediate Need forms the lion's share in the North American funeral and cremation services market is that death is an event whose timing just cannot be predetermined; as and when it happens, there is a rush for funeral services.
This phenomenon can be attributed to several interrelated factors, of which the most ostentative are those reflecting the complex dynamics of modern society and the changing attitude towards the planning at the end of life. First and foremost, while people are much more aware of the need for pre-planning of funeral arrangements, a huge proportion of the population simply does not like to confront their own mortality and hence fails to prepare accordingly for end-of-life services. This reluctance normally stems from taboos, psychological uneasiness, or, more importantly, procrastination concerning issues which appear not to be pressing at the moment.

The result in most cases is that families are totally unprepared at the time of death and have to make quick decisions and act accordingly immediately. The growing mobility and geographical dispersion of families in North America continue to fuel demand for Immediate Need services. In such cases, with family members likely to be geographically spread, the process of making arrangements for a funeral becomes quite cumbersome, more so when time sensitivity is required. This scenario very often thus leads to dependence on local funeral homes to make arrangements as quickly and painlessly as possible, fueling demand for Immediate Need services.

A irony is that this trend to much more individualized and unique experiences with today's funerals has brought, in itself, a lot of complexity to bear on funeral planning, making it that much more daunting for pre-planning individuals. That very complexity could join the emotional stresses of losing a loved one to make families know that professional services are needed at the time of their death rather than taking it into their hands.

With most people, particularly the younger generation, feeling the squeeze of the times, many only be concerned with what is immediately relevant in terms of financial needs and not plan for something as far away as a funeral. This financial reality, coupled with the fact that it is not known when such a need will arise, easily leads to procrastination in planning for a funeral until it becomes an immediate need.

The leading position of online platforms in the North American funeral and cremation services market is fuelled mostly by increasing consumer demand for convenience, accessibility, and personalized services.
The rapid growth of online service platforms in the North American funeral and cremation services market mirrors a major trend toward changing consumers and their choices. With societies becoming more digital, the requirement for an online space wherein people can find solutions for all kinds of services the ones including planning end-of-life care expands. This trend comes sharply into focus in the funeral industry, wherein technology is slowly disrupting conventionally held means of performing a funeral. Online sites make it easy and convenient for any family to plan funerals or cremations, explore options, compare prices, and make arrangements without leaving their homes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this uptake of online services, as so many families seek alternatives to in-person gatherings. Virtual memorials, live-streaming of memorial services, and online obituaries are now very popular in enabling families to include friends and relations who can't make it physically. This shift not only extends inclusivity but meets the changing expectations of consumers seeking flexibility and personalization in funeral services. It capitalizes on a general trend toward customization and personalization of products and services. Families are looking for special ways to pay homage to the person who has passed away.

There is more ability to customize with an online platform that is offering choices about memorialization, such as personally appointed urns and bespoke service packets. Thus, the abilities to individualize to each person's taste make the consumers appreciate it much more and create attachments closer to the memorialization process. Another major reason that throngs to their rapidly growing popularity is the transparency the online platform offers. Very easily, under one roof, the consumer gets information about the price, services, and providers, all of which helps in making an informed decision. It is an industry mostly related to high costs and emotionally stressful situations, so transparency plays a vital role.

In the North America funeral and cremation services market, the United States lead due to its high death rates, a large aging population, and growing acceptance of cremation services.
The largest share of this market is to be found in the funeral and cremation services market in North America. This is attributed to the country's large aging population that is growing and will continue to grow in the years to come. With these changes in demographic makeup, it is bound to increase the demand for funeral and cremation services since the aged are going to need these services more than any other group in the population. The other factor that makes the country command the market is basically the high death rate. The nation's death rate currently stands at approximately 729.5 deaths per 100,000 persons, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

This is fairly higher compared to most developed countries across the world. Therefore, in this respect, there will be a higher demand for funeral and cremation services, hence precipitating growth in the said market. Another important factor contributing to the growing industry in the US is the growing interest in its cremation services. Cremation becomes the more preferred way because it is costlier, more environmentally friendly, and presents more flexibility in memorialization than the traditional process.

This strong trend toward cremation will likely build the market, as funeral homes and crematories across America scramble to evolve their products and services to keep up with ever-changing consumer needs. Noticeably, among the major funeral and cremation service providers in the US are established market players. Service Corporation International, often called SCI, and Carriage Services, Inc. These companies comprise a vast structure of funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries under their management, with an abundance of services developed to better serve the consumers. The presence of big players keeps pumping the continued growth and innovativeness into the market, as they invest in new technologies and services to stay ahead.

• In October 2023, Prasser-Kleczka Funeral Homes launched the values cremation, tiered cremation service packages that help provide more options for those planning simple cremation services. In addition, the company’s team anticipates a real need for transparency & accountability with cremation services and wants to educate consumers by providing an alternative.
• In July 2020, Carriage Services Inc. announced a strategic partnership with Dignity Memorial to provide funeral services in the United States.
• In September 2020, StoneMor Partners LP acquired the assets of the funeral home and cemetery business of the Schoppenhorst, Underwood and Brooks Funeral Home in Louisville, Kentucky.

Considered in this report

• Historic year: 2018
• Base year: 2023
• Estimated year: 2024
• Forecast year: 2029

Aspects covered in this report

• Funereal Service market Outlook with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Provider

• The Funeral Director
• Embalming Services
• Mortician Services
• Funeral Homes With Crematories
• Visitation Or Viewing Services
• Graveside Committal
• Selling Funeral Supplies
• Transporting The Deceased

By Service

• Cremation
• Funeral Planning Services
• Transportation
• Body Preparation And Interment
• Others

By Application

• Immediate need
• Pre-Planned

By Distribution Channel

• Online
• Offline

The approach of the report:

This report consists of a combined approach of primary and secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and list the companies that are present in it. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual reports of companies, and government-generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources, primary research was conducted by conducting telephone interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducting trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this; we have started making primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting them in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us, we can start verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience

This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations, and organizations related to the Funereal Service industry, government bodies, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing and presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.


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