HomeFuneral costs by stateMissouriSt. Louis
How much does a funeral cost in St. Louis, MO?
A traditional burial with a service in the St. Louis metro area averages $7,840 at the funeral home. Once the cemetery has billed, families typically pay closer to $14,450, which is about 3% above the Missouri figure of $14,040.
What St. Louis funeral homes actually charge
Everything below this section is modelled from national survey data. This section is not. These are 35 funeral homes trading across 2 towns in the St. Louis area with a direct cremation price we hold. The middle one charges $1,595. Harris, William C, Funeral Dirs & Crematory Service in Saint Louis is recorded at $695, Lupton Chapel Inc in Saint Louis at $3,630, which is 5.2 times the price for the same service inside one metropolitan area.
Of the 35, 5 come in under $1,000, 17 sit between $1,000 and $1,999, 11 between $2,000 and $2,999, and 2 ask $3,000 or more. Every one of them publishes a basic services fee as well, the charge you cannot decline whatever else you turn down. Ring three at random rather than one and you would expect to pay $670 less than the $1,854 average.
| Funeral home | Where | Direct cremation | Basic services fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harris, William C, Funeral Dirs & Crematory Service | Saint Louis, MO | $695 | $1,795 |
| Radford Funeral Home | Saint Louis, MO | $795 | $1,095 |
| Serenity Memorial Funeral and Cremation Service | Saint Louis, MO | $795 | $800 |
| Beal, A L, Mortuary | Saint Louis, MO | $895 | $1,395 |
| Southern Funeral Home | Saint Louis, MO | $995 | $1,250 |
| Michel Funeral Home | Saint Louis, MO | $1,095 | $1,985 |
| Reliable Funeral Home | Saint Louis, MO | $1,095 | $1,775 |
| Roberts Funeral Chapel | Saint Louis, MO | $1,100 | $600 |
| St. Louis Cremation | Saint Louis, MO | $1,195 | $1,495 |
| McLaughlin Funeral Home | Saint Louis, MO | $1,205 | $1,165 |
| Schnur Funeral Home | Saint Louis, MO | $1,250 | $1,620 |
| Lord Funeral Home | Saint Louis, MO | $1,395 | $1,450 |
| Kutis Cremation Services | Saint Louis, MO | $1,495 | $2,200 |
| Kutis Funeral Home Inc/Affton Chapel | Saint Louis, MO | $1,495 | $2,200 |
| Shepard Funeral Chapel | Saint Louis, MO | $1,495 | $1,495 |
| Kutis Funeral Home, Inc. | St. Louis, MO | $1,495 | $2,200 |
| Urban Undertakers Legacy and Cremation | Saint Louis, MO | $1,500 | $1,250 |
| Ambruster Chapel Funeral Home & Cremation | Saint Louis, MO | $1,595 | $1,795 |
| Gebken-Benz Mortuary | Saint Louis, MO | $1,650 | $1,700 |
| Austin Layne Mortuary | Saint Louis, MO | $1,652 | $1,895 |
| Rindskopf-Roth Funeral Chapel | Saint Louis, MO | $1,750 | $1,995 |
| Jay B. Smith Funeral Homes | Saint Louis, MO | $1,975 | $1,500 |
| Wade Event Center | Saint Louis, MO | $2,095 | $375 |
| John L Ziegenhein & Sons Funeral Homes | Saint Louis, MO | $2,180 | $1,795 |
| John L Ziegenhein & Sons Funeral Homes | Saint Louis, MO | $2,180 | $1,795 |
| Kriegshauser Mortuary-West Chapel | Saint Louis, MO | $2,541 | $2,795 |
| Valhalla Funeral Chapel, Crematory and Cemetery | Saint Louis, MO | $2,765 | $1,460 |
| St. Louis Funeral and Cremation at Bellerive Funeral Home & Cemetery | Saint Louis, MO | $2,875 | $1,790 |
| St. Louis Funeral and Cremation at Oak Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery | Saint Louis, MO | $2,875 | $1,790 |
| Berger Memorial Chapel | Saint Louis, MO | $2,936 | $2,495 |
| Calcaterra Funeral Home | Saint Louis, MO | $2,936 | $3,095 |
| Hoffmeister Colonial Mortuary | Saint Louis, MO | $2,936 | $3,330 |
| Hoffmeister South County Chapel | St. Louis, MO | $2,936 | $3,095 |
| Buchholz Mortuary | Saint Louis, MO | $3,401 | $2,165 |
| Lupton Chapel Inc | Saint Louis, MO | $3,630 | $2,390 |
Recorded from the Parting funeral home directory in September 2026. The source publishes no date of its own. Prices for other homes on this list carry their own dates, shown on each home's page. They are the figures we hold rather than quotes, several are years old, and no funeral home is bound by them. Every funeral home in Saint Louis.
Estimated burial with a service in St. Louis
- Funeral home services, viewing and ceremony$5,340
- Casket, standard$2,500
- Cemetery plot$1,580
- Opening and closing the grave$1,340
- Burial vault or grave liner$1,690
- Headstone or marker$2,000
Most families have no plan for this
A burial insurance policy is written to cover exactly this amount. It pays out in days rather than months, and for most people over 50 there is no medical exam, only health questions.
The calculator is set to St. Louis. The funeral home lines are scaled by what these 35 homes charge against the Missouri median, a factor of 1.00, and the plot by local land prices.
What makes up the $14,450 in St. Louis
| Item | Billed by | St. Louis | Missouri |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funeral service with viewing | Funeral home | $5,340 | $5,330 |
| Casket, standard steel | Funeral home | $2,500 | $2,410 |
| Cemetery plot | Cemetery | $1,580 | $1,400 |
| Opening and closing the grave | Cemetery | $1,340 | $1,340 |
| Burial vault or grave liner | Cemetery | $1,690 | $1,630 |
| Headstone or marker | Monument dealer | $2,000 | $1,930 |
| Total | $14,450 | $14,040 |
The 35 published fees above put St. Louis at $1,790 against $1,783 across Missouri, so the funeral home lines carry a factor of 1.00, that ratio pulled toward the state by how many homes stand behind it. The plot is the exception, scaled by land prices, St. Louis at 79.0 against 69.9 for Missouri (2024 BEA parities). The full working is on the Missouri page.
Why we stopped using a cost of living index for any of this.
Funeral homes in the St. Louis area
The Census counts 203 death care establishments in the St. Louis metro, meaning funeral homes, crematories and cemeteries, employing about 1,612 people (2023 County Business Patterns). We hold a direct cremation price for 35 of them, and the spread between the cheapest and the dearest is $2,935. That is 5.2 times the price for the same service, inside one metropolitan area, which is a larger difference than the one between St. Louis and Missouri as a whole.
Cremation in St. Louis
Cremation with a service models out at $5,730 here, about $2,110 less than a burial at the funeral home because there is no casket, plot, vault or headstone to buy. Strip the service out and the St. Louis homes themselves put the middle direct cremation at $1,595, 35 of them measured, 5 of those under $1,000, which puts roughly $4,135 on the ceremony, the viewing and the staff time around it. For a family choosing on price alone that gap is the whole decision, and it is a bigger number than anything the metro comparison above turns on.
Your rights when you ring a St. Louis funeral home
All 35 of the homes listed above owe you the same thing on the telephone, without being told who you are. Harris, William C, Funeral Dirs & Crematory Service at $695 and Lupton Chapel Inc at $3,630 are the two ends of it. Working down from the $1,595 in the middle of that list is worth $900 before anyone has driven anywhere. What the law requires of Missouri funeral homes sets out the rest.
Covering $14,450 in St. Louis
$14,450 is the number a policy here would be written for, and it is $410 more than the Missouri average, which is the sort of thing people get wrong when they pick a round figure. It pays out in days rather than weeks, and for most people over 50 there is no medical exam.
(786) 818-0383Talk to one of our licensed agentsCommon questions
How much does a funeral cost in St. Louis?
About $14,450 for a burial with a viewing once the cemetery has billed, of which $7,840 goes to the funeral home and $6,610 to the cemetery and the monument dealer. The funeral home half is the West North Central survey median moved by what 35 St. Louis homes actually publish, and the cemetery half by local land prices. They are estimates, not quotes.
Is a funeral more expensive in St. Louis than the rest of Missouri?
Yes, by about 3%, $14,450 against $14,040, and it is mostly the land under the plot rather than the funeral home. Inside the metro the same direct cremation runs from $695 to $3,630, a wider gap than the one between St. Louis and Missouri.
How much does cremation cost in St. Louis?
The middle of the 35 St. Louis area homes we hold a price for charges $1,595 for a direct cremation, from $695 at Harris, William C, Funeral Dirs & Crematory Service up to $3,630 at Lupton Chapel Inc. Add a service and the model puts it near $5,730. Every price here is one we hold rather than a quote, several are years old, and each carries its own date on that home's page.
Which funeral home is cheapest in St. Louis?
Harris, William C, Funeral Dirs & Crematory Service in Saint Louis, at $695, and 4 other St. Louis area homes are also under $1,000. Lupton Chapel Inc is $2,935 higher for the same service. Prices move and several of ours are years old, so treat the list as where to start ringing, worth about $670 on three calls, not as the answer.
Does every St. Louis funeral home charge a basic services fee?
Yes, all of them, and in St. Louis the published ones run $375 to $3,330 with $1,790 in the middle, across the 35 we hold. It is the charge you cannot decline whatever else you turn down, so it sets the floor under everything else on this page, and Harris, William C, Funeral Dirs & Crematory Service, cheapest here on cremation at $695, asks $1,795 for it.