10 Biggest Funeral Companies in the US

Published on December 7, 2022 at 12:53 pm by Umar Farooq in Lists, News

In this article, we discuss the 1o biggest funeral companies in the US. If you want to read about some more funeral companies in the US, go directly to the 5 Biggest Funeral Companies in the US.

The funeral service sector is a relatively new one in the United States. Funerals in the United States were presided over by family and neighbors and held in homes up until the 20th century. On the family’s land, burials took place frequently. Common cemeteries started to be used as communities grew and established. Later, funeral houses were created to help families with the practical issues brought on by death. The funeral industry has grown increasingly competitive with the advent of “alternative” funeral service providers and retail outlets in recent years. These businesses promote themselves as less expensive options to conventional funeral homes. These non-traditional funeral service providers normally provide the same services as funeral directors, although they may focus on particular services or provide services in a packaged, streamlined, or “no-frills” manner.

According to Statista, in 2022, the market size of funeral homes in the United States was estimated to be $18 billion. This is a significant increase of more than $2 billion since 2021 and indicates the largest annual growth between 2015 and 2022. The market size of the funeral homes industry is expected to increase by 0.5% in 2022. The industry has grown 0.5% per year on average between 2017 and 2022. The primary negative factors affecting this industry are the number of deaths and high competition. In addition to deaths from accidents, suicide, and other causes, the number of deaths is influenced by factors such as the age distribution of the population, infant mortality rates, illness prevalence, and natural catastrophes. As a result, there are fewer fatalities per generation, which harms the revenue generated by the funeral homes sector.

The $20 billion funeral homes sector in the United States is a mature, slow-growing, fragmented market comprised primarily of independent businesses. The industry profited in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s record-breaking 3.4 million deaths and 1.9 million cremations. However, the product mix altered, and top-line revenues were limited as more people chose cremation and services moved from in-person to virtual. More individuals are choosing cremations since they are less expensive (57% of all services today and growing gradually), while the typical funeral costs $7,848. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the median price for a funeral, coffin, and viewing in the US last year was $7,848. That excludes additional services like grave markers, floral arrangements, and cemetery plots, which can raise the price by thousands of dollars, reported Bloomberg.

As of 2022, 23,762 funeral homes were operating in the US, a 1.1% decrease from 2021. The three States with the greatest concentration of funeral home businesses in the US are New York (1,933 businesses), Texas (1,901 businesses), and Pennsylvania (1,851 businesses), according to ibisworld. Whereas many towns used to be served by little mom-and-pop funeral homes, shareholder-driven businesses have changed the face of death care. With more than 1,500 funeral homes and 500 cemeteries in its portfolio, Service Corporation International, which holds around 16 percent of the market share, is the largest provider of funeral services in North America.

Our Methodology

For this article, we picked the top 10 biggest funeral companies in the US by market capitalization. These companies are related to the death care industry and provide funeral-related services in the country.

10. Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA)

Market Capitalization as of November 30, 2022: $0.14 billion

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) was founded in 1969 and is based in Austin, Texas. Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA), through its subsidiaries, provides life insurance products in the United States and internationally. It has two business divisions: life insurance and home service insurance. The Life Insurance sector, through independent marketing consultants and agencies, provides non-U.S. citizens with standard whole life insurance and endowment policies in amounts denominated in U.S. dollars. In Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, the Home Service Insurance division provides whole-life products, final expense life insurance, and property insurance to households with middle- and lower-income levels. This market segment offers its goods and services through funeral homes and independent agents. Additionally, Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) offers health insurance plans.

09. Security National Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SNFCA)

Market Capitalization as of November 30, 2022: $0.14 billion

Founded in 1965, Security National Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SNFCA) is a Utah based corporation with its headquarters in Salt Lake City. Security National Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SNFCA) pursues the life insurance, cemetery and mortuary, and mortgage businesses. The life insurance segment of Security National Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SNFCA) deals with the sale and servicing of various types of life insurance, annuity products, and accident and health insurance. In addition to traditional life, accident, and health insurance products, Security National Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SNFCA) provides various life insurance products, such as funeral plans and interest-sensitive life insurance. It also provides annuity products, such as single and flexible premium deferred annuities, immediate annuities, and diver’s accident policies. Additionally, this segment utilizes reinsurance agreements to cede and assume various risks with permitted unaffiliated reinsurers.

The cemetery and mortuary division of Security National Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SNFCA) manages four cemeteries and four mortuaries in New Mexico, eleven cemeteries and five cemeteries in Utah, and one cemetery in California. Additionally, this section provides professional services of funeral directors, opening and closure of graves, usage of chapels and viewing rooms, use of autos and clothing, markers, caskets, urns, and other death care-related merchandise. With a focus on Florida, Nevada, Texas, and Utah, Security National Financial Corporation’s (NASDAQ:SNFCA) mortgage sector originates and underwrites residential and commercial loans for new construction, existing residences, and real estate projects. Security National Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SNFCA) directly provides residential mortgage financing services to consumers, real estate agents, and home builders.

08. Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV)

Market Capitalization as of November 30, 2022: $0.35 billion

Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) was founded in 1991 and is based in Houston, Texas. Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) provides funeral and cemetery services, and merchandise in the United States. Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE:CSV) operates through two segments, Funeral Home Operations and Cemetery Operations.

The Funeral Home Operations business unit offers advice, funeral home facilities for memorial services and visitations, and transportation services. It also removes and prepares remains and sells burial and cremation services and ancillary goods, including caskets and urns.

The Cemetery Operations segment offers interment rights for grave sites, lawn crypts, mausoleum spaces, and niches. It also offers services for interments, inurnments, and the installation of cemetery merchandise. Related cemetery merchandise includes outer burial containers, memorial markers, monuments, and floral arrangements. As of December 31, 2021, it ran 31 cemeteries in 11 states and 170 funeral businesses throughout 26 states.

07. StoneMor Inc (NYSE:STON)

Market Capitalization as of November 3, 2022: $0.42 billion

StoneMor Inc (NYSE:STON), a company established in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, owns and operates cemeteries and funeral homes in the US, with 302 cemeteries and 74 funeral homes spread throughout 23 US states and Puerto Rico. Burial lots, lawn and mausoleum crypts, burial vaults, caskets, memorials, and all services that support the installation of this merchandise are among the cemetery products and services offered by StoneMor Inc (NYSE:STON), which are sold on both a pre-need (before death) and at-need (at death) basis.

StoneMor Inc (NYSE:STON) on November 3 announced the completion of the merger contemplated by the previously announced Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of May 24, 2022, wherein StoneMor Inc (NYSE:STON) agreed to Axar Capital Management buyout. StoneMor Inc (NYSE:STON) common stock got delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on November 4, 2022.

06. Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ:MATW)

Market Capitalization as of November 30, 2022: $0.96 billion

Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ:MATW) was founded in 1850 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ:MATW) provides brand solutions, memorialization products, and industrial technologies worldwide. Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ:MATW) operates through three segments: Memorialization, Industrial Technologies, and SGK Brand Solutions.

The Memorialization segment offers cremation memorialization products, granite benches, flower vases, crypt plates, letters, bronze plaques, emblems, lights, photo ceramics, caskets, and cremation and incineration equipment for the cemetery and funeral home industries. It also offers bronze and granite memorials, upright granite memorials and monuments, concrete burial vaults, and cremation memorialization products.

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