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Funerals can cost between $1,500 and $15,000 depending on many factors that include the level of services and location, according to the founder and CEO of ChoiceMutual Anthony Martin.
Martin's insurance company conducted a study to look at the national average costs of funerals and their range depending on the United States location.
In a report published on Choice Mutual's website, Stamford and Greenwich made a top 10 list of cities where both traditional burials and cremations cost the most, said Martin.
While the average funeral cost in America is $7,360 for a funeral and burial and $6,260 on average for a full cremation service, information the report took from the National Funeral Directors Association, in Stamford, the average cost of a traditional funeral (burial) is $9,121 (4th most expensive nationwide) and the average cost of a cremation service is $5,540 (8th most expensive nationwide), says the report.
In Greenwich, traditional funerals average $8,525 (9th highest nationwide) and cremations average $5,600 (5th highest nationwide), according to Barrick.
Mitchell Barrick, content developer for ChoiceMutual elaborated explained why.
"There's no easy, single answer as to why certain cities have higher average funeral costs than others but here are a number of factors that can go into it and factors that are quite likely affecting funeral costs in the case of Stamford and Greenwich," Barrick told Daily Voice.
He pointed to the U.S. Census, data available on Wikipedia, which ranks Fairfield County as the13th highest average per capita income in the United States.
For the cost of living, Stamford was also ranked the 16th most expensive city to live in in the U.S. by Kiplinger with a cost of living that is 44.7% higher than the U.S. average, Barrick said.
In the Northeast, one will often find very expensive burial plots but relatively inexpensive services, he continued.
"Greenwich and Stamford are both waterfront communities along the Long Island Sound which plays a part in plot costs just as it would average real estate costs," he pointed out.
According to Movoto, Greenwich ranked as the 7th most expensive ZIP codes for housing in America.
As cemeteries become more full and land available for burials decreases, prices are rising. Also, historic and therefore exclusive cemeteries often come with increased costs as well, Barrick said.
Milford where the average funeral cost is $8,578 also made the top 10 list of the most expensive places to have a funeral, according to ChoiceMutual.
Want to know the most expensive city for a funeral? Rockville, Maryland, where average funeral costs are $9,847, was number one on the top 10 list in the report.
Click here for the full report.
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