Final expense insurance usually needs to cover $6,280 to $8,300 — the median cost of a cremation or a full burial — plus any final debts you leave behind. Most buyers choose a face amount between $10,000 and $25,000, which pays out enough for the funeral and a small cushion for bills.
What does final expense insurance actually need to cover?
Final expense insurance, burial insurance, and funeral insurance are three names for one product: a small whole life policy, usually $2,000 to $50,000, sold to people ages 50 to 85. The policy pays out a tax-free death benefit your family can spend on anything. To pick a face amount, add up the bill you would leave behind:
- The funeral or cremation itself
- A burial plot, headstone, or urn, if you want one
- Any medical bills left after your last illness
- Small debts — a credit card, a car loan, back rent
- A little cash cushion so a grieving family is not counting pennies
You want the death benefit to cover that total without paying a monthly premium for coverage you do not need. To match a face amount to today’s real costs, start with our final expense cost breakdown and work backward from the bill.
How much does a funeral really cost?
The national median funeral cost is $8,300 with a viewing and burial, or $6,280 with cremation, according to the NFDA 2023 General Price List Study. Those figures cover the funeral home’s services, but not everything.
A burial plot, a headstone or grave marker, and cemetery opening-and-closing fees are billed separately, and they vary widely by location and cemetery — a plot in a rural county costs a fraction of one in a major city. Because these add-ons swing so much, most people size their policy to the funeral-home bill first, then round up. Our guide to funeral costs walks through the pieces that make up the total.
What government benefits lower the amount you need?
Two programs help, but neither one goes far. Social Security pays a one-time lump-sum death payment of just $255 to an eligible surviving spouse or child. If you are a veteran, the VA pays a burial allowance for a non-service-connected death. Here is how little that leaves covered:
| Source | What it pays | Toward an $8,300 funeral |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security lump-sum death payment | $255 | A tiny fraction |
| VA burial allowance (non-service-connected) | $1,002 | A small dent |
| VA plot/interment allowance | $1,002 | A small dent |
| Remaining gap | You cover the rest | Most of the bill |
The VA figures are effective October 1, 2025. Even a veteran using both VA allowances still leaves the majority of a full funeral unpaid — which is exactly the gap a final expense policy is built to close. (Sources: Social Security, VA.)
Is $10,000 enough, or should you buy $25,000?
Most buyers land between $10,000 and $25,000. The right tier depends on what you are asking the death benefit to do:
| Face amount | Best fit | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| $2,000–$5,000 | Cremation-only, tight budget | Direct cremation and small costs |
| $10,000 | The common baseline | A median burial with a little left over |
| $15,000–$25,000 | Funeral plus debts | Funeral, plot or marker, and leftover bills |
| $25,000+ | Larger debts or income gap | Bigger obligations beyond the funeral |
Remember the trade-off: a higher face amount means a higher monthly premium, and that premium locks in for life when you buy. Buy enough to cover the real bill, but do not over-buy coverage that strains your budget. If health questions are a concern, a guaranteed-issue policy skips them entirely, though coverage begins with a two-year graded death benefit — see how guaranteed-issue coverage works before you decide.
How do you land on your final number?
Work through it in five steps:
- Start with the funeral you would choose — roughly $6,280 for cremation or $8,300 for burial and viewing.
- Add cemetery costs if you want them — plot, marker, opening and closing.
- Add final debts — medical bills, credit cards, anything you do not want passed on.
- Subtract benefits you will actually get — the $255 Social Security payment, and VA allowances if you qualify.
- Round the remainder up to the nearest policy tier. That is your face amount.
Do the math once and you will usually land somewhere between $10,000 and $25,000 — which is exactly why that range is so common.
Once you have a number, the next step is seeing what it costs each month at your age. Our cost and coverage guide helps you size your coverage to the bill, and because we are an independent broker, we compare carriers so you buy exactly what your family needs — not a dollar more.