Green Burial Cost: What a Natural Burial Really Costs

Green burial cost interests families who want a simpler, lower impact farewell and assume it must also be the cheapest option. It is usually far cheaper than a conventional burial, but it rarely beats direct cremation on price alone. This guide gives the researched figures, item by item, so you can judge the claim honestly and compare it with the cremation vs burial cost figures on this site.

What green burial is

Green burial, also called natural burial, is burial carried out in the way people were buried for centuries before the modern funeral industry. The body is not embalmed with chemical preservatives. It is placed in a biodegradable container, such as a simple wooden casket, a wicker casket, or a cloth shroud, and buried directly in the earth with no concrete vault or grave liner.

The Green Burial Council, the main certification body, recognises three levels of ground. A hybrid cemetery is a conventional cemetery with a dedicated green section. A natural burial ground is a cemetery run entirely on green principles. A conservation burial ground adds a legal conservation easement, so the land is permanently protected and burial fees help fund the habitat. All three prohibit embalming chemicals and non-biodegradable containers, and graves are usually marked with a native plant, a flat field stone, or GPS coordinates rather than a headstone.

What green burial costs, item by item

The figures below come from Funeral Cost Analyzer’s green burial guide, which draws on the Funeral Consumers Alliance and the Green Burial Council (sources checked 21 October 2026), and from US Funerals Online’s state guides to green burial grounds.

State level guides show how wide the plot range runs. US Funerals Online’s Ohio guide reports green burial plots from as low as $550, with an average closer to $2,500, opening and closing fees of $300 to $800, and burial of cremated remains at around $750. Its Pennsylvania guide puts funeral home services for a natural burial at $1,750 to $4,325 and plots at $950 to $3,000. Your county and the ground you choose will move every one of these figures.

Containers are the item families most often overthink. A burial shroud costs $100 to $500, a simple pine casket $400 to $1,500, a wicker or bamboo casket $600 to $2,000, and a plain cardboard casket as little as $50 to $200. Under the FTC Funeral Rule, a funeral home must accept a container you supply and cannot charge a handling fee for it.

Why it costs less, and when it does not

The savings are structural. Skipping embalming removes a $700 to $1,000 charge in typical full service pricing. There is no vault or liner to buy, where a conventional cemetery often requires one at $1,000 or more. A shroud or pine box replaces a metal or polished hardwood casket that can cost several thousand dollars. Grounds also spend less on intensive landscaping, which can keep plot prices moderate.

The Green Burial Council itself cautions that green burial can cost less, the same, or more than conventional burial depending on the choices made. A plot at a sought after conservation ground can carry a premium, because the fee is also a land protection contribution. Funeral home charges vary widely too, from about $2,000 to $5,000 or more for what is described as a simple green burial. Get the cemetery fees and the funeral home fees in writing, as separate lists, before you decide.

Green burial compared with cremation

Against conventional burial the case is strong. The NFDA 2024 General Price List Study put the median funeral with viewing and burial at $8,300, before cemetery costs such as the plot, vault, and opening and closing. A simple green burial at $3,000 to $6,000 undercuts that clearly, and our funeral costs guide shows where the conventional total is built.

Against cremation, be clear eyed. Direct cremation averaged $2,195 across the 50 states in researched October 2026 data, and the cheapest state averages sit near $1,264. A green burial usually costs more than that, because a grave is a piece of land and land is the one cost cremation avoids entirely. Families choose green burial for the return to the earth and the permanent natural place, not because it is the cheapest disposition.

The middle option is water cremation cost, which returns ashes like flame cremation with a smaller footprint, typically at $2,500 to $4,500. Some families also cremate first and then bury the remains in a green ground for $200 to $1,000, combining a low cost disposition with a natural resting place. The ways to save on cremation guide covers that pairing among its tactics.

How to find a green burial ground

Start with the Green Burial Council directory at greenburialcouncil.org, which lists certified cemeteries, funeral homes, and products. More than ninety cemeteries in the United States offer green burial, and many conventional cemeteries now keep a hybrid green section, so ask local cemeteries even if they do not advertise one.

Ask each ground the same questions. Is it certified by the Green Burial Council, and at which level. What containers are accepted. How are graves marked and recorded. Can family members help lower the body or fill the grave, which some grounds allow and which can reduce the opening and closing fee. And what is the total, in writing, including the plot, opening and closing, and any care fund charge. Those answers, beside the figures on this page, will tell you whether the price you are quoted is a fair one.