THE CREMATION LANDSCAPE

The first cremation in the United States took place in 1876 in Washington, Pennsylvania. Nearly 100 years later in 1972, the national cremation rate was 5%. A mere 45 years later in 2016, the national cremation rate exceeded 50%. During that period of growth, the cremation rate grew predictably and steadily between 1-2% a year. Consumers have driven this trend in recent history and the profession has tried to keep up with their preferences.

Since they are in charge, it’s important for us to understand why they are choosing cremation and what their experience is.

CANA'S ANNUAL CREMATION STATISTICS

We talk a lot in this profession about change. A lot of people don’t like change and aren’t comfortable with it, and some in the industry have been slow to change. Over the years many funeral directors and cemeterians have cited “cremation” as the primary threat to their businesses, however cremation is merely a form of disposition. What they are referencing is a business model that assumes cremation is equivalent to “direct cremation,” or one that is dependent on casket or vault sales to succeed. As cremation rates climb, these businesses experience declining revenue and profits. However, cremation is not going anywhere so those who have not yet adapted need to do so immediately in order to stay relevant and profitable.

CANA has a proven history of over two decades of tracking, projecting and just plain getting it right when it comes to statistics. Benchmarking is the primary use of statistics like this. Business owners look at their cremation rate compared to state and county rates to measure market share and track their competition. These data can also be useful when seeking financing for growth or setting value of a business.
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But cremation rates and numbers are only part of the picture and raise new questions. Why have cremation rates grown at different speeds across the country? Why are consumers choosing cremation?

the milestone project

As the cremation rate began approaching 50% nationally, CANA embarked on new research to learn more about what is behind the numbers. We evaluated consumer trends and used US census data, demographics, and the Pew Religious Landscape Study and overlayed all of this data with the cremation rates. For this research we focused solely on the US as comparable census data was unavailable from Canada.

Once you know a bit more about the cremation rate in your state and the surrounding states, it’s time to understand why some people choose cremation faster or slower than others in the community. We’ve all heard about the cremation consumer. But that person doesn’t live in one section and then you go after them and serve them. They live everywhere in all communities and in all states.

How can we connect with consumers if we are speaking different languages? This post highlights some of the language disconnects uncovered during the research.
The Pew Religious Landscape Study revealed that the fastest growing portion of Americans were those who claimed no affiliation with organized religion. They answered “none” when asked for their affiliation and have been referred to as Nones ever since.
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Through this milestone project we confirmed that women are making the cremation decision. Additionally, if there is no religious affiliation we know there is a greater chance they will select cremation. We also know this happens in the preneed sale as well.

key findings

1. Everyone cremates. Regardless of gender, race or religion, and regardless of how they roll up to the funeral home. You can’t prepare based on your community and your typical family. Your past preneed customers won’t be the same as the current or your future customers.
2. Direct cremation is an American phenomenon. We could talk for a long time about how direct cremation became so big. To make a long and complicated story shorter: 1970s funeral directors did not want to deal with families who wanted cremation and sent them down the street to the cremation societies who were happy to help them. Now that cremation is the new tradition, we need to educate families on why funerals are so important. And, when a family says that they’re going to take the cremated remains home with them, it is your duty to ask them the 5, 15, 50 question – where are the remains going to be in five years? How about 15 years? What about 50 years when you’re gone? Will they have been relegated to a closet?
3. Cremation families don’t know what cremation means they just know they want it. It has become clear in our research that when families ask for cremation, they aren’t quite sure why they are asking for it. They know it’s the new tradition and everybody does it but they don’t know why or what it means. Sometimes they do it because it’s cheaper or easier or so they think.

cana's 2020 cremation statistics

During the height of the first wave of the pandemic, restricted to a social distance, afraid of an unknown disease, and with the dead coming too quickly for some hotspots to handle, many predicted that cremation rates would skyrocket. After all, cremation satisfies a lot of criteria: it allows for the remains to be present at a future service, purifies the remains from disease and pathogens with fire, and reduces a large box to a small box more convenient for storage and transport.

We asked ourselves what this meant for all of our research. We had studied growth rates, demographics, conducted focus groups and poured over more than 20 years worth of data – did any of it still count when everything else had been upended?

CANA’s analysis as presented in the 2021 Annual Statistics Report says it does. At our request, our statistical consultant checked the data over and over again but found that the cremation rate actually slowed from previous years down from 1.6% growth to just 1.5%. Despite the excess deaths and the gathering restrictions, the cremation rate followed a predicted growth rate. CANA Members will get to see for themselves soon when the Report is released.

Despite a challenging year, the changes that funeral service faces are predictable, measurable, and something professionals can face head on.

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This post is excerpted from the second edition of Fires of Change: A Comprehensive Examination of Cremation by Dr. John B. Fritch coming out later this year.

CANA Members can read CANA’s Annual Statistics Report in the forthcoming issue of The Cremationist coming to a mailbox near you in the next three weeks. Members can log in and access the full statistics report archives with your member credentials. Not a member yet? Join to access this research and much more.

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Barbara Kemmis is Executive Director of the Cremation Association of North America where she promotes all things cremation through member programs, education and strategic partnerships. After more than 20 years of experience in association leadership, Barbara knows that bringing people together to advance common goals is not only fun, but the most effective strategy to get things done.