The correlation of the average cost of dying and location within the United States 

While the chart above depicts the average cost of dying relative to location within the United States, its function here should instead serve to reflect the inordinate price range associated with the average funeral. Alanna Nash's article, "The High Cost of Funerals: Families Forced to Cut Back" in The Fiscal Times, notes the average cost of a full-service funeral to be upwards of $7,000, not including the additional $2,000+ one may spend at the cemetery. Such expenses are incurred by the following services: 

Funeral Home: Casket, funeral director's basic service fee, embalming and body preparation, funeral service and viewing, miscellaneous (hearse, death certificate, obituary, etc.)

Cemetery: Right of internment (grave space), opening and closing fees, burial vaults or grave liners, perpetual/Endowment care, headstone/grave marker + installation fee

That laying a deceased loved one to rest should be so expensive seems absurd. But why are funeral services so expensive, and more importantly, how have these expenses changed with respect to time?