How Long Should an Obituary Be?

Most published obituaries run 200 to 450 words, and 250 to 300 words is the most common length for a print obituary that includes a photo. That is the short answer. The number that matters most, though, is the one printed on your own newspaper's submission page.

That 200-to-450 range is the average obituary length most families land on, and the average length of an obituary published online tends to sit at the higher end, since the space is free.

Three things set your real target: the newspaper's word limit, what you are willing to pay per line, and how much of the story belongs in print rather than online. A small-town weekly might cap submissions at 200 words, while a metro daily may allow 450 words or more if you pay for the extra space. Two families can write equally loving tributes and land 300 words apart, simply because of where they published.

This guide focuses on length alone: what is typical in print, how the count changes your bill, how far you can stretch online, what to cut when you are over, and a target for your situation. If you have not started writing yet, our step-by-step guide to writing an obituary walks through the entire process, from gathering facts to choosing where to publish.

The typical word count for a newspaper obituary

Most newspapers publish obituaries in the 250 to 300 word range, and many cap submissions somewhere between 200 and 450 words. A handful of metro dailies allow longer paid tributes, sometimes 500 words or more, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

These caps exist because of available column space, not because of any rule about how much a life is worth telling. Papers often exclude the header line, the name and dates set in bold type, from the total word count, so check whether that line counts against your limit before you start trimming anything else.

Knowing exactly what you must include makes hitting the count far easier, because you are trimming around a fixed core rather than guessing. Our checklist of what to include in an obituary walks through the facts every obituary needs, so you can build your draft around the non-negotiables before you cut a single word.

The only reliable number is the one on your paper's own submission page, since limits vary from one publication to the next and shift over time. If a funeral home is handling arrangements, ask the director directly. Funeral directors typically submit obituaries to local papers every week and know each outlet's cap, its deadline, and whether that header line counts against you.

What we see on Lovekept: looking at the obituaries families published here and opened more than ten times, the typical one runs about 230 words, and most land between 110 and 290. A few are much shorter, around 50 words, and the longest runs past a thousand. In other words, real families settle right inside the 200-to-450 range, usually a little under it.

How the length changes what you pay

Word limits are not only an editorial matter. Most newspapers charge by the line, the column inch, or the word, which makes length the single biggest lever on your final bill. A line of text is often only 25 to 30 characters, and a column inch typically holds 10 to 14 lines, so a handful of extra sentences can quietly push your obituary into a new pricing tier.

Photos, borders, and weekend editions commonly add surcharges on top of the base rate, and those charges stack quickly. As of 2026, small local papers often charge under one hundred dollars for a standard obituary, while large metro dailies can run several hundred dollars for the same length, and per-line rates vary widely from one market to the next. Ask for the current rate card and the exact line count before you submit, since rates change from year to year.

The surprise families mention most often is a bill that doubled because of a photo fee and a Sunday premium nobody flagged upfront. Asking the paper for a full price breakdown before you submit, not after, is the easiest way to avoid that shock during a week when you have enough to carry already.

How long an online obituary can run

Online, the math changes completely. There is no meaningful word limit, and 500 to 1,000 words is a comfortable, readable length for a full life story. Without column inches to pay for, the decision moves from budget to attention: how much can a reader actually take in before their focus drifts.

Funeral home websites and memorial pages carry photos, videos, and guestbook entries at no extra cost per line, which is exactly why so many families choose to publish twice. The strategy most families settle on is a tight, paid notice in print paired with a longer tribute online, often connected through a QR code or web address printed right on the notice.

When you create a memorial page on Lovekept, it holds the fuller story: the photo gallery, a life timeline, and space for family and friends to add their own memories, alongside a real tree planted in the person's honor. Print can carry the announcement. Online can carry the whole person.

Is a short obituary disrespectful?

No. This is the question families ask most quietly, usually after they see the price per line. A 150 word obituary that names the person, names the people who loved them, and holds one true detail about who they were honors them completely. Length reflects a newspaper's rate card and a family's exhaustion, not the size of a life.

Short writing is often the more powerful writing. One specific line about the way someone answered the phone, or the pie they always brought, will stay with readers longer than three paragraphs of general praise. Readers are not tallying words. They are looking for the person, and a single vivid detail delivers that faster than a long list of accomplishments.

If someone asks later why the notice was brief, the honest answer is usually the right one: the paper charged by the line, and the family put its energy into the service. Nobody who loved this person will read a word count as a measure of love.

What to cut first when you are over the limit

Pascal's line explains something every family discovers the first time they try to trim an obituary: cutting a piece down to 200 words takes more drafts and more time than writing 600 words from scratch. Budget for that if you are working against a deadline, and cut in this order rather than trimming at random.

1. Adjectives and stock phrases first. Words like "beloved," "cherished," and "devoted" repeated in every sentence add length without adding meaning, so it helps to know which words actually carry weight, as covered in our guide to the best obituary phrases.
2. Extended family lists beyond immediate survivors. Save aunts, uncles, and cousins for the online tribute, and keep the print version to spouse, children, parents, and siblings.
3. The full employment and education history. One line noting a career or a degree is usually enough for print.
4. Hobbies and club memberships. These add warmth but are usually the first casualty of a strict word count.
5. Repeated service details. If the funeral home listing already states the time and place, you do not need to restate every detail in the obituary itself.

Some facts should never be cut, no matter how tight the limit: the full name including maiden name, the birth and passing dates, the immediate survivors, and the time and place of the service, the same core elements laid out in our guide to obituary format and structure. These are the details people search for and rely on to actually attend.

If trimming your own words feels impossible right now, that is normal, and you do not have to do it alone. Lovekept's AI-assisted obituary writer can build a full draft from a few names, dates, and memories, then give you a shorter version to fit the paper's cap while you keep the long one for online.

Whatever you cut from the print version, move it to the online tribute rather than deleting it. The stories about hobbies, the longer list of survivors, and the fuller career history still deserve a home, just not the one with a per-line rate attached.

How long a death notice runs by comparison

If your word limit still feels impossible, there is a shorter format worth knowing about. A death notice and an obituary are not the same thing, even though the two terms get used interchangeably. A death notice is a short, paid announcement, commonly 25 to 100 words, that lists the name, dates, and service details. An obituary is the longer narrative tribute, typically 200 to 450 words in print, that tells the story of who someone was.

• Purpose: a death notice announces the loss and the service. An obituary tells the story of who the person was.
• Typical length: a death notice runs 25 to 100 words. An obituary runs 200 to 450 words in print and longer online.
• What it includes: a death notice covers name, dates, and service details. An obituary adds family, career, and personal details.
• Who usually writes and submits it: a death notice is often written and submitted by the funeral home. An obituary is usually written by family, sometimes with funeral home help.
• How it is billed: both are typically paid placements billed by line or word, but a death notice's shorter length keeps the cost lower.

Many families publish a death notice immediately, within a day or two of the loss, and follow with a fuller obituary online the same week, once there is time to write it properly. That sequence takes the pressure off the first 48 hours, when writing anything at all can feel like too much.

A word count target by relationship and situation

General ranges only take you so far, so here is a starting point for the situation you are actually in. These are starting points, not rules. The story you have to tell is the real constraint, not the relationship listed on paper.

A parent or spouse

400 to 500 words online and 250 to 300 words in print is typical here, since it is usually the fullest tribute a family writes. If you are working on this one specifically, our guide to writing an obituary for a mother offers templates and examples at this exact length.

A grandparent

300 to 400 words gives enough room for a career, a few grandchildren's names, and the small details that made them unmistakably themselves.

A child or young person

200 to 300 words is often enough, and restraint here tends to read as tenderness rather than omission. There is no requirement to fill more space than the story actually calls for.

A friend or colleague

150 to 250 words is a respectful length for someone outside the immediate family circle, enough to note the relationship and one specific, true memory.

A person with a long public or military record

500 words or more online, with a trimmed version for print, gives service records, awards, and career milestones the space they deserve without overwhelming a print column.

A sudden loss

100 to 150 words now, with a fuller tribute to follow later, is entirely acceptable. Grief counselors often remind families that a short, immediate notice is not a final draft. It simply buys time to write the fuller story when you are ready.

Choosing the length that fits your story

If you take one pair of numbers from this guide, take 250 to 300 words for print and 500 to 1,000 online. Then set the count aside and write the person first. It is far easier to trim a full draft than to stretch a thin one into something that sounds complete, and the trimming almost always makes the writing better.

A word count is a container, not a verdict. Whatever the paper allows this week, the fuller story still has somewhere to live: a photo gallery, a timeline, a memory someone else remembers better than you do. That version has no limit, and it can keep growing for as long as people want to add to it.