Preneed Activities Investment Related Activities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
Investment related activities [Line Items]
Deposits	$ 100,452	$ 93,269
Withdrawals	107,356	106,769
Purchases of available-for-sale securities	446,761	599,651
Sales of available-for-sale securities	317,855	614,424
Realized gains on investments	43,525	58,306
Realized losses on investments	$ (32,631)	$ (12,296)

Amounts deposited to trust during the period.

No definition available.

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Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represents information regarding deposits, withdrawals, purchase and sales of securities, and realized gains and losses from those sales.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
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- Definition

Realized gains on investments

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Realized losses on investments

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	sci_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amounts withdrawn from trust during the period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	sci_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The cash outflow to acquire debt and equity securities not classified as either held-to-maturity securities or trading securities which would be classified as available-for-sale securities and reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses excluded from earnings and reported in a separate component of shareholders' equity.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 11
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109979856&loc=d3e26853-111562

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 13
-Subparagraph (a),(b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3213-108585

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The cash inflow associated with the sale of debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale securities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 11
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109979856&loc=d3e26853-111562

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 12
-Subparagraph (a),(b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3179-108585

+ Details

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Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration