Embalmers
Also called: Embalmer, Licensed Embalmer, Trade EmbalmerPrepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements.
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What the data says: AI could halve the time on 2 of its 26 tasks, and jobs are projected to grow 0.7% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
Recent conditions
- In 2024, 2.7% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Embalmers, crematory operators and funeral attendants”
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 7.7 hires for every 10 job openings in other services, which employs about 99% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.7.7 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $53,080 | $45,010 to $72,490 | 90 |
| Arkansas | $58,250 | $36,200 to $88,790 | 90 |
| California | $60,060 | $50,730 to $75,870 | 520 |
| Colorado | $57,100 | $44,680 to $65,960 | 70 |
| Florida | $60,170 | $48,520 to $61,990 | 300 |
| Georgia | $55,000 | $40,310 to $66,280 | 50 |
| Illinois | $61,730 | $57,210 to $69,320 | 60 |
| Indiana | $62,400 | $61,930 to $65,030 | not published |
| Iowa | $39,490 | $34,610 to $75,660 | not published |
| Kansas | $63,160 | $43,880 to $64,990 | 120 |
| Kentucky | $49,860 | $34,910 to $61,090 | 280 |
| Louisiana | $54,890 | $37,640 to $74,170 | 150 |
| Massachusetts | $54,320 | $45,050 to $71,320 | 100 |
| Mississippi | $58,900 | $54,740 to $76,800 | 40 |
| Missouri | $66,490 | $56,440 to $70,270 | 160 |
| New Mexico | $45,340 | $39,520 to $46,080 | 30 |
| North Carolina | $68,550 | $43,890 to $71,480 | 70 |
| Ohio | $71,550 | $53,020 to $75,540 | 80 |
| Oklahoma | $49,120 | $39,540 to $51,850 | 90 |
| Oregon | $57,170 | $50,720 to $59,240 | 70 |
| Pennsylvania | $69,950 | $53,990 to $71,100 | 50 |
| Rhode Island | $60,310 | $59,510 to $65,630 | 40 |
| South Carolina | $61,820 | $60,280 to $64,770 | 140 |
| Tennessee | $55,170 | $48,600 to $60,260 | 180 |
| Texas | $57,350 | $48,880 to $61,330 | 680 |
| Virginia | $63,810 | $60,260 to $70,650 | 120 |
| Washington | $50,610 | $44,810 to $72,780 | 40 |
| West Virginia | $54,060 | $42,330 to $63,470 | 50 |
Nationally: $58,780. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on 2 of its 26 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| AI + software | Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met. | Not published |
| Not much | Close incisions, using needles and sutures. | Not published |
| Not much | Clean and disinfect areas in which bodies are prepared and embalmed. | Not published |
| Not much | Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased. | Not published |
| Not much | Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs. | Not published |
| Not much | Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home. | Not published |
See all 26 tasks
| Not much | Dress bodies and place them in caskets. | Not published |
| Not much | Join lips, using needles and thread or wire. | Not published |
| Not much | Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax. | Not published |
| Not much | Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump. | Not published |
| AI + software | Maintain records, such as itemized lists of clothing or valuables delivered with body and names of persons embalmed. | Not published |
| Not much | Wash and dry bodies, using germicidal soap and towels or hot air dryers. | Not published |
| Not much | Insert convex celluloid or cotton between eyeballs and eyelids to prevent slipping and sinking of eyelids. | Not published |
| Not much | Pack body orifices with cotton saturated with embalming fluid to prevent escape of gases or waste matter. | Not published |
| Not much | Perform special procedures necessary for remains that are to be transported to other states or overseas, or where death was caused by infectious disease. | Not published |
| Not much | Attach trocar to pump-tube, start pump, and repeat probing to force embalming fluid into organs. | Not published |
| Not much | Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities. | Not published |
| Not much | Assist with placing caskets in hearses and organize cemetery processions. | Not published |
| Not much | Arrange for transporting the deceased to another state for interment. | Not published |
| Not much | Conduct interviews to arrange for the preparation of obituary notices, to assist with the selection of caskets or urns, and to determine the location and time of burials or cremations. | Not published |
| Not much | Serve as pallbearers, attend visiting rooms, and provide other assistance to the bereaved. | Not published |
| Not much | Direct casket and floral display placement and arrange guest seating. | Not published |
| Not much | Arrange funeral home equipment and perform general maintenance. | Not published |
| Not much | Supervise funeral attendants and other funeral home staff. | Not published |
| Not much | Assist coroners at death scenes or at autopsies, file police reports, and testify at inquests or in court, if employed by a coroner. | Not published |
| Not much | Press diaphragm to evacuate air from lungs. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 0 of the 26 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 26 tasks fall under 15 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
- #30 Perform administrative or clerical activities
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Embalm corpses | |||
| Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures | |||
| Move materials, equipment, or supplies | |||
| Arrange displays or decorations | |||
| Apply hygienic or cosmetic agents to skin or hair | |||
| Perform administrative or clerical activities | |||
| Apply decorative finishes | |||
| Maintain facilities or equipment |
Show all 15 activities
| Collect information about patients or clients | |||
| Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas | |||
| Maintain operational records | |||
| Monitor operations to ensure compliance with regulations or standards | |||
| Supervise personnel activities | |||
| Present information in legal proceedings | |||
| Assist healthcare practitioners during medical procedures |
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for embalmers specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved in from
of 428 moves in
- 1 Food Service Managers Moderate +5.8% 13%
- 2 Human Resources Managers High +5.5% 5%
- 3 Funeral Home Managers High +4.1% 4%
- 4 Computer Systems Analysts Very high +7.9% 4%
- 5 Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers Moderate +10.9% 3%
Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
O*NET survey of workers in this occupation
- 86% associate's
- 14% bachelor's
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 20 people answered.
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 11% less than high school
- 33% high school
- 25% some college
- 11% associate's
- 14% bachelor's
- 5% master's
Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Embalmers, crematory operators and funeral attendants” · 213 people surveyed.
Why the two can differ
O*NET asks about 20 people in each occupation, which makes its shares uncertain, but it reports the exact occupation and counts certificates. The Census survey reaches thousands, but it groups some occupations together and counts degrees only. More in the Guide
2 programs: Funeral Service and Mortuary Science, General and Mortuary Science and Embalming/Embalmer.
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
BLS publishes no credential figures for this occupation.
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeship Finder ↗ DOL lists 1 registered apprenticeship in this occupation (EMBALMER (Per Ser)). Apprenticeship.gov can't be linked to one occupation, so search for “Embalmers” there.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
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