Embalmers
Human ServicesO*NET 39-4011.00United States
Prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements.
- Median annual earnings
- $58,781
- Projected change
- +2%
- Typical education
- Associate degree
- Employment
- 4.75K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
86.4% of the workforce
Growing to 4.85K by 2035
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The work
What embalmers do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met.
- Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased.
- Join lips, using needles and thread or wire.
- Clean and disinfect areas in which bodies are prepared and embalmed.
- Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs.
- Close incisions, using needles and sutures.
- Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump.
- Dress bodies and place them in caskets.
- Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home.
- Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities.
- Attach trocar to pump-tube, start pump, and repeat probing to force embalming fluid into organs.
- Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax.
- 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.
- Pack body orifices with cotton saturated with embalming fluid to prevent escape of gases or waste matter.
- Insert convex celluloid or cotton between eyeballs and eyelids to prevent slipping and sinking of eyelids.
- Assist with placing caskets in hearses and organize cemetery processions.
- Maintain records, such as itemized lists of clothing or valuables delivered with body and names of persons embalmed.
- Wash and dry bodies, using germicidal soap and towels or hot air dryers.
- Arrange for transporting the deceased to another state for interment.
- Perform special procedures necessary for remains that are to be transported to other states or overseas, or where death was caused by infectious disease.
- Supervise funeral attendants and other funeral home staff.
- Serve as pallbearers, attend visiting rooms, and provide other assistance to the bereaved.
- Direct casket and floral display placement and arrange guest seating.
- Arrange funeral home equipment and perform general maintenance.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $38,314
- 25th percentile
- $48,006
- 50th percentile
- $58,781
- 75th percentile
- $66,144
- 90th percentile
- $77,563
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $58,781 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+2%average or slower
20254,753 jobs
2035 projected4,849 jobs
96 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Associate degree
- 86.4%
- Bachelor's degree
- 13.6%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Embalmers197 postings
- 02Funeral Directors/Embalmers3 postings
- 03Managers3 postings
- 04Central Services Supervisors1 postings
- 05Licensed Funeral Directors/Embalmers1 postings
Top employers
- 01GPAC35 postings
- 02Northstar Memorial Group14 postings
- 03Foundation Partners9 postings
- 04Archdiocese Of L.a Education6 postings
- 05Career Strategies5 postings
- 06Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services4 postings
- 07Mothe Funeral Homes4 postings
- 08Buchanan Group3 postings
- 09Davis Funeral Home And Memorial Park3 postings
- 10Dignity Memorial3 postings
- 11Forest Lawn3 postings
- 12Gupton Jones College of Funeral Service3 postings
- 13Rose Hills Company3 postings
- 14Carriage Services2 postings
- 15Emory University2 postings
- 16Forest Lawn Memorial Parks And Mortuaries2 postings
- 17Mount Sinai Memorial Parks And Mortuaries2 postings
- 18Newcomer Funeral Service Group2 postings
- 19Park Lawn Corporation2 postings
- 20Service Corporation International2 postings
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