Embalmers
Prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements.
Also called: Embalmer · Licensed Embalmer · Trade Embalmer
Median pay (national)
$56,280
$35,160–$78,740 (10th–90th)
Employed (US)
3,420
BLS OEWS, May 2024
Outlook 2024–34
+1.3%
~600 openings/yr
Typical entry
Associate's degree
What the numbers say
Refit analysis ·Pay for embalmers shows a broad range: the top 10% earn $78,740 versus $35,160 at the bottom 10% — 2.2x. The median of $56,280 leaves roughly 40% of headroom to the 90th percentile, which is where seniority, specialization, and the skills below tend to pay off.
Refit analysis ·Employment is projected to change +1.3% from 2024 to 2034 — slower than the 3% all-occupation average. Even so, BLS projects about 600 openings a year, mostly to replace workers who retire or change careers.
Refit analysis ·Where you work moves the number a lot. Across the 23 states with released data, Nebraska pays the most for this role (median $102,300, +82% vs the national median), while Arkansas sits lowest at $34,660 — a 195% spread for the same job title.
Refit analysis ·O*NET rates Speaking, Active Listening, Writing as the highest-importance skills here — so a resume aimed at this role should lead with evidence of those, not a generic skills list.
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Top skills employers ask for
Ranked by O*NET importance for this occupation.
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Science
- Learning Strategies
- Mathematics
What they actually do
Core O*NET tasks for this 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.
- Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs.
- Dress bodies and place them in caskets.
- Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump.
- Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home.
- Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax.
- 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.
Tools & technology
- Belmar & Associates Mortware
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Custom Data Systems Sterling Management Software
- FPA Software MACCS
- HMIS Advantage
- Twin Tier Technologies MIMS
- Web browser software
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Word
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service
- Chemistry
- Psychology
- English Language
- Law and Government
- Biology
- Administration and Management
- Administrative