Career
Morticians, undertakers, and funeral arrangers
Arrange funerals and walk with families through loss, from first call to final goodbye.
$55,010
Median pay
+3.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
3,000
Openings a year
Associate's degree
Typical education
2 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died.
- Obtain information needed to complete legal documents, such as death certificates or burial permits.
- Perform embalming duties, as necessary.
- Consult with families or friends of the deceased to arrange funeral details, such as obituary notice wording, casket selection, or plans for services.
- Remove deceased remains from place of death.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on information & systems, then persuasion & leadership?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Coordination.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
2 years of education after high school (associate's degree), for a median of $55,010 a year and 3,000 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Funeral Service and Mortuary Science, GeneralCIP 12.0301
- Funeral Direction/ServiceCIP 12.0302
- Funeral Service and Mortuary Science, OtherCIP 12.0399
- ThanatologyCIP 30.5301
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Funeral Attendants$35,680 · +2.6%
- Funeral Home Managers$78,790 · +4.1%
- Embalmers$58,780 · +0.7%
- Crematory Operators$43,650 · +3.1%
- Home Health Aides
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.