Embalmers
Overview
Embalmers has a national median salary of $58,780 per year, with +0.7% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists an associate's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.
Description
Prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements.
Work Values
- Independence
- Support
- Relationships
Work Styles
Responsibilities
Tasks
- 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.
- Close incisions, using needles and sutures.
- Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs.
Work Activities
- Assisting and Caring for Others
- Documenting/Recording Information
- Handling and Moving Objects
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems
- Getting Information
- Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
- Processing Information
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
- Performing for or Working Directly with the Public
Detailed Work Activities
- Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
- Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
- Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
- Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
- Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
- Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
- Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
- Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
- Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
- Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
T-A-S-K
Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge
Technology Skills
- Word processing software
- Data base user interface and query software
- Spreadsheet software
- Office suite software
- Internet browser software
Abilities
- Near Vision
- Oral Comprehension
- Problem Sensitivity
- Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Oral Expression
Skills
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Service Orientation
- Social Perceptiveness
Knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Chemistry
- Psychology
- English Language
- Law and Government
Education
Education Levels of Current Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists an associate's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished a bachelor's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Bachelor's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for an associate's degree.
Certificates
Certifications applicable to Embalmers:
| Certificate name | Certifying Organization | Type |
|---|---|---|
| National Board Examination (NBE) | International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards | D |
Income & Employability
Income Percentile
The median (50th percentile) is the middle wage; 10% earn less than the low figure and 10% earn more than the high figure.
| Low (10%) | $38,310 |
| Median (50%) | $58,780 |
| High (90%) | $77,570 |
Income by Experience
How pay typically grows from entry level (0–2 yrs) to expert (8+ yrs).
| Entry (0–2 yrs) | $47,415 |
| Mid (3–5 yrs) | N/A |
| Senior (6–8 yrs) | N/A |
| Expert (8+ yrs) | N/A |
Employability
There are currently 3,900 jobs in this career path (2025). That number is projected to grow to 4,000 by 2035, a +0.7% change.
+0.7% growthVideo Resources
Training Programs
8 programs at 4 schools on Career School App prepare students for a career as Embalmers, including Funeral / Mortuary Science (8).
- Funeral Directing – OnlineCommonwealth Institute of Funeral Service · Houston, TXCertificate · 48 quarter credit hours — 9 months (three quarters)
- Funeral DirectorDallas Institute of Funeral Service · Dallas, TXCertificate · 45 quarter credit hours — two 11-week quarters (6 months)
- Funeral ServiceEastwick College · Hackensack, NJAssociate Degree · 24 months
- Associate of Applied Science in Funeral ServiceFINE Mortuary College · Norwood, MAAssociate Degree · 2 years
- Funeral Service – CampusCommonwealth Institute of Funeral Service · Houston, TXAssociate Degree · 98 quarter credit hours — 15 months (12 with general education transferred)
- Funeral Director – OnlineDallas Institute of Funeral Service · Dallas, TXCertificate · 45 quarter credit hours — four 11-week quarters (12 months)
- Funeral Service – OnlineCommonwealth Institute of Funeral Service · Houston, TXAssociate Degree · 98 quarter credit hours — 15 months (12 with general education transferred)
- Funeral ServiceDallas Institute of Funeral Service · Dallas, TXAssociate Degree · 100 quarter credit hours — eight 11-week quarters (24 months)
Related Careers
This site incorporates information from O*NET Web Services by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET® is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. Used under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Certification, licence and career video information is sourced from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
Wage, employment and outlook figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) and the Employment Projections program. Figures describe the occupation, not any particular program or graduate.
Career cluster definitions are from Advance CTE.
Pay-by-experience bands are from Lightcast (as recent as July 2025).