Personal Care and Service · Holland code RCS

Embalmers

Prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements.

Also called: Embalmer, Licensed Embalmer, Trade Embalmer.

O*NET 39-4011.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $58,780; Middle half earn $48,010 to $66,130. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree; 86% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

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.
Clean and disinfect areas in which bodies are prepared and embalmed.
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.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Speaking3.9 / 5
Active Listening3.8 / 5
Writing3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.1 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.0 / 5
Active Learning3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.7 / 5
Chemistry3.6 / 5
Psychology3.6 / 5
English Language3.5 / 5
Law and Government3.4 / 5
Biology3.2 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic81
Investigative26
Artistic10
Social40
Enterprising27
Conventional48

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

taxidermist · DE Tierpräparator/Tierpräparatorin · FR taxidermiste
cemetery attendant · DE Friedhofsarbeiter/Friedhofsarbeiterin · FR fossoyeur/fossoyeuse
embalmer · DE Einbalsamierer/Einbalsamiererin · FR thanatopracteur/thanatopractrice
funeral attendant · DE Bestattunggehilfe/Bestattungsgehilfin · FR agent de pompes funèbres/agente de pompes funèbres
funeral services director · DE Bestattungsleiter/Bestattungsleiterin · FR entrepreneur de pompes funèbres/entrepreneuse de pompes funèbres
stonemason · DE Steinmetz/Steinmetzin · FR maçon pierre/maçonne pierre

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Taxi and cab drivers and chauffeurs (8213)173,900 employed
Undertakers, mortuary and crematorium assistants (6138)16,700 employed
Stonemasons and related trades (5312)9,900 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Service and sales workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Service and sales workers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€32,957
Sweden	€32,596
Netherlands	€29,198
Austria	€29,068
Germany	€27,471
Ireland	€26,978
Italy	€24,995
France	€24,971
Spain	€18,303
Portugal	€10,656
Poland	€7,579

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.73. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (39-4011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test