Personal Care and Service · Holland code CES
Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers
Perform various tasks to arrange and direct individual funeral services, such as coordinating transportation of body to mortuary, interviewing family or other authorized person to arrange details, selecting pallbearers, aiding with the selection of officials for religious rites, and providing transportation for mourners.
Also called: Funeral Arranger, Funeral Counselor, Funeral Director, Mortician, Funeral Arrangement Director, Funeral Family Service Assistant, Funeral Location Manager, Funeral Prearrangement Counselor.
O*NET 39-4031.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $55,010
- Middle half earn $42,430 to $72,010. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 73% 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.
- 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.
- Contact cemeteries to schedule the opening and closing of graves.
- Plan, schedule, or coordinate funerals, burials, or cremations, arranging details such as floral delivery or the time and place of services.
- Close caskets and lead funeral corteges to churches or burial sites.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Active Listening4.1 / 5
- Speaking3.8 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.3 / 5
- Writing3.3 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.1 / 5
- Active Learning3.0 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.7 / 5
- English Language3.8 / 5
- Administrative3.7 / 5
- Administration and Management3.6 / 5
- Psychology3.4 / 5
- Personnel and Human Resources3.2 / 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.
- Realistic43
- Investigative7
- Artistic13
- Social57
- Enterprising61
- Conventional61
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)
- bereavement counsellor · DE Trauerberater/Trauerberaterin · FR accompagnateur du deuil/accompagnatrice du deuil
- wedding planner · DE Hochzeitsplaner/Hochzeitsplanerin · FR wedding planner
- pastoral worker · DE Pastoralassistent/Pastoralassistentin · FR laïc en mission ecclésiale/laïque en mission ecclésiale
- verger · DE Küster/Küsterin · FR bedeau/bedelle
- medium · DE Medium · FR médium
- cemetery attendant · DE Friedhofsarbeiter/Friedhofsarbeiterin · FR fossoyeur/fossoyeuse
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Social workers (2461)139,800 employed
- Probation officers (2462)11,900 employed
- Youth work professionals (2464)10,200 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.
| 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 middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.19. 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 (39-4031).
Related careers
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