Embalmers

Low Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (2)

Lower estimated automation risk

Funeral Home Managers
14% automation risk | Minimal Risk
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Why it fits

Experienced embalmers can apply funeral operations, compliance, staff coordination, and service quality knowledge.

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Why it fits

Embalming, funeral law, body preparation, and family-facing funeral work are closely connected.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
5.6/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

22% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Assisting and caring for others

Very important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
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Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Show 3 more strengths

Psychology knowledge

Quite important
Why this matters
Understanding human behavior, motivation, and individual differences to assess needs, respond appropriately, and support behavior change or mental health.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 30 votes

23% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 22% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Embalmers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Embalmers was $56,280 ($27 per hour).

The median annual wage for Embalmers was 13.7% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Embalmers' job openings is expected to rise 1.3% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 3,420 people employed as 'Embalmers' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 45 thousand people are employed as 'Embalmers'.

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What people are saying (3)

Bb
02 Sep 2024 10:27
too personal and spiritually important for the people affected
FuneralFish
18 Jun 2024 22:33
It'd be kinda cool if I could get some AI *help* with this. Like, I tell the AI "this person has edema in their right leg, died from renal failure, and has a pacemaker" and the bot would calculate the perfect mix of fluid and rate of flow. But it'll be a long time before robots get the dexterity to raise and tie off a vein. Those things break easily.
T (Low)
29 Jan 2023 00:00
Robots determining what arteries to use, raise, inject and suture? Not in my lifetime.
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Job description

Prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements.

O*NET-SOC code: 39-4011.00