Embalmers vs Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers: $59K vs $55K Median Pay

Embalmers vs Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers: what changes?

Consider Embalmers if you want to prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements. Consider Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers if you would rather 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…. Both list associate's degree; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Embalmers and Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Embalmers

National median pay (2025): $58,780
Route into the job: Associate's degree; More than 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: More than 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 700

Know before you choose

BLS projects essentially flat employment (0.7%) through 2035. Annual openings mostly reflect replacement, not a rapidly expanding field.

See the full Embalmers brief

Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers

National median pay (2025): $55,010
Route into the job: Associate's degree; More than 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: More than 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 3,000

Know before you choose

Review the full career brief for day-to-day working conditions.

See the full Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers brief

How the national numbers differ

Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers has the edge on annual openings

Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers is at 3,000 annual openings, compared with 700 annual openings for Embalmers.

Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers has the edge on projected growth

Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers is at 3% projected growth, compared with 0.7% projected growth for Embalmers.

Embalmers has the edge on median pay

Embalmers is at $58,780, compared with $55,010 for Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers.

32.7/ 100

Embalmers

44.3/ 100

Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

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