Social Services
Embalmers
Prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements.
Median salary (BLS)
$58,780
10th–90th percentile (BLS)
$38k – $78k
Job outlook
+1% (about average)
AI exposure
Early-career check: graduates of the matching programs below typically earn $87,000 ten years after starting college — an early-career figure, vs. the all-experience BLS median above. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard.
Plan a path to Embalmers
Education
Typical entry: Associate degree
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Embalmers
Entry / Junior
$38,310
~2 yrs to advance
Embalmers
Established
$58,780
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Embalmers
Senior
$68,175
Key skills
A typical day
- •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.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Social Services
Explore all- University of Michigan18% admit · $87,000 grad pay
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill19% admit · $73,000 grad pay
- University of Chicago5% admit · $91,000 grad pay
- Columbia University4% admit · $103,000 grad pay
- University of Wisconsin–Madison49% admit · $72,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.