Personal Care and Service Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages Peer-group outlier SOC 39-4011

Embalmers

Median pay sits 30% above the mid peer in Personal Care and Service Occupations (neighbors include First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers, Animal Trainers, Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors, Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other).

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Embalmers: First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers ($64K) , Animal Trainers ($40K) , Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors ($47K) , Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other ($42K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Embalmers publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 39-4011 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met
  2. 2. Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased
  3. 3. Join lips, using needles and thread or wire
  4. 4. Close incisions, using needles and sutures
  5. 5. Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs
  6. 6. Clean and disinfect areas in which bodies are prepared and embalmed
  7. 7. Dress bodies and place them in caskets
  8. 8. Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump
  9. 9. Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home
  10. 10. Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities
  11. 11. Attach trocar to pump-tube, start pump, and repeat probing to force embalming fluid into organs
  12. 12. Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plas…

Embalmers: O*NET ranks Speaking first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 39-4011 - lead skill Speaking at 3.9 ; lead knowledge Customer and Personal Service. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Speaking 3.9
  2. 2. Active Listening 3.8
  3. 3. Writing 3.1
  4. 4. Critical Thinking 3.1
  5. 5. Social Perceptiveness 3.1
  6. 6. Service Orientation 3.1
  7. 7. Time Management 3.1
  8. 8. Reading Comprehension 3.0

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Customer and Personal Service 4.7
  2. 2. Chemistry 3.6
  3. 3. Psychology 3.6
  4. 4. English Language 3.5
  5. 5. Law and Government 3.4
  6. 6. Biology 3.2
Pay vs Personal Care and Service Occupations peers
+30%
vs mid peer median $45,330
This role $58,780/yr
$59K
National median
↑ +1%
Growth 2024-2034
600
Annual openings
3,890
Estimated US jobs
First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers
Highest-pay peer · $64K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education Associate's degree

Top Paying States for Embalmers

1. Indiana $62,400
2. Illinois $61,730
3. North Carolina $68,550
4. South Carolina $61,820
5. Rhode Island $60,310
6. Kansas $63,160
7. Virginia $63,810
8. Ohio $71,550
9. Missouri $66,490
10. Pennsylvania $69,950

Other Personal Care and Service Occupations titles

  1. 1. Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors $47,160
  2. 2. Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other $41,600
  3. 3. Animal Trainers $39,990
  4. 4. First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers $48,590
  5. 5. Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers $55,010
  6. 6. First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers $63,820

Among Personal Care and Service Occupations peers on this card, Embalmers sits 30% above the mid peer median ($45,330). Its own median is $58,780.

Employment Projections expect +1% change between 2024 and 2034 (about as fast as average vs baseline 3.1%). About 600 annual openings are projected. BLS assigns Associate's degree as typical education needed for entry. These are occupation-level assignments, not universal requirements. BLS does not publish a separate occupation-specific safety rate for this role; its broad SOC-group rate is excluded from this career card's grade.

Highest published state median in this ranking: Indiana at $62,400. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers at $63,820. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Embalmers pay-rank #3 in Personal Care and Service Occupations

Among 32 detailed Personal Care and Service Occupations with a published OEWS median, Embalmers is pay-rank #3, the upper third of that major group. The order is ROW_NUMBER on national median (title as tiebreak), not a worker-level percentile.

Other upper-third titles · closest medians

Full Salary Details Compare this role

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Projections from BLS Employment Projections program, 2024-2034.

Embalmers pays 30% above its major-group peer median. See the state map and the peers closest to (and furthest from) this line.

Embalmers salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 39-4011

Indiana · top state for Embalmers

$62K published median

Illinois · #2 state pay

$62K · behind Indiana

First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers

Highest-pay peer vs Embalmers · $64K

Animal Trainers

Lower-pay peer beside Embalmers · $40K

Compare Embalmers

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
Compare Embalmers with another occupation →

Peer-comparison next reads

Compare Embalmers

Against another occupation

First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers card

Top peer in this major group

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Personal Care and Service Occupations titles sit near Embalmers at the top of the pay table? ▼
Embalmers is pay-rank #3 of 32 detailed Personal Care and Service Occupations with an OEWS median, upper third. Nearest upper-third titles: Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers ($55K), First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers ($64K), Costume Attendants ($50K), First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers ($49K). Rank is ROW_NUMBER on national median.
What do embalmers do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Embalmers. Leading ones include: 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. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for embalmers? ▼
For SOC 39-4011, O*NET importance scores lead with Speaking (3.9), Active Listening (3.8), Writing (3.1), Critical Thinking (3.1). Knowledge areas emphasize Customer and Personal Service, Chemistry, Psychology. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
What is the OEWS national median for Embalmers? ▼
May 2025 OEWS reports $58,780 as the national median for Embalmers. The published 10th-90th range is $38,310 to $77,570. Beside First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers ($63,820), this is the occupation-level national figure, not a local offer.
What employment change does BLS publish for Embalmers? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Embalmers is +1%. Projected annual openings: about 600. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: about as fast as average.
What typical entry education does BLS assign to Embalmers? ▼
BLS assigns Associate's degree as the typical-education-needed-for-entry category for Embalmers. These are occupation-level labels, not every employer's hiring rule.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Embalmers? ▼
Indiana ($62,400), Illinois ($61,730), North Carolina ($68,550) lead this ranking. The table does not identify why those state estimates differ.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Wage and state figures use BLS OEWS May 2025; growth and education use BLS Employment Projections for 2024-2034; safety fields cite BLS CFOI/SOII; task statements cite O*NET where shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Disclaimer: Wage and outlook figures on this page are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute career, financial, or salary-negotiation advice. Actual pay varies by employer, experience, and local conditions; consult a career counselor or the hiring employer for guidance specific to your situation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OES Occupational wage estimates by area and industry · 2025

Federal sources on this Embalmers card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 39-4011. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Embalmers. onetcenter.org
  • BLS Employment Projections - 2024-2034 change and openings for this occupation. bls.gov/emp
  • U.S. Census Bureau ACS - demographic and labor-force context for state and metro geography. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
  • IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) - payroll-tax aggregate context for wage comparisons. irs.gov/statistics