Embalmers
Prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Time Management
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Chemistry
- Psychology
- English Language
- Law and Government
- Biology
- Administration and Management
- Administrative
What the work involves
- 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.
- Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs.
- Close incisions, using needles and sutures.
- Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax.
- Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump.
- Dress bodies and place them in caskets.
- Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree (86.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (53.1%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (36.3%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Embalmers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 64% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 93% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 60% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 79% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 97% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 96% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 78% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 90% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 5.61%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 27.24%
- Constant contact with others: 67.15%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 5.61%
- Important: 0.86%
- Very important: 19.92%
- Extremely important: 73.6%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 13.19%
- Important: 13.91%
- Very important: 18.68%
- Extremely important: 54.23%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.4%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 1.44%
- Some freedom: 46.38%
- A lot of freedom: 51.77%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.85%
- Every day: 74.15%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.46%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.01%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.45%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 26.37%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.05%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 47.51%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.85%
- Every day: 13.59%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 4.25%
- Fairly serious: 0.73%
- Serious: 27.37%
- Very serious: 19.69%
- Extremely serious: 47.96%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 39-4011.00 · SOC 39-4011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8