Funeral Home Managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate the services or resources of funeral homes. Includes activities such as determining prices for services or merchandise and managing the facilities of funeral homes.
Most important skills
- Service Orientation
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Time Management
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Judgment and Decision Making
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- English Language
- Administrative
- Economics and Accounting
- Sales and Marketing
- Psychology
- Personnel and Human Resources
What the work involves
- Attend or make presentations at community events to promote funeral home services or build community relationships.
- Conduct market research and analyze industry trends.
- Consult with families or friends of the deceased to arrange funeral details, such as obituary notice wording, casket selection, or plans for services.
- Direct and supervise work of embalmers, funeral attendants, death certificate clerks, cosmetologists, or other staff.
- Direct or monitor administrative, support, repair, or maintenance services for funeral homes.
- Monitor funeral service operations to ensure that they comply with applicable policies, regulations, and laws.
- Negotiate contracts for prearranged funeral services.
- Offer counsel and comfort to families and friends of the deceased.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree (49.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (28.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (30.6%)
- 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 Funeral Home Managers 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 | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 89% of occupations compared | 85% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 96% of occupations compared | 79% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 93% of occupations compared | 79% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 83% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 86% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 78% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 71% 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 80% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: 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: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 14.69%
- Constant contact with others: 85.31%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 7.05%
- Very important: 13.62%
- Extremely important: 79.33%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 21.06%
- Extremely important: 78.94%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 21.42%
- Some freedom: 4.17%
- A lot of freedom: 74.41%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.66%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.44%
- Every day: 56.9%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 7.21%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 58.2%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 33.53%
- Every day: 1.06%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 23.63%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 47.94%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 12.84%
- Every day: 15.59%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 24.71%
- Fairly serious: 0%
- Serious: 8.02%
- Very serious: 12.85%
- Extremely serious: 54.42%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
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O*NET-SOC 11-9171.00 · SOC 11-9171 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8