Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers
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 pallbearers, aiding with the selection of officials for religious rites, and providing transportation for mourners.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Speaking
- Coordination
- Time Management
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administrative
- Administration and Management
- Psychology
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Computers and Electronics
- Sales and Marketing
What the work involves
- Consult with families or friends of the deceased to arrange funeral details, such as obituary notice wording, casket selection, or plans for services.
- Obtain information needed to complete legal documents, such as death certificates or burial permits.
- Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died.
- Contact cemeteries to schedule the opening and closing of graves.
- Provide information on funeral service options, products, or merchandise, and maintain a casket display area.
- Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends.
- Close caskets and lead funeral corteges to churches or burial sites.
- Arrange for clergy members to perform needed services.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree (73.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (56%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (26.3%)
- 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 Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers 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 79% of occupations compared | 77% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 92% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 53% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 60% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 51% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 56% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 64% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: 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: 2.37%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 20.24%
- Constant contact with others: 77.39%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 3.27%
- Important: 1.66%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2024
Teamwork
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 5.64%
- Very important: 5.98%
- Extremely important: 74.04%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2024
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Limited freedom: 12.16%
- Some freedom: 9.01%
- A lot of freedom: 64.73%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2024
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.64%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 27.83%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2024
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 19.55%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 15.32%
- Every day: 16.27%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 18.39%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 33.57%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 32.02%
- Every day: 1.93%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2024
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 4.3%
- Fairly serious: 41.38%
- Serious: 0.27%
- Very serious: 30.59%
- Extremely serious: 23.46%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2024
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O*NET-SOC 39-4031.00 · SOC 39-4031 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8