How To Become An Embalmer/Funeral Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is an embalmer/funeral director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Cody Walker

An embalmer/funeral director is a highly trained and licensed professional that carries out all activities involving funeral preparation. He/she performs registration of deaths, directs funerals, and prepares deceased bodies for visits by family members. They use special products, such as germicidal soap and embalming fluid, to clean and preserve body tissues. In cases of disfiguration, they use clay, cotton, and wax to reconstruct the body.

An embalmer/funeral director works in funeral homes and crematories. In order to efficiently carry out their role, they should be caring and sensitive when dealing with families who have lost loved ones. They should also have excellent communication skills, listening skills, and should have empathy and compassion.

Embalmers/funeral directors work 40 hours a week on average. They usually work in shifts, although their work schedule can be irregular because it depends on the number of funerals.

What general advice would you give to an embalmer/funeral director?

Cody Walker

Baccalaureate Program Director

While much of our society is becoming more autonomous in business interactions, I believe it will be critically important to remain vigilant in providing personal service to the families we serve. In providing personal service, we must also embrace the ever-changing technological landscape that can be used to enhance services available to families. While I feel we must always honor the traditional services families choose, we should be open and accepting to less traditional and innovative services and offerings.

ScoreEmbalmer/Funeral DirectorUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,736

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.20%

Asian 1.74%

Black or African American 12.12%

Hispanic or Latino 6.34%

Unknown 2.55%

White 77.05%

Gender

female 40.28%

male 59.72%

Age - 50

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 50

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

1.3

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an embalmer/funeral director

Explore embalmer/funeral director education requirements

Most common embalmer/funeral director degrees

Associate

62.5 %

Bachelor's

28.2 %

Diploma

3.5 %

Start to develop specific embalmer/funeral director skills

Skills	Percentages
Client Families	15.85%
Customer Service	15.31%
Veterans	13.57%
Compassion	12.12%
Data Entry	11.56%

Complete relevant embalmer/funeral director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New embalmer/funeral directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an embalmer/funeral director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real embalmer/funeral director resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming an licensed embalmer/funeral director usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you don't need to pass an exam to become a licensed embalmer/funeral director in most of states. 41 states require embalmer/funeral directors to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Funeral Director
Maryland	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	FUNERAL DIRECTOR
Arkansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Funeral Director
California	Degree required	State exam required	Funeral Director
Connecticut	-	-	Funeral Director

Research embalmer/funeral director duties and responsibilities

Manage subordinates, facilities and MSDS files.
Assist families with insurance claims, veterans forms and other documents.
Consult with bereave families, providing guidance, compassion and grief counseling while assisting in arranging funeral or cremation services.
Maintain protocol and necessary paperwork for OSHA mandate Bio-Hazardous waste removal.

Get embalmer/funeral director experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become an embalmer/funeral director. The most common roles before becoming an embalmer/funeral director include funeral director, funeral assistant team lead and apprentice funeral director.

Prepare your embalmer/funeral director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your embalmer/funeral director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an embalmer/funeral director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable embalmer/funeral director resume templates

Build a professional embalmer/funeral director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your embalmer/funeral director resume.