Industry group, 8122
Death Care Services
134,630 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $52,450 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 73 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 35%
- 11%
- 54%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 20% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 24%. Today's estimate: 27%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 18 largest jobs hold 95% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers | 24,780 | 25% | 13 million | $55K |
| Funeral Attendants | 30,920 | 20% | 13 million | $36K |
| Office Clerks, General | 8,980 | 54% | 10 million | $40K |
| Funeral Home Managers | 13,850 | 33% | 9.6 million | $79K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 7,380 | 43% | 6.5 million | $41K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 2,240 | 78% | 3.6 million | $48K |
| Receptionists and Information Clerks | 2,630 | 59% | 3.2 million | $34K |
| Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel | 3,390 | 43% | 3 million | $48K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers | 1,980 | 35% | 1.4 million | $53K |
| Crematory Operators | 2,720 | 24% | 1.4 million | $44K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 940 | 64% | 1.3 million | $41K |
| Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs | 2,100 | 28% | 1.2 million | $38K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 57 smaller jobs (6,420 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 98% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Plan, schedule, or coordinate funerals, burials, or cremations, arranging details such as floral delivery or the time and place of services.Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers6.9 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Perform various administrative tasks, such as typing documents or answering telephone calls.Funeral Attendants4.3 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Manage funeral home operations, including the hiring, training, or supervision of embalmers, funeral attendants, or other staff.Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers3.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Attend to the needs of the bereaved, such as by offering comfort, counseling, or after-care programs.Funeral Attendants2.8 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Obtain doctors' signatures on death certificate and complete other paperwork, such as insurance claims forms.Funeral Attendants2.8 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Complete and maintain records, such as state-required documents, tracking documents, or product inventories.Funeral Home Managers2.8 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.Office Clerks, General2.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends.Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers1.9 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Obtain information needed to complete legal documents, such as death certificates or burial permits.Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers1.8 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Maintain financial records, order merchandise, or prepare accounts.Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers1.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works