Funeral Attendants
Perform a variety of tasks during funeral, such as placing casket in parlor or chapel prior to service, arranging floral offerings or lights around casket, directing or escorting mourners, closing casket, and issuing and storing funeral equipment.
31,090 people do this job in the US. $35,680 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 20%
- 0%
- 80%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 19%. Today's estimate: 20%.
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perform a variety of tasks during funerals to assist funeral directors and to ensure that services run smoothly and as planned.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 17% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Embalm, dress, cosmeticize, and casket the deceased.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 14% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Perform general maintenance tasks for funeral homes, such as maintaining equipment or caring for funeral grounds.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 h38 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Perform various administrative tasks, such as typing documents or answering telephone calls.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 7% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Clean and drive funeral vehicles, such as cars or hearses, in funeral processions.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean funeral parlors or chapels.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Attend to the needs of the bereaved, such as by offering comfort, counseling, or after-care programs.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | 96%Half by now | |
| Obtain doctors' signatures on death certificate and complete other paperwork, such as insurance claims forms.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Assist with cremations and the processing and packaging of cremated remains.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Supervise funeral processions and assist with cemetery parking.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Place caskets in parlors or chapels prior to wakes or funerals.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min17 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Arrange floral offerings or lights around caskets.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).