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.
25,100 people do this job in the US. $55,010 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 37%
- 10%
- 53%
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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 21%. Today's estimate: 25%.
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 . 22 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan, schedule, or coordinate funerals, burials, or cremations, arranging details such as floral delivery or the time and place of services.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 13% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 6.7 h | 41%Half by Nov 2026 | |
| Perform embalming duties, as necessary.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 10% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 5.8 h | Stays with people | |
| Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 9% | 2.1 h50 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Consult with families or friends of the deceased to arrange funeral details, such as obituary notice wording, casket selection, or plans for services.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide or arrange transportation between sites for the remains, mourners, pallbearers, clergy, or flowers.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Manage funeral home operations, including the hiring, training, or supervision of embalmers, funeral attendants, or other staff.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 6% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 46%Half by Oct 2026 | |
| Plan placement of caskets at funeral sites or place or adjust lights, fixtures, or floral displays.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Close caskets and lead funeral corteges to churches or burial sites.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide information on funeral service options, products, or merchandise, and maintain a casket display area.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 33 min17 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Clean funeral home facilities and grounds.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Obtain information needed to complete legal documents, such as death certificates or burial permits.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | 98%Half by now |
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).