Embalmers Salary
Personal Care and Service Occupations · 3.9K employed in the U.S.
Median annual
$58,780
Median hourly
$28
Average annual
$58,390
Typical range
$38,310–$77,570
Pay distribution
10th to 90th percentile, with the median marked.
What this role pays
The median annual salary for Embalmers is $58,780 as of May 2025, based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. That works out to about $28 an hour at a full-time schedule.
Prepare bodies for interment in conformity with legal requirements..
Most earn between $38,310 and $77,570 a year. There are roughly 3.9K people employed as embalmers in the United States. Use the state and metro pages below to see how pay changes by location, and the calculator to convert any hourly or annual figure.
Salary calculator
Convert your pay and see where it lands for Embalmers.
- Hourly
- $28.26
- Daily
- $226
- Weekly
- $1,130
- Bi-weekly
- $2,261
- Monthly
- $4,898
- Annual
- $58,780
$58,780 a year is around the 50th percentile for Embalmerss. The median is $58,780.
Highest-paying states
Median annual wage by state.
- 1Ohio$71,550
- 2Pennsylvania$69,950
- 3North Carolina$68,550
- 4Missouri$66,490
- 5Virginia$63,810
- 6Kansas$63,160
- 7Indiana$62,400
- 8South Carolina$61,820
- 9Illinois$61,730
- 10Rhode Island$60,310
- 11Florida$60,170
- 12California$60,060
Top-paying metro areas
Median annual wage by metro area.
- 1Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$73,450
- 2St. Louis, MO-IL$63,130
- 3Columbia, SC$61,880
- 4Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL$61,680
- 5Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$61,570
- 6San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$60,890
- 7Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL$60,300
- 8Providence-Warwick, RI-MA$60,140
- 9Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA$58,930
- 10Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX$58,490
- 11Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX$58,470
- 12Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA$58,170
Related job titles
Employers advertise Embalmers roles under these titles.
Related occupations
What a Embalmers does
- Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met.
- Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased.
- Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs.
- Dress bodies and place them in caskets.
- Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump.
- Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home.
- Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax.
- Pack body orifices with cotton saturated with embalming fluid to prevent escape of gases or waste matter.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does a Embalmers make?
- The median annual wage for Embalmers is $58,780 ($28 per hour). Pay ranges from about $38,310 at the 10th percentile to $77,570 at the 90th percentile.
- What is the average salary for a Embalmers?
- The average (mean) annual salary is $58,390, which is higher than the median because a small number of high earners pull the average up.
- Which state pays Embalmerss the most?
- Ohio has the highest median annual wage for this occupation at $71,550.
- Is Embalmers a growing occupation?
- BLS employment data for May 2025 counts about 3.9K people in this occupation. Projected growth is published separately in the BLS Employment Projections program.
- What does a Embalmers do?
- Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met.; Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased.; Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs..