Career Explorer Personal care
Human edge, steady
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.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 55% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.6% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on emotional intelligence.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $35,680
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.6%
- Openings a year
- 5,400
- People doing it (2025)
- 31,300
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Provide general assistance to others, such as customers, patrons, or motorists
- Perform administrative or clerical activities
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Move materials, equipment, or supplies
- Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas
- Escort others
What the work looks like
- Embalm, dress, cosmeticize, and casket the deceased.
- Prepare obituaries for newspapers.
- Obtain burial permits and register deaths.
- Transport the deceased to the funeral home.
- Obtain doctors' signatures on death certificate and complete other paperwork, such as insurance claims forms.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Locker room, coatroom, and dressing room attendantsHuman edge, growing, Index 76, +6.4%
- ShampooersHuman edge, growing, Index 79, +5.6%
- Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpersHuman edge, growing, Index 96, +5.3%
- Food preparation and serving related workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 78, +5.5%
Also known as: Funeral Assistant, Funeral Attendant, Funeral Director, Funeral Home Assistant, Funeral Associate, Funeral Greeter, Funeral Home Associate, Funeral Home Attendant.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.