Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers
SOC 39-4031 · 2024-2034
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.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $52,035per year
- Projected openings
- 2,680
- Projected change
- 0%
- Usually needs
- Associate's degree
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Speaking
- Coordination
- Time Management
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $57,695 | 140 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $55,922 | 140 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $49,735 | 930 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $49,241 | 60 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $48,912 | 160 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $47,555 | 280 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $47,411 | 230 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $47,154 | 310 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $45,662 | 60 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $37,968
- A quarter earn under
- $45,443
- Half earn under
- $52,035
- Three quarters earn under
- $62,894
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $79,822
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funeral Attendants | $39,680 | 3,230 | 0% |
| Funeral Home Managers | $83,752 | 1,520 | +5.3% |
| First-line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers | $57,531 | 14,050 | +9.8% |
| Compliance Officers | $98,607 | 43,870 | +7% |