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Boston Career Explorer

Personal Care and Service

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.

Also called: Funeral Arrangement Director, Funeral Arranger, Funeral Counselor, Funeral Director, Funeral Family Service Assistant, Funeral Location Manager

Median pay in Greater Boston
$62,540
$30.07/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
270
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+0.8%
70 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Associate's degree
plus Long-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$46,400$49,200$62,540$85,290$101,190

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died.
  • Obtain information needed to complete legal documents, such as death certificates or burial permits.
  • Perform embalming duties, as necessary.
  • Consult with families or friends of the deceased to arrange funeral details, such as obituary notice wording, casket selection, or plans for services.
  • Remove deceased remains from place of death.
  • Contact cemeteries to schedule the opening and closing of graves.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Moderate exposure36 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 41
  • Language-model AIOE 44
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 22

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is moderate, and observed AI use is little or none so far. AI tools could help with paperwork such as death certificates and permits, and with drafting notices like obituaries. Caring for remains and supporting grieving families rely on people.

Likely to change

  • Filling out death certificates and permits
  • Drafting obituary notices and service details

Still relies on people

  • Consulting with grieving families
  • Embalming and caring for remains

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

2 programs near Boston

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