Annual Salary of a Licensed Embalmer
Embalming is the process by which the blood of a cadaver is drained and replaced with a preservative fluid. This is done to prevent decay and enable the relatives of the deceased to see the body before burial or cremation. Embalmers perform this procedure. Most embalmers are also funeral directors and perform functions such as dressing the body and arranging the funeral service.
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Average Salary
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As part of its May 2010 survey of national employment trends, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics collated wage data from 6,780 individual embalmers working throughout the country. It concluded that the mean annual salary for the profession was $44,280, which translates into an hourly pay rate of $21.29. Those practitioners within the top 10 percent of earners received yearly wages of over $63,030, while their colleagues in the corresponding bottom bracket earned less than $26,630 per year.
Salary by Location
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The bureau lists Massachusetts as the state in which an embalmer is likely to secure the best compensation rates, with an annual mean of $58,050. Connecticut and Illinois were also comparatively lucrative locations, with respective means of $55,790 and $52,150. Wage levels were almost identical between Iowa and Maryland -- $51,580 and $50,620, respectively -- as they were between Ohio and Rhode Island, with means of $46,220 and $46,060, respectively, while Georgia was among the locations with the lowest pay rates, at a mean of just $40,700 per year.
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Training
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To become an embalmer and begin earning the available salaries, individuals must complete a training program and secure a state license. The American Board of Funeral Service Education accredits 60 mortuary science programs throughout the country, most of which take two years to complete and lead to an associate degree, qualifying the candidate as a funeral director -- with embalming forming a component of the course. Some states offer a single license for embalming and funeral directing, while others have two separate licenses. In either case, candidates need to complete a recognized training course and pass a written examination.
Prospects
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t have specific employment projections for embalmers but lists the estimated growth rate for funeral directors -- which many embalmers are also qualified as -- as 12 percent over the decade from 2008 to 2018. This is in line with national projections of between 7 and 13 percent growth across all occupations for the same period. The aging of the American population will spur this growth and wage levels for the role should remain competitive.
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