AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 39-4011.00
Will AI replace Embalmers?
Embalmers: AI can already handle 24 of 26 tasks; the work mostly needs an efficient-tier model.
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample: send this role and up to nine others, and a founder sends a board-pack PDF within two business days.
Every task, scored
The 26 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Embalmers, from most to least exposed. 24 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Join lips, using needles and thread or wire. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Close incisions, using needles and sutures. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Clean and disinfect areas in which bodies are prepared and embalmed. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Dress bodies and place them in caskets. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Attach trocar to pump-tube, start pump, and repeat probing to force embalming fluid into organs. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Pack body orifices with cotton saturated with embalming fluid to prevent escape of gases or waste matter. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Conduct interviews to arrange for the preparation of obituary notices, to assist with the selection of caskets or urns, and to determine the location and time of burials or cremations. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Insert convex celluloid or cotton between eyeballs and eyelids to prevent slipping and sinking of eyelids. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Assist with placing caskets in hearses and organize cemetery processions. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Wash and dry bodies, using germicidal soap and towels or hot air dryers. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Arrange for transporting the deceased to another state for interment. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Perform special procedures necessary for remains that are to be transported to other states or overseas, or where death was caused by infectious disease. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Supervise funeral attendants and other funeral home staff. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Serve as pallbearers, attend visiting rooms, and provide other assistance to the bereaved. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Direct casket and floral display placement and arrange guest seating. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Arrange funeral home equipment and perform general maintenance. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Assist coroners at death scenes or at autopsies, file police reports, and testify at inquests or in court, if employed by a coroner. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Press diaphragm to evacuate air from lungs. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Maintain records, such as itemized lists of clothing or valuables delivered with body and names of persons embalmed. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 26 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 26 of 26. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central the task is. Model tier is the lowest tier that can do the task under the published rubric; "No tier" marks hands-on work.
The model tier this role needs
An efficient-tier model or lower covers 77% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 96% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 4% is hands-on.
Efficient, standard and frontier tiers come from the JobRoute model tier reference. The recommended tier is the lowest one that covers 80% of the work AI can address. How the method works.
Wages, employment and outlook
- US employment
- 3,890
- Median annual wage
- $58,780
- Middle half of earners
- $48,010 to $66,130
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +1.3%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034.
Adjacent roles
The occupations that reuse the most of this role's skills, with the usual time to move. These are the first places to look when you plan to redeploy or retrain people in this role.
- Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers 72% skill overlap, about 10 months to move Exposure33
- Funeral Attendants 65% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure30
- Coroners 63% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure73
- Crematory Operators 61% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure29
- Funeral Home Managers 59% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure37
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Embalmers and AI
Will AI replace Embalmers?
AI already handles 24 of the 26 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 71 out of 100. JobRoute scores tasks, not whole jobs, so the score shows how much of the work changes rather than whether the job disappears. BLS projects employment to change by +1.3% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Embalmers?
71 out of 100 on JobRoute's task exposure measure, the importance-weighted average of the role's O*NET task scores. Higher means more of the work is AI-doable today. 0 of the 26 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 26 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Embalmers tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: 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; Join lips, using needles and thread or wire. They are three of the 24 tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
An efficient-tier model or lower covers 77% of the role's importance-weighted task work. JobRoute assigns each task the lowest tier that can do it under a published rubric and recommends the lowest tier that covers 80% of the work AI can address.
How many people work as Embalmers, and what do they earn?
3,890 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $58,780 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +1.3% from 2024 to 2034.
How to cite
Data version 2026-11-02, JobRoute method v1.0.0. Download all occupations or this occupation as JSON. Methodology.
JobRoute (2026). AI exposure: Embalmers. Data version 2026-11-02, method v1.0.0. Built on O*NET 30.3, BLS OEWS May 2025 and the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026). CC BY 4.0. https://www.jobroute.ai/jobs/embalmers
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample. Send this role and up to nine others, with no employee data, and a founder sends a PDF in board-pack format within two business days.
A founder replies within one business day.