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What is a Mortician?
The main goal of a mortician is to honor the life of a deceased person. Secondarily, they help the family to celebrate their life. Because of the special niche into which their work falls, morticians may also act as counselors for those grieving their loss and they may also recommend grief counseling for off-time deaths.
For people who are interested in a mortician’s career, a degree in funeral service is necessary. A two-year degree from a community college or trade school allows students to take a large step toward their goal of becoming a funeral service manager. When they become licensed, they are qualified to work in a funeral director or arrangement position. They may also be eligible to help embalm deceased bodies—or they may choose to work in a medical examiner’s office.
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What Does a Mortician Do?
Morticians must be prepared to handle a wide range of tasks, as families may be too overwhelmed to manage all the details needed for a funeral. Duties can include preparing obituary notices, helping families choose between burial or cremation, selecting urns or caskets, arranging pallbearers and clergy, embalming, or organizing cremation. Morticians may also suggest grief counseling for the family and friends.
While prior experience with grieving families is not required, new morticians must be able to navigate the emotional challenges of the job. Being able to handle grief and other strong emotions is essential in this role.
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Where Do These Specialists Work?
Morticians, funeral directors, funeral assistants, and embalmers can work in funeral homes, which may be family-owned and hire relatives before others.
Morticians and embalmers prepare the body for embalming or cremation based on the deceased's prior wishes or the family's decision. Their education includes courses in embalming, and they must follow federal regulations when handling hazardous chemicals. The mortician and assistants dress the deceased, arrange them in the casket, and apply restorative techniques like makeup and hairstyling. For cremation, they place the ashes in a container or urn, depending on the family's preferences.
Why This Career?
To become a mortician, students must complete their education, pass the state board licensing exam, and then find a funeral home to work at. Family-owned funeral homes may have the freedom to make their own staffing decisions.
Funeral directors have busy workdays filled with various responsibilities. When a family requests funeral services, duties begin with preparing the obituary and may include arranging clergy and pallbearers, scheduling grave openings for burials, and coordinating cremation with the crematorium. They prepare sites for services, arrange transportation for the body and mourners, offer emotional support to the family, handle paperwork for death certificates, embalm the body, and more.
The average annual salary for morticians starts at $60,580, with an hourly wage of around $29. Morticians must follow safety procedures when handling deceased bodies, as federal regulations govern their preparation for burial, especially when dealing with potential contagious diseases. While the role requires comfort with working with the deceased, it also demands the ability to provide empathy and support to grieving families, a quality that is intrinsic rather than taught in training.
How to Become a Mortician
What are the Requirements?
Different states have set different requirements for morticians to satisfy. However, morticians in every state should satisfy a minimum set of requirements. Funeral directors and funeral service workers are generally required to be at least 21 years old. They may be required to complete an accredited mortuary science degree program, pass their state’s national board exam, and serve an apprenticeship, which will give them practical experience. These apprenticeships often last between one to three years, depending on the state where the student is living.
Accreditation of the mortuary science program you choose is nearly always mandatory. Future students can find information about this accreditation by checking out the website of the mortuary science programs they are interested in; they should look for verification of programmatic accreditation by the American Board of Funeral Service Education. If the program isn’t accredited, this may stop the student’s plans to become a mortician in their tracks. It’s not a step you want to skip.
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GED or High School Diploma/Associate Degree
While still in high school or a GED program, students can begin unofficial training. If they live in a state that doesn’t require a college degree for morticians, this path may lead to an entry-level position where they can gain hands-on experience with various employers.
This requires the student to be persistent in finding a funeral home willing to hire an untrained candidate. Earning a GED or high school diploma may help convince the funeral home director that they are ready to begin training.
The second pathway is to enroll in an associate degree program at a technical college, where students engage in lectures and hands-on experience in restorative art labs, embalming labs, merchandise selection, arrangement rooms, and funeral service chapels.
Apprenticeship and Certifications
- Apprenticeships:
While apprenticeships aren’t as common as they used to be, they are still options for future morticians. A few funeral industry careers do require apprenticeships in their licensing requirements. The supervision of a licensed funeral director is also required for the apprentice to be fully licensed. - Certifications for Funeral Planning:
The learning for future and current funeral directors doesn’t end once they earn their licenses. They may need to periodically renew their licenses so they can continue to function in this profession; this requirement depends on the rules in the state where you choose to practice. Before a mortician or funeral director can be employed or continue their employment, they may be required to earn certifications specific to their career role by passing a certification exam; holding a provisional license would allow them to work before taking their exam. - Certifications Available:
Certifications are granted for professionals who will be doing the same work, but they may be known by different names in different states. For instance, Virginia’s license is a Funeral Service License while Wisconsin calls it Licensed Funeral Director. Other licenses include Certified Crematory Operator, Certified Funeral Service Practitioner and Certified Preplanning Consultant. Before earning certifications, funeral directors are required to earn credits in multiple categories: formal education, academic service, and professional service. -
Specialties:
Some funeral directors may choose to earn specialized certifications, such as Certified Funeral Celebrant (CFC) or NFDA Arranger, who helps funeral directors benefit from the arrangement process during meetings with families. This includes creating unique services if families choose cremation. Certified Grief Counselor: this certification comes from the American Institute of Health Care Professionals and allows funeral directors to help families come to terms with their grief, as well as teaching them how to mourn the loss of their loved ones in healthier ways.Professional roles vary from state to state. Some states also require people interested in funeral service careers to earn degrees from mortuary science programs. Those who are seeking funeral director careers should already have experience from a previous funeral home. They will have to have attended mortuary school and obtained training to qualify for a job in this area. Training lasts for one to two years and consists of informal training alongside an experienced mortician. They also need on-the-job training in the specific role they will fill. In 49 of the 50 states licensure is mandatory, whereas a voluntary certification program is offered in Colorado.
Continuing Education
The amount of experience on the job and level of education both contribute to higher annual pay and positions with more responsibility and leadership for mortuary practitioners. At the beginning of their career, with less than 1 year of experience, a mortician may earn an average annual salary of $46,000. In their early career (1 to 4 years of experience), morticians earn an average salary of $44,000. The mid-career mortician (5 to 9 years of experience) earns an average annual salary of $47,000.
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The experienced mortician (10 to 19 years) may earn an average annual salary of $60,000. And finally, the late-career mortician, who has more than 20 years of experience, may earn an average salary of $52,000. Location will also play a role in the differences in pay for morticians. In Los Angeles, they earn 13% less than the mortician working in Philadelphia may earn.
Additional Resources for Morticians
Professional Organizations
Students in mortuary schools, as well as professional morticians may benefit from one or more professional organizations. These organizations do exist, and there are several available for different specializations in the field. For instance, cremation professionals have an organization, funeral directors who serve specific religions or faiths can choose a Jewish or Catholic association, the Department of Veterans Affairs also has an association.
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National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA)
The mission of NFDA is to support professionals in the funeral industry. To achieve this goal, NFDA provides its members the critical information and resources they need, as well as innovative tools and resources so they can carry out their daily duties, serving bereaved families.
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Catholic Cemetery Conference (CCC)
CCC has committed to offering a forum for the discussion and offering of information regarding all phases of Catholic cemetery development, operation, and maintenance. CCC also helps Catholic cemetery personnel to improve cemetery services in their Archdioceses and Dioceses.
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American Society of Embalmers (ASE)
ASE was created to make known and promote excellence in the most current practice of mortuary arts and sciences. Among these, the society works to establish and promote ethical standards between colleagues in the mortuary profession.
Salary and Job Outlook
Annually, funeral service workers can expect to earn $60,000+. Morticians, under-takers, and funeral arrangers early-career earnings are $30-39,000 and their late-career earnings are closer to $71-91,000. Funeral directors work closely with family and friends of the deceased and it may be the responsibility of the funeral director and their staff to make all arrangements for the service and memorial for the family members, working within mortuary law. As funeral directors confer with family members on various details, they may become close to them. Some individuals and their families prefer to pre-plan details of funerals; over the years, this option has become more and more popular. People who are making decisions about their funerals choose to take care of these details while they are still healthy and able to make sound decisions.
Between 2023 and 2033, the overall employment of funeral service workers is expected to increase by 4%. A major factor for this decline is that families of the deceased are turning more and more to cremation; this service isn’t as costly and doesn’t require as many employees as a traditional burial.
Similar Roles
- Embalmer:
The average annual salary of an embalmer is $39,000. This professional often works for a private funeral home. They should have a bachelor’s degree in a related field and hold an embalming license. They work on the human body, injecting preservative chemicals so the body won’t decompose. They also dress, style, and apply makeup to the body. - Mortician:
Morticians earn an average annual salary of $50,000. Like embalmers, they prepare bodies for either burial or cremation. They have often completed associate degree programs from community colleges or have completed apprenticeships. They prepare bodies after death, disinfect them, drain the blood, and embalm. For cremations, they will establish the date of cremation, order the urn, and arrange for the ashes to be sent to the family. - Customer Service Supervisor:
On average, customer service supervisors earn $52,000 annually. This professional oversees the customer service team, ensuring that customers are satisfied with the attention and services they receive. The supervisor must lead and motivate their customer service representatives and provide feedback, guidance, and appropriate training. They must be familiar with the company’s services and products. - Operations Manager:
Annually, an operations manager earns $67,000. They are responsible for managing the company’s production of goods and or services. They may be responsible for more than one department, such as manufacturing, purchasing, or warehousing. They ensure the company’s operations are running smoothly. Funeral suppliers might need these specialists more than funeral homes themselves. - Administrative Services and Facilities Managers:
The entry-level education for this position is a bachelor’s degree. These professionals often have less than five years of on-the-job training. Between 2019 and 2029, the job outlook shows an expectation for 6% growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do they do?
A mortician is responsible for the funeral process from obituary to suggesting grief counseling for families and everything in between. They help arrange the funeral service, prepare the burial or cremation, and make arrangements for pallbearers and clergy.
How much do they make?
The average salary for a mortician is $58,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
How long does it take to get into the field?
The requirements to become a mortician will vary by state. In some states, you can become a mortician with a highs school diploma but most states require at least a certificate.
What skills do they need to succeed?
A mortician needs to have knowledge of ethics and laws as well as good business and time-management skills. They need to be excellent at communication, have compassion, and good interpersonal skills.
What is the job outlook?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, mortician careers are expected to grow by 4% from 2020 to 2030.