Funeral Attendant job description
23 verified openings in Funeral Home & Crematory Staff
Funeral attendants outnumber every other funeral service occupation BLS tracks. It counted 31,090 of them in May 2025, more than the 25,100 morticians and funeral arrangers, at a median of $35,680, or $17.16 an hour. The bottom tenth made less than $28,070 and the top tenth more than $48,460. The job is the visible part of a service: placing the casket before a wake, arranging flowers and lights around it, directing mourners, closing the casket, and issuing and storing the equipment afterward.
Core Duties and Responsibilities
Greeting people at the door is the task O*NET rates highest, followed by the general work of keeping a service on plan for the funeral director. Attendants close the casket at the right point, escort mourners to the parlor or chapel, and set the casket in place before the wake or funeral begins. They help mourners in and out of the limousines, clean the parlors and chapels, and arrange the flowers. Outside the building, they clean and drive the cars and hearses, serve as pallbearers, supervise the procession, help with parking at the cemetery, and carry flowers to the vehicles or deliver them to the family. General maintenance of the equipment and grounds fills the quieter days. O*NET's supplemental list shows the job reaching further in some firms: transporting the deceased, writing obituaries, and handling permits and death certificate signatures.
Common Skills and Technologies
Social perceptiveness and service orientation are tied as the highest-rated skills, followed by active listening, speaking, monitoring, and coordination. Microsoft Office is the one technology O*NET flags as in demand, with Excel and Word named in postings.
Education, Training, and Career Path
This is Job Zone Two, where a high school diploma is the usual bar, and 47 percent of those O*NET surveyed said exactly that. Another 22.5 percent said an associate's degree, and 12.6 percent said some college. The job is also a way in. The Handbook suggests part-time or summer work in a funeral home for anyone considering the field, and O*NET's reported titles for attendants include Embalmer Apprentice alongside Funeral Assistant and Funeral Greeter.
Sources: O*NET 30.0, 39-4021.00 Funeral Attendants, https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/39-4021.00. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, 39-4021, https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Funeral Service Occupations, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/personal-care-and-service/funeral-service-occupations.htm.