AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Embalmers?

Task-level automation exposure for Embalmers: 26 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

14% weighted task index

26 of 26 tasks scored

Median Salary

$58,780 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

3,890 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+0.7% employment change

700 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 28 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$39,490 – $71,550

Highest medians

Ohio $71,550

Pennsylvania $69,950

North Carolina $68,550

Missouri $66,490

Virginia $63,810

Lowest medians

Iowa $39,490

New Mexico $45,340

Oklahoma $49,120

Kentucky $49,860

Washington $50,610

State figures come from the 39-4011 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 14%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 74%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 21%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 6%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 48/100 Moderate

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

26 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 4%

1 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 5%

1 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 91%

24 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#4487 · Core · 45% automatable

Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met.

visual inspection — AI reviews logs; human observes operations on site

Monitor operations to ensure compliance with safety or security policies or regulations.

#4488 · Core · 5% automatable

Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased.

physical manipulation — Makeup application requires fine manual dexterity

Apply makeup to alter or enhance appearance.

#4495 · Core · 4% automatable

Join lips, using needles and thread or wire.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#4490 · Core · 4% automatable

Close incisions, using needles and sutures.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#4489 · Core · 4% automatable

Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#23930 · Core · 5% automatable

Clean and disinfect areas in which bodies are prepared and embalmed.

physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of work areas

Clean work areas. Clean facilities or equipment.

#4493 · Core · 4% automatable

Dress bodies and place them in caskets.

physical manipulation — Hands-on textured finish application

Apply decorative or textured finishes or coverings.

#4492 · Core · 4% automatable

Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#20257 · Core · 10% automatable

Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home.

physical manipulation — Physical transport of biological materials

Transport biological or other medical materials.

#4494 · Core · 25% automatable

Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities.

physical manipulation — Mortuary direction is hands-on and emotionally situated

Direct funeral or mortuary activities.

#4497 · Core · 4% automatable

Attach trocar to pump-tube, start pump, and repeat probing to force embalming fluid into organs.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#4491 · Core · 4% automatable

Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#4504 · Core · 4% automatable

Pack body orifices with cotton saturated with embalming fluid to prevent escape of gases or waste matter.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#4496 · Core · 30% automatable

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.

interpersonal — Observation and interviews are inherently human

Collect information from people through observation, interviews, or surveys.

#4500 · Core · 4% automatable

Insert convex celluloid or cotton between eyeballs and eyelids to prevent slipping and sinking of eyelids.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#4505 · Core · 15% automatable

Assist with placing caskets in hearses and organize cemetery processions.

physical manipulation — Mortuary direction is hands-on and emotionally situated

Handle caskets. Direct funeral or mortuary activities.

#4499 · Core · 72% automatable

Maintain records, such as itemized lists of clothing or valuables delivered with body and names of persons embalmed.

text generation — Maintain client records; human owns sensitive judgment

Maintain client information or service records.

#4501 · Core · 5% automatable

Wash and dry bodies, using germicidal soap and towels or hot air dryers.

physical manipulation — Applying agents to hair and skin is hands-on care

Apply cleansing or conditioning agents to client hair, scalp, or skin.

#4502 · Core · 25% automatable

Arrange for transporting the deceased to another state for interment.

physical manipulation — Mortuary direction is hands-on and emotionally situated

Direct funeral or mortuary activities.

#4498 · Core · 4% automatable

Perform special procedures necessary for remains that are to be transported to other states or overseas, or where death was caused by infectious disease.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

#4503 · Core · 28% automatable

Supervise funeral attendants and other funeral home staff.

interpersonal — Directing service workers requires live human presence

Supervise service workers.

#4506 · Core · 5% automatable

Serve as pallbearers, attend visiting rooms, and provide other assistance to the bereaved.

physical manipulation — Physical handling of caskets with care

Handle caskets.

#4507 · Core · 16% automatable

Direct casket and floral display placement and arrange guest seating.

physical manipulation — Mortuary direction is hands-on and emotionally situated

Arrange items for use or display. Direct funeral or mortuary activities.

#4508 · Core · 11% automatable

Arrange funeral home equipment and perform general maintenance.

physical manipulation — Basic equipment maintenance requires hands-on work

Arrange items for use or display. Perform basic equipment maintenance.

#4509 · Supplemental · 23% automatable

Assist coroners at death scenes or at autopsies, file police reports, and testify at inquests or in court, if employed by a coroner.

physical manipulation — Filing physical documents requires hands in the world

Testify at legal or legislative proceedings. Assist practitioners to perform medical procedures. File documents or records.

#4510 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Press diaphragm to evacuate air from lungs.

physical manipulation — Embalming is delicate hands-on cadaver work

Embalm corpses.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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