# Funeral Home Managers

US SOC code 11-9171. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/11-9171

Also called: Funeral director manager, Mortuary manager, Cemetery manager, Funeral service manager, Crematory manager.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **13,910** US funeral home managers, with median pay of **$78,790** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was **14,200**, in May 2023, close to the May 2025 count. The earliest figure here is [a Census count](https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1900/occupations/occupations-part-3.pdf) of **9,891** from 1890, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for funeral home managers: Online price comparison and cremation platforms, 2005 to 2020.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 4.1% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=11-9171&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **53.6%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Funeral Home Managers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1840
- Latest US employment: 13,910 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [4]
- Latest US median pay: $78,790 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [7]
- Outlook: +4.1% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [21]

### All 12 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1890 | 9,891 | n/a | Decennial Census 1904 [1] |
| 1900 | 16,189 | n/a | Decennial Census 1904 [1] |
| 1963 | 55,000 (estimate) | $8,500 (estimate) | Est., Overnight Caskets (employment) [2]; Est., University of Missouri Libraries (pay) [5] |
| 1984 | n/a | $28,000 (estimate) | Est., University of Missouri Libraries [6] |
| 2000 | 27,800 (estimate) | n/a | Est., BLS OOH [3] |
| 2019 | 9,400 | $76,350 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [4] |
| 2020 | 10,010 | $74,200 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [4] |
| 2021 | 12,710 | $74,000 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [4] |
| 2022 | 13,680 | $72,110 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [4] |
| 2023 | 14,200 | $75,660 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [4] |
| 2024 | 13,120 | $76,830 | BLS OEWS May 2024 (employment) [4]; BLS OEWS May 2024 (pay) [8] |
| 2025 | 13,910 | $78,790 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [4] |

## Sources (55)

### Employment series

1. [US Census Bureau, Special Reports: Occupations at the Twelfth Census (1904), Ch. II "Comparison of Occupations at the Twelfth and Preceding Censuses" — undertakers, 1890: 9,891](https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1900/occupations/occupations-part-3.pdf), US Census Bureau (Eleventh Census, 1890)
2. [Overnight Caskets — "The Book that Turned the American Funeral Industry on Its Head in the 60s" (Mitford 1963 workforce estimate)](https://www.overnightcaskets.com/blog/the-book-that-turned-the-american-funeral-industry-on-its-head-in-the-60s/), Overnight Caskets (citing Mitford, "The American Way of Death," 1963)
3. [BLS OOH — Funeral Home Managers: historical employment and wages for Funeral Home Managers (background)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/funeral-home-managers.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
4. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

5. [University of Missouri Libraries — Prices and Wages by Decade: 1960-1969 (professional service wages context)](https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1960-1969), University of Missouri Libraries (BLS historical sources)
6. [University of Missouri Libraries — Prices and Wages by Decade: 1980-1989 (professional service wages context)](https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1980-1989), University of Missouri Libraries (BLS historical sources)
7. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
8. [BLS OOH — Funeral Home Managers: median annual wage $76,830 in May 2024](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/funeral-home-managers.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

9. [University of Michigan Clements Library — "Undertakers and Hearses: Death in Early America"](https://clements.umich.edu/exhibit/death-in-early-america/undertakers/), University of Michigan Clements Library
10. [Gather — "A Brief History of Funeral Directors"](https://blog.gather.app/a-brief-history-of-funeral-directors), Gather
11. [Funeral.com — "The History of Embalming in America: Civil War Origins and How the Practice Spread"](https://funeral.com/blogs/the-journal/the-history-of-embalming-in-america-civil-war-origins-and-how-the-practice-spread), Funeral.com
12. [University of Michigan Clements Library — "Modern Embalming: Death in Early America"](https://clements.umich.edu/exhibit/death-in-early-america/embalming/), University of Michigan Clements Library
13. [Library of Congress Law Library — "Evolution of American Funerary Customs and Laws" (state licensing history)](https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/09/evolution-of-american-funerary-customs-and-laws/), Library of Congress, Law Library
14. [Signature Headstones — "The Birth of the FTC Funeral Rule" (Mitford 1963, FTC investigation 1972, Rule enacted 1984)](https://signatureheadstones.com/blogs/news/the-birth-of-the-ftc-funeral-rule), Signature Headstones
15. [FTC — Funeral Industry Practices Rule (16 CFR Part 453): General Price List disclosure requirements and provider accountability](https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/funeral-industry-practices-rule), Federal Trade Commission
16. [FDMS — "Why FDMS": first designed in 1981 as the industry's first funeral home management software](https://webfdms.com/why-fdms/), FDMS (Funeral Director's Management System)
17. [Wikipedia — Service Corporation International: history of consolidation, 3,800+ locations by 1999](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Corporation_International), Wikipedia
18. [FundingUniverse — "History of Stewart Enterprises, Inc." (1990s growth through acquisition)](https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/stewart-enterprises-inc-history/), FundingUniverse
19. [NFDA — 2025 Cremation and Burial Report: cremation rate 60.5% nationally in 2023; projected 82.3% by 2045](https://www.nfda.org/news/statistics), National Funeral Directors Association
20. [Passare — AI Obituary Writer and AI Scanner: funeral management software with AI-assisted obituary drafting and document intake automation (2025)](https://www.passare.com/), Passare

### Forecasts and exposure studies

21. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 11-9171 Funeral home managers (2025: 34.8 thousand; 2035: 36.2 thousand; +4.1%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=11-9171&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
22. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 11-9171.00, human-rated β 0.536)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

23. [AZ Community Death Care — "History of Funerals in America" (Lincoln funeral 1865)](https://www.azcommunitydeathcare.org/history-of-funerals-in-america), AZ Community Death Care
24. [Gather — "A Brief History of Funeral Directors": NFDA founded 1882, first mortuary science school 1882](https://blog.gather.app/a-brief-history-of-funeral-directors), Gather
25. [Overnight Caskets — "The Book that Turned the American Funeral Industry on Its Head in the 60s" (Mitford 1963)](https://www.overnightcaskets.com/blog/the-book-that-turned-the-american-funeral-industry-on-its-head-in-the-60s/), Overnight Caskets
26. [FTC — Funeral Industry Practices Rule (16 CFR Part 453): GPL disclosure requirements and civil penalty enforcement](https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/funeral-industry-practices-rule), Federal Trade Commission
27. [Wikipedia — Service Corporation International: history and scale (3,823 locations as of December 31, 1999)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Corporation_International), Wikipedia
28. [NFDA — 2025 Cremation and Burial Report: cremation rate 60.5% in 2023; projected 82.3% by 2045](https://www.nfda.org/news/statistics), National Funeral Directors Association

### Predecessors & successors

29. [University of Michigan Clements Library — "Undertakers and Hearses: Death in Early America"](https://clements.umich.edu/exhibit/death-in-early-america/undertakers/), University of Michigan Clements Library
30. [Funeral.com — "The History of Embalming in America: Civil War Origins"](https://funeral.com/blogs/the-journal/the-history-of-embalming-in-america-civil-war-origins-and-how-the-practice-spread), Funeral.com
31. [BLS OOH — Medical and Health Services Managers: +29% growth projected 2024-2034](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/medical-and-health-services-managers.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Funeral Home Managers (11-9171.00): tasks, work activities, wages](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-9171.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS OOH — Funeral Home Managers: ~30,600 employed; median $79,780; ~3,000 annual openings (2024)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/funeral-home-managers.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [NFDA — 2025 Cremation and Burial Report: cremation rate 60.5% nationally in 2023; projected 63.4% in 2025 and 82.3% by 2045](https://www.nfda.org/news/statistics), accessed 2026-06-21
- [FTC — Funeral Rule: General Price List disclosure requirements, itemized pricing mandate, and provider accountability (Complying with the Funeral Rule)](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-funeral-rule), accessed 2026-06-21
- [ICCFA — International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association: industry resources and professional development for funeral service operators](https://iccfa.com/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science): occupational LLM exposure framework](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [McKinsey Global Institute — A New Future of Work: service occupations with high emotional-labor content among least-displaced categories (2023)](https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/a-new-future-of-work-the-race-between-humans-and-machines), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Funeral Service Insider — "The FTC Funeral Rule at 40: What's Next" (Jan 2025): digital GPL disclosure and regulatory compliance trajectory](https://www.funeralserviceinsider.com/2025/01/ftc-funeral-rule-40-years-whats-next/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [FuneralOne — AI-powered obituary drafting, digital memorial website creation, and funeral home technology platform (2025)](https://funeralone.com/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [OneRoom — Funeral streaming and recording platform: professional funeral livestreaming deployed across hundreds of funeral homes in North America; automated camera management and recording (2025)](https://www.oneroomstreaming.com/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [StoryFile — AI interactive biography video platform: used in funeral services to allow attendees to ask questions to AI recreations of the deceased (2024–2025)](https://www.storyfile.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [FrontRunner Professional — AI Pre-Need CRM: automated follow-up sequences, appointment scheduling, and pricing presentation for pre-arrangement inquiries (2025)](https://frontrunner360.com/products/pre-need/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Service Corporation International (SCI) — Dignity Memorial 2025 Annual Report: AI-assisted pre-need sales and consumer research cited as strategic revenue growth initiative](https://www.sci-corp.com/investors/annual-reports), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.