How much does a funeral home managers make?

The median funeral home managers salary in the United States is $78,790 per year ($37.88/hour). Salaries range from $49,700 (10th percentile) to $156,400 (90th percentile). There are 13,910 funeral home managers jobs in the U.S. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS.

Which state pays funeral home managerss the most?

The highest paying state for funeral home managerss is Rhode Island at $122,150 median salary.

Is funeral home managers a good career?

Funeral Home Managers employment is projected to grow 4.1% from 2024 to 2034 (as fast as average). There are approximately 2,600 job openings per year. Typical education required: Associate's degree.

What interview questions are asked for funeral home managers roles?

Common funeral home managers interview questions include: "Describe your operational approach when you inherit an underperforming location.", "How do you handle a P&L shortfall of 15% mid-year?", "Describe a hard staff turnaround.". Interview format at top employers ranges from behavioral panels (STAR method) to technical case rounds — for example Service Corporation International (SCI) / Dignity Memorial typically uses 3-4 rounds over 4-6 weeks.

What is the career ladder for funeral home managerss?

The typical funeral home managers career ladder: Entry Manager (Single Location) (0-3 yrs, $58-78k + bonus) → Established Manager (Single Location) (3-10 yrs, $72-105k + bonus) → Multi-Location / Market Manager (6-15 yrs, $92-145k + bonus) → Regional VP / Corporate Director (12+ yrs, $135-235k+ + bonus + equity).

What certifications should funeral home managerss get?

Top-ROI certifications for funeral home managerss: State Funeral Director + Embalmer license ($500-2,000 in exams + $200-500/year renewal and CE); NFDA Certified Funeral Service Practitioner (CFSP) ($500-1,500 plus ongoing CE); NFDA Certified Preplanning Consultant (CPC) ($500-1,500).

How do you negotiate a funeral home managers salary?

Anchor on documented market data (BLS median $78,790, p75 $103,940), specific outcomes you've delivered, and the specific band for your years of experience. Given 8 years as a licensed Funeral Director, 3 years managing a $2.8M single location with 12-person staff, #1 corporate regional ranking on family survey and preneed conversion, and $1.2M in preneed revenue booked FY2...

Funeral Home Managers Salary

The median funeral home managers salary in the United States is $78,790 per year ($37.88/hour). Salaries range from $49,700 at the entry level to $156,400+ for the top 10% of earners. There are 13,910 funeral home managers jobs nationwide. Employment is projected to grow 4.1% through 2034.

Last updated: June 2026 · Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Also known asFuneral DirectorMortician

Median Salary

$78,790

per year

Hourly Rate

$37.88

per hour

Employment

13,910

jobs in the U.S.

Salary Distribution

10th percentile

$49,700

25th percentile

$61,890

Median

$78,790

75th percentile

$103,940

90th percentile

$156,400

Job Growth (2024-2034)

+4.1%

As fast as average

Annual Openings

2,600

jobs/year (growth + replacements)

Education Required

Associate's degree

+ Less than 5 years experience

Funeral Home Managers Career Guide

Interview questions, resume templates, and a career ladder written specifically for funeral home managerss.

Funeral home managers run day-to-day operations at a licensed funeral home or a multi-location cluster — staffing, family arrangements, preneed sales, cemetery coordination, regulatory compliance, and location P&L. Entry manager $58-78k; established $78-105k; multi-location or corporate market director $105-155k; regional VP at Service Corporation International (Dignity Memorial), Foundation Partners, or Park Lawn $135-215k+ plus bonus and equity. Consolidation continues to drive the corporate opportunity; family-owned homes still hire but pay tighter.

Core Skills Hiring Managers Screen For

Operations and service delivery

Coordinate 4-15 services per week across chapels, cemeteries, and satellite locations. Missed timing, missed permits, or a wrong urn destroys the family's day and the location's reputation.

P&L and preneed sales management

Own location revenue ($800k-$3M), COGS on caskets and urns, and preneed contracts. Preneed is the growth lever — a strong preneed pipeline compounds into at-need revenue for the next decade.

Staff hiring and licensure oversight

Hire attendants, apprentices, and licensed directors. Track apprenticeship hours, continuing education, and license renewals — one lapsed license shuts a location down.

Family arrangement conferences

Sit with grieving families to select service type, casket, urn, cemetery plot, memorial products, and payment structure. High-empathy sales.

Regulatory and compliance

State funeral service board regulations, FTC Funeral Rule (itemized pricing, no bundling coercion), OSHA formaldehyde and BBP standards, prepaid trust and insurance rules.

Marketing and community outreach

Clergy relationships, hospice partnerships, Rotary and chamber involvement, obituary placement, digital presence. Most at-need calls come from community trust, not ads.

Preneed and cremation program leadership

Preneed contract volume and average value; cremation package design; celebration-of-life event capabilities. Homes that adapt to cremation growth (now ~60% of dispositions) grow revenue; those that don't lose market share.

How to Become a Funeral Home Managers

1
Complete a mortuary science AA at an ABFSE-accredited program
$10-40k, 2 years full-time. Baseline for licensed director track.
2
Get state Funeral Director + Embalmer license
1-2 year state apprenticeship, National Board Exam, state law exam. Total exam and licensure fees $500-2,000.
3
Work 3-8 years as a licensed Funeral Director
$55-95k. Master arrangement conferences, preneed sales, and running services independently. Cross-train on removals, embalming, and cremation operations.
4
Get first Location Manager position
$58-78k plus bonus. Typically at an SCI/Dignity Memorial, Foundation Partners, or Park Lawn location, or as a family-owned home general manager.
5
Advance to multi-location, regional director, or ownership
$105-215k+ plus bonus and equity. Corporate paths reach Regional VP; independent path leads to ownership or partnership, often through the seller-financed buyout of the retiring owner.

Career Progression

Entry Manager (Single Location)

0-3 yrs$58-78k + bonus

•Oversee 4-8 services per week and 3-8 staff
•Own location P&L of $800k-$1.5M
•Run arrangement conferences and preneed sales
•Handle community outreach with clergy and hospice

Next: Established Manager at 2-5 years.

Established Manager (Single Location)

3-10 yrs$72-105k + bonus

•Full P&L authority over $1.5M-$3M location
•Marketing, community, and preneed program leadership
•Staff development, apprenticeship supervision, licensure tracking
•Represent the home at clergy events, hospice networks, and chamber

Next: Multi-Location Manager at 6-12 years.

Multi-Location / Market Manager

6-15 yrs$92-145k + bonus

•Oversee 2-6 locations and 20-60 staff
•Corporate reporting, cluster-level P&L $5M-$15M
•M&A due diligence and integration for regional acquisitions
•Regional preneed and marketing strategy

Next: Regional VP or Corporate Director at 10-20+ years.

Regional VP / Corporate Director

12+ yrs$135-235k+ + bonus + equity

•Oversee 10-30 locations and 100-300 staff
•Regional P&L of $30M-$85M
•M&A pipeline and cluster strategy
•Corporate compliance, safety, and legal escalation

Next: VP Operations, Chief Operating Officer, or independent ownership.

Interview Questions & Answers

5 free questions below. Career Kit unlocks 13 total plus resume bullets for every level.

Q1. Describe your operational approach when you inherit an underperforming location.situational

First 30 days I read the last 24 months of P&L, at-need call volume, preneed sales, and family survey scores. Meet every staff member 1:1 in week two. Attend 3-5 arrangement conferences and 5-8 services before making any changes. Then diagnose: is the shortfall on volume (community relationships), on average service value (preneed and merchandise mix), or on cost (labor scheduling)? Fix one dimension at a time. Never restructure staff in month one — you'll lose the licensed directors you need.

Q2. How do you handle a P&L shortfall of 15% mid-year?technical

Split the diagnosis into revenue and cost. On revenue: is at-need volume tracking population trends? Is preneed pipeline down? Is average service value shrinking because cremation share grew and you didn't reprice the packages? On cost: labor mix (are we over-staffed at slow hours, under-staffed at peak?), COGS on caskets and urns, and marketing spend. I present a written recovery plan to the regional VP within 3 weeks with specific levers and dollar impacts.

Q3. Describe a hard staff turnaround.behavioral

STAR. Situation: I took over a 6-service-per-week location with 40% attendant turnover in the prior year. Task: stabilize the team without gutting the roster. Action: 1:1s with every staff member first, wrote out the schedule pain points, moved weekend rotations to fair 3-week cycles, raised the weekend differential $50 per shift, and clarified the mortuary-school tuition path. Result: turnover dropped to 8% at 12 months, and family survey score moved from 4.4 to 4.8.

Q4. Why funeral service management?culture

I've been a licensed director for 8 years and I love the work — the arrangement conference where a family goes from overwhelmed to at peace is the reason I stay in it. But I see leverage in management: a great location manager helps 15 families a week feel that way instead of 3-4. That's where I want to invest the next decade.

Q5. Where do you see your career in 5 years?closer

Multi-location manager in this market or a market director role covering 4-6 locations. Long term I want to run a regional cluster or eventually own a home outright — Foundation Partners has an operator-partnership program that interests me because it aligns operator incentives with ownership.

Resume Template — Entry Manager (0-3 yrs)

Copy these bullets into your resume as a starting point. Career Kit includes bullets for every level of the ladder.

Entry Manager (0-3 yrs)

▸Managed 250-service annual funeral home with $1.4M revenue and 8-person staff.
▸Improved location EBITDA margin from 18% to 26% over 24 months.
▸Grew preneed sales from 62 contracts ($685k) to 108 contracts ($1.42M) in FY24.
▸Zero regulatory findings on state funeral board inspection; family survey score 4.8/5.

What Gets You Rejected

✗Weak P&L discipline — location managers who can't defend their margin bridge to a regional VP don't advance.
✗Cannot personally lead an arrangement conference — hiring for management does not exempt you from grieving-family work.
✗Weak staff leadership — high turnover is a manager problem in this industry, not a labor market problem.
✗Compliance blind spots — a lapsed license, FTC Funeral Rule violation, or OSHA formaldehyde exposure incident can close a location.
✗Weak community relationships — clergy and hospice referrals drive at-need volume; managers who don't invest in these lose to the home that does.
✗Reluctance to grow cremation and celebration-of-life offerings — the industry has moved and refusing to adapt kills locations.

Salary Negotiation Levers

✓Corporate (SCI, Foundation Partners, Park Lawn) offers stronger base + bonus + LTIP than most family-owned homes; use competing offers as leverage.
✓Multi-location or market director advancement produces the biggest single-jump pay bump ($20-40k in base).
✓Preneed sales performance bonus — often 3-8% of preneed revenue booked; negotiate the floor and cap explicitly.
✓Metro premium (SF, NYC, LA, DC) 15-25%; specialty markets (high-Jewish, high-Catholic, high-Asian) also premium.
✓Regional VP and Corporate Director roles carry meaningful equity or LTIP — the ownership stake is where wealth compounds.
✓Independent home ownership through seller-financed buyout — 5-10 year note structure, cash-flow-positive from year one with a well-run home.

Funeral Home Managers Resume Review — $29

Personalized resume review from someone who has hired funeral home managerss. Purchase, email your resume to support@weblabra.com, and receive detailed written feedback within 7 days.

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✓ Formatting + ATS-readability feedback
✓ 7-day turnaround, 100% refund if we miss it

Funeral Home Managers Career Kit — $19

✓ All 13 interview questions with expert answers
✓ 6 real questions aggregated from Glassdoor, Blind, Reddit, LinkedIn
✓ Interview format intel for 6 top employers
✓ 3 copy-paste salary negotiation emails
✓ Resume bullets for every level of the career ladder
✓ 30–60–90 day plan for your first role
✓ Cover letter templates specific to this occupation
✓ Detailed salary negotiation script
✓ Ranked list of certifications with cost + ROI
✓ Downloadable PDF for offline access
✓ Instant access, no expiration, no subscription

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Funeral Home Managers Salary by State

Best Cities (cost-adjusted) →

Salary Map — Click a state for details

$47K

$122K■ No data

Top Paying States

Vertical line = national median. Click a state for full details.

State	Median	vs. National	Employment
Rhode Island	$122,150	+55.0%	120
Pennsylvania	$104,400	+32.5%	560
New York	$103,530	+31.4%	820
Connecticut	$102,810	+30.5%	90
Washington	$102,540	+30.1%	80
New Jersey	$101,520	+28.8%	420
South Dakota	$100,880	+28.0%	70
Maryland	$100,670	+27.8%	260
Ohio	$99,440	+26.2%	420
Montana	$84,900	+7.8%	50

Showing 1–10 of 43

Funeral Home Managers Salary by Metro Area

Metro Area	Median	vs. National
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$113,620	+44.2%
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$110,130	+39.8%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$107,820	+36.8%
Pittsburgh, PA	$105,930	+34.4%
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$102,490	+30.1%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$101,770	+29.2%
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$101,220	+28.5%
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$100,860	+28.0%
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$99,760	+26.6%
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$97,710	+24.0%

Showing 1–10 of 64

Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Data reflects the most recent annual survey.

How does this compare to pro athletes?

A funeral home managers earning $78,790/year would need 757 years to match Stephen Curry's NBA salary, or 812 yearsto match Patrick Mahomes' NFL contract.

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📈 See how funeral home managers salaries have changed over the past decade.

View Funeral Home Managers salary trend (2011–2024) →