--- title: "Crematory Operator" description: "Operate crematory equipment to reduce human or animal remains to bone fragments in accordance with state and local regulations. Duties may include…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/crematory-operator" last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z" --- # Crematory Operator **Category:** Personal Care and Service · **SOC code:** 39-4012 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 39-4012.00 Operate crematory equipment to reduce human or animal remains to bone fragments in accordance with state and local regulations. Duties may include preparing the body for cremation and performing general maintenance on crematory equipment. May use traditional flame-based cremation, calcination, or alkaline hydrolysis. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $43,650 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $20.98/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $33,270 to $62,460, with the middle half between $37,020 and $50,380 - **Total US employment:** 2,970 - **Typical entry education:** High school - **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +3.1% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035) - **Annual job openings:** 500 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** not scored for this occupation ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 2,970 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $33,270 | | 25th | $37,020 | | 50th (median) | $43,650 | | 75th | $50,380 | | 90th | $62,460 | | Mean (average) | $45,670 | ### Pay by state The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there. | State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | WI | $64,220 | $68,250 | Not published by BLS | | MA | $56,050 | $52,999 | 30 | | WA | $53,580 | $50,069 | 70 | | CO | $52,060 | $50,518 | 70 | | DE | $50,320 | $50,417 | 30 | | AZ | $49,970 | $49,634 | 40 | | CA | $49,780 | $44,960 | 240 | | PA | $47,980 | $49,174 | 140 | | CT | $47,160 | $45,517 | 100 | | KS | $46,490 | $51,617 | 50 | | NV | $46,190 | $46,200 | 80 | | WV | $43,840 | $48,985 | 30 | | OH | $43,530 | $46,920 | 60 | | IL | $41,740 | $41,758 | 190 | | NC | $41,350 | $43,837 | 150 | 9 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 24 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/crematory-operator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/crematory-operator. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 3,000 in the 2025–2035 base year to 3,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 100 jobs, or +3.1%. About as fast as average: 3.1% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 500 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035. ## How to get in - **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections). - **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed". - **Related work experience typically required:** None. - **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training. ## What the work involves - Clean the crematorium, including tables, floors, and equipment. - Document divided remains to ensure parts are not misplaced. - Embalm, dress, or otherwise prepare the deceased for viewing. - Explain the cremation process to family or friends of the deceased. - Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends. - Pick up and handle human or pet remains in a respectful manner. - Place corpses into crematory machines to reduce remains to bone fragments using flame, heat, or alkaline hydrolysis. - Pulverize remaining bone fragments into smaller pieces, using specialized equipment, such as a cremulator or grinder. ## Who it suits O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | R — Realistic | 5.96 | | C — Conventional | 4.36 | | S — Social | 2.73 | | I — Investigative | 2.11 | | E — Enterprising | 1.49 | | A — Artistic | 1.46 | ### Personality fit These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job. | Type | Fit score (0–100) | | --- | --- | | ISTJ | 85.9 | | ISFJ | 80.5 | | ESTJ | 72.8 | | ISTP | 70.0 | | ESFJ | 60.2 | Best-fitting types: ISTJ. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Funeral Attendant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/funeral-attendant) — median $35,680 - [Mortician, Undertaker, and Funeral Arranger](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mortician-undertaker-and-funeral-arranger) — median $55,010 - [Funeral Home Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/funeral-home-manager) — median $78,790 - [Embalmer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/embalmer) — median $58,780 - [Recycling and Reclamation Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/recycling-and-reclamation-worker) — median $40,240 - [Coroner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/coroner) — median $80,730 - [Hazardous Materials Removal Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hazardous-materials-removal-worker) — median $49,450 - [Veterinary Assistant and Laboratory Animal Caretaker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-assistant-and-laboratory-animal-caretaker) — median $38,150 - [Medical Equipment Preparer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-equipment-preparer) — median $47,700 - [Maintenance Worker, Machinery](https://nuecareer.com/careers/maintenance-worker-machinery) — median $60,850 ## Sources - **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html - **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/ - **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/ - **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area --- This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105). O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/crematory-operator