In the U.S., the funeral planner (often called a funeral planning counselor or funeral arranger) helps families turn urgent, emotional decisions into a clear plan. This guide explains what the role involves, how it differs from a funeral director or event planner, training and certification paths, salary and outlook, and practical tips for getting hired.
If you’ve ever watched a family walk into a funeral home in shock—eyes tired, phones buzzing with group texts, someone clutching a folder of paperwork—you already understand the heart of this career. A funeral planner (often called a funeral planning counselor, funeral arranger, or preplanning counselor, depending on the workplace) is the person who helps families turn a painful blur of “What happens now?” into a set of choices they can actually make.
In the U.S., this role sits at the intersection of guidance, logistics, and compassion. It can involve everything from scheduling services and coordinating clergy to helping a family understand cremation timelines, how permits work, and even what to do with ashes once the cremation is complete. As cremation becomes more common, more families need practical, calm help navigating options. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, U.S. cremation is projected to remain the majority choice (with ongoing growth in the years ahead).
What does that mean for you, if you’re considering this path? It means funeral planning is not just a job “around death.” It’s a job centered on people—on translating grief into next steps, and next steps into a meaningful goodbye.
What a funeral planner actually does day to day
A funeral planner is often the primary point of contact for a family once they reach a funeral home (or sometimes a standalone planning service). You gather information, listen for what matters, and then you build a plan that fits their values, timeline, and budget. Some funeral planners work mostly “at-need” (after a death). Others focus on advance arrangements, sometimes as a funeral planning counselor who helps people preplan and prepay.
While every firm defines the role slightly differently, the core responsibilities tend to include: meeting with the family to identify the type of service they want (traditional funeral, memorial, graveside, or celebration-of-life style gathering), documenting decisions and explaining what’s required versus optional, coordinating dates and key participants, and helping guide families through paperwork workflows like authorizations, permits, and death certificates.
And in a world where cremation is increasingly common, you often become the translator for cremation-related choices. That includes explaining how a family can hold a service even if they choose cremation, and guiding them through decisions like urn selection, sharing ashes, or scattering.
This is where families often ask about items that sound like “products,” but are really emotional decisions wearing practical clothing: cremation urns, cremation urns for ashes, small cremation urns, keepsake urns, pet urns, pet urns for ashes, pet cremation urns, and cremation jewelry like cremation necklaces. A good planner isn’t “selling.” They’re helping families choose something that fits the plan—keeping the urn at home, placing it in a niche, traveling, scattering, or dividing the remains among relatives.
If you want to see how that guidance reads in a family-facing tone, these Funeral.com articles are useful models: How to Choose a Cremation Urn That Actually Fits Your Plans and What Size Cremation Urn Do I Need?
Funeral planner vs funeral director vs event planner
Families (and job listings) sometimes blur titles, so it helps to understand the lines. A funeral director is typically a licensed professional who can oversee and be legally responsible for aspects of care and disposition, depending on the state. Licensing rules vary by state; the National Funeral Directors Association provides an overview and points people toward state board requirements.
A funeral planner or funeral planning counselor may or may not be licensed, depending on (1) state law and (2) the scope of the job. In many funeral homes, arranger roles are part of the funeral service team and may be filled by licensed directors—or by trained staff working under licensed supervision.
An event planner focuses on logistics of gatherings—venues, catering, schedules, vendors. A funeral planner does some of that, but within a legal, cultural, and emotional framework that is very different. For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks meeting, convention, and event planners as a separate occupation.
If you want a quick self-check: if the work energizes you because you love producing beautiful events, you may be drawn to celebration-of-life planning. If the work energizes you because you can sit calmly with grieving people and help them make decisions they didn’t want to face, funeral planning may be the better fit.
The interpersonal skills you truly need
People often assume the “must-have skill” is being comfortable around death. In reality, the most important skill is being steady around other people’s grief.
A strong funeral planner job description usually includes communication, organization, and attention to detail. But the deeper interpersonal skills are what separate a decent planner from a truly trusted one: you can listen without rushing; you can guide without controlling; you can hold boundaries (time, budgets, family conflict) with kindness; and you can translate complex systems into plain language, especially around paperwork and costs.
That last part matters more than families expect. Many people are trying to understand funeral planning and money at the same time, and they’re terrified of making a mistake. Being able to explain how much does cremation cost, what appears on a General Price List, and where families have flexibility is part of modern funeral planning.
Useful Funeral.com reads for learning that language: How Much Does a Funeral Cost?, Funeral Costs Broken Down, and Average Funeral and Cremation Costs Today.
Education and training pathways in the U.S.
There isn’t one universal “funeral planner degree,” because the title can describe different paths. Think of it as a fork in the road: licensed funeral service track vs non-licensed planning track.
Pathway A: Funeral service education toward licensure
If your goal is to be a funeral director and handle planning, you’ll likely pursue funeral service education, complete supervised training/apprenticeship, and meet exam requirements. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics explains that education and licensing requirements vary by state and describes common training expectations for funeral service occupations.
Pathway B: Funeral planning counselor or preplanning specialist
If you’re more drawn to guiding families through decisions—especially advance planning—your training may be a mix of on-the-job education plus specialized certifications. One well-known credential is the Certified Preplanning Consultant (CPC) offered by the National Funeral Directors Association.
Some funeral professionals also pursue broader professional credentials such as the Certified Funeral Service Practitioner (CFSP) through the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice, which emphasizes continuing education and commitment to service.
One practical detail many applicants miss: if your role includes selling pre-need contracts or working with insurance-funded prearrangements, you may need state-specific licensure or employer-required training (often tied to insurance rules). Requirements vary widely, so a smart step is to review job postings in your state and ask funeral homes directly what they require for a “funeral planning counselor” title.
Salary factors and job outlook
Because “funeral planner” isn’t always tracked as a single, distinct occupation in federal data, pay is often aligned with the closest categories: funeral service workers (arrangers, morticians, funeral home managers) or, in some celebration-of-life-heavy roles, event planners.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides current wage and outlook data for funeral service occupations, including median pay and projected openings. For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports wage and outlook data for meeting, convention, and event planners.
Where you land within ranges often comes down to whether the role is licensed, whether it includes commissions (common in some pre-need positions), your region, your employer type (independent funeral home vs larger network), and the complexity or volume of cases you handle.
What the job looks like in today’s cremation-forward world
If you’re entering the field now, it helps to understand why families’ questions are shifting. The National Funeral Directors Association reports that cremation is projected to remain the majority choice in the U.S., which changes what families need from planners.
In practical terms, funeral planners are increasingly expected to know how to talk about keeping ashes at home, dividing remains among family members using keepsake urns or small cremation urns, choosing cremation jewelry (including cremation necklaces), and pet loss planning with pet urns for ashes and pet cremation urns.
Funeral.com collections that reflect how families browse these decisions: Cremation Urns for Ashes, Small Cremation Urns for Ashes, Keepsake Cremation Urns for Ashes, Pet Cremation Urns for Ashes, Pet Figurine Cremation Urns for Ashes, Pet Keepsake Cremation Urns for Ashes, Cremation Jewelry for Ashes, and Cremation Necklaces.
If you expect water burial or scattering questions, you’ll also want familiarity with rules that vary by state. Funeral.com’s hub explains those details clearly: U.S. Cremation Guide by State: Laws, Costs & Options.
Tips for getting hired without feeling like an outsider
Many people assume you need family connections or a specific background to enter funeral work. It helps, but it isn’t required. What matters is whether you can demonstrate maturity, follow-through, and a respectful presence.
A practical approach is to target roles with overlap: administrative coordinator, family service counselor, receptionist with arrangement support, aftercare coordinator, or preplanning assistant. Experience in healthcare, social services, or other sensitive client-facing roles translates well.
Learn the language of the work before your interview. Funeral.com’s planning guides model the tone professionals use: How to Plan a Funeral in 7 Steps, Planning a Funeral From Out of Town, and Preplanning a Funeral: Benefits, Costs, and Questions to Ask Before You Sign.
Be honest about your “why,” but keep it grounded. Hiring managers don’t need a dramatic story. They need to trust that you can show up on hard days, treat families with care, and manage details reliably.
A final word on what makes this work meaningful
A funeral planner doesn’t remove grief. But you can reduce panic. You can protect families from feeling lost. You can create space for meaning—whether that’s a traditional service, a simple cremation with a quiet gathering later, or a memorial shaped around a hobby, a song, or a beloved pet.
And in the moments when a family asks, softly, “What do people usually do?”—your job is not to tell them what’s normal. It’s to help them find what’s right.
