A coroner's salary is modest, but comparable to similar jobs in law enforcement. Coroners, sometimes called deputy coroners, work to determine the cause of a person's death and tend to work "on call," at least early in their careers. From state to state, the average salary does not fluctuate tremendously.
Coroner Salary Estimates
Salary estimates vary somewhat from one resource to another. Examples of salary figures provided by reliable sources include:
- Payscale.com lists the average coroner salary at $38,794 to $64,325. It breaks down the salary further by industry, with government jobs paying slightly more than those in funeral homes, police agencies and medical research.
- Best Sample Resume provides information about coroner salaries broken down by state averages. For example, a coroner in Louisiana may make just $33,000 while one in Mississippi can make $56,000. The average salary for coroners in the United States according to this site is $43,000. Visit the site to learn the average for your area.
- CBSalary.com lists the average coroner salary in the United States as $44,505. The site allows users to search for the salary in your area by entering in the city and the state.
Becoming a Coroner
If you would like a job that involves investigating the circumstances around deaths, becoming a coroner may be for you. Duties include everything from performing autopsies and testifying at court trials to completing pathological and toxicological analyses. If the salary isn't what you were hoping for, visit CareerDoctor.org for a comparison of salaries across similar fields. By making comparisons of the components of a job most important to you, you're sure to choose the right one.
