Coroners

Salary Overview

Job Outlook (2024–2034)

Key Skills

Knowledge Areas

What They Do

• Complete death certificates, including the assignment of cause and manner of death.
• Perform medicolegal examinations and autopsies, conducting preliminary examinations of the body to identify victims, locate signs of trauma, and identify factors that would indicate time of death.
• Interview persons present at death scenes to obtain information useful in determining the manner of death.
• Observe and record the positions and conditions of bodies and related evidence.
• Provide information concerning the circumstances of death to relatives of the deceased.
• Remove or supervise removal of bodies from death scenes, using the proper equipment and supplies, and arrange for transportation to morgues.
• Inquire into the cause, manner, and circumstances of human deaths and establish the identities of deceased persons.
• Observe, record, and preserve any objects or personal property related to deaths, including objects such as medication containers and suicide notes.

Tools & Technology

★ = Hot Technology (in-demand)

Education Requirements

Typical entry-level education: Bachelor's Degree

Work Activities

Work Styles

Personality traits and behavioral tendencies important for this role.

Related Careers

Careers with the highest skill compatibility from Coroners.

A Day in the Life

A coroner's day often begins with reviewing overnight reports of deaths that fall under their jurisdiction—homicides, suicides, accidents, unattended deaths, and deaths where the cause is unknown or potentially suspicious. Morning tasks typically include examining autopsy schedules, reviewing case files prepared by death investigators, and conferring with law enforcement detectives about ongoing cases. In the autopsy suite, the coroner performs or oversees external examinations and internal autopsies, systematically documenting injuries, collecting tissue and fluid samples, and dictating findings for the official report. A single autopsy can take two to four hours, and coroners may perform several in a day depending on caseload. Between autopsies, coroners review toxicology and histology results from the laboratory, consult with specialists when unusual findings arise, and finalize death certificates with official cause and manner of death determinations. Communication with grieving families is a regular and emotionally demanding responsibility, requiring the coroner to explain findings with both scientific accuracy and compassionate sensitivity. The day may also include court testimony, consultation with public health officials about disease patterns, or scene investigations at the location where a death occurred.

Work Environment

Coroners work in a clinical environment centered around the autopsy suite, a specially ventilated medical facility equipped with dissection tables, surgical instruments, and evidence collection systems. The work involves direct and prolonged contact with human remains in various states of decomposition, requiring strong physical tolerance and the ability to perform detailed medical procedures in challenging sensory conditions. Protective equipment including surgical gowns, gloves, face shields, and respiratory protection is mandatory during all autopsy procedures. Field work takes coroners to death scenes that range from residential homes to outdoor crime scenes, traffic accident sites, and disaster zones. The emotional weight of the work is significant—coroners regularly encounter victims of violence, children who have died, and mass casualty events that test psychological resilience. Most coroner offices operate on a 24/7 on-call rotation, as deaths requiring investigation occur at all hours and scenes must be responded to promptly. Administrative duties including report writing, court preparation, and case management occupy a substantial portion of the workweek alongside the hands-on forensic work.

Career Path & Advancement

The pathway to becoming a coroner varies significantly by jurisdiction—in some areas, the position is an elected office requiring no medical degree, while in others, coroners must be licensed physicians with pathology specialization. In jurisdictions that employ medical examiners rather than elected coroners, the position requires a medical degree followed by residency training in anatomic pathology and subspecialty fellowship in forensic pathology, a process that takes twelve to fourteen years beyond high school. For elected coroner positions, requirements range from basic law enforcement training to completion of a coroner certification course, depending on state laws. Death investigators, who work under coroners and medical examiners, typically need a bachelor's degree in forensic science, biology, or criminal justice, and may be certified through the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. Advancement from death investigator to chief investigator or deputy coroner provides progression within the office. Experienced forensic pathologists may advance to chief medical examiner positions, take on academic roles at medical schools, or serve as consultants to law firms and government agencies. Some coroners transition into public health leadership, leveraging their population-level mortality data expertise to influence policy on issues like opioid overdoses, gun violence, and infectious disease.

Specializations

Forensic pathologists represent the most highly trained specialization, performing complex autopsies and applying medical expertise to determine cause and manner of death in the most challenging cases. Forensic toxicologists working within coroner offices specialize in detecting and quantifying drugs, poisons, and chemicals in postmortem specimens. Death scene investigators specialize in the field investigation aspect, documenting the circumstances surrounding a death, interviewing witnesses, and collecting evidence before the body reaches the autopsy suite. Pediatric death specialists focus on infant and child deaths, including SIDS investigations, child abuse cases, and accidental deaths that require specialized knowledge of pediatric anatomy and injury patterns. Mass fatality specialists train and prepare for large-scale events—natural disasters, transportation accidents, acts of terrorism—where identification and processing of multiple victims must be coordinated rapidly. Forensic anthropologists within coroner offices specialize in skeletal remains, helping identify decomposed or skeletonized individuals and interpreting bone trauma. Some coroners develop expertise in forensic odontology, using dental records for identification, or forensic entomology, using insect evidence to estimate time of death.

Pros & Cons

Industry Insight

The opioid epidemic has dramatically increased caseloads at coroner and medical examiner offices across the country, straining resources and driving demand for additional forensic pathologists and death investigators. A critical national shortage of forensic pathologists—with fewer than 500 board-certified practitioners for a country that performs hundreds of thousands of death investigations annually—is creating urgent recruitment challenges. Advances in forensic technology, including CT scanning of remains before autopsy, rapid toxicology screening, and DNA identification techniques, are improving diagnostic capabilities and case resolution speed. Virtual autopsy technology using postmortem imaging is being explored as a complement to traditional autopsy, potentially reducing the number of full invasive procedures required. Public health surveillance increasingly relies on coroner and medical examiner data to track mortality trends, identify emerging drug threats, and inform community health interventions. Funding for coroner offices remains a persistent challenge, with many jurisdictions operating with outdated facilities, insufficient staff, and inadequate technology despite growing caseloads. The median salary of $78,420 reflects the specialized nature of the work, though compensation varies widely between elected county coroners and board-certified forensic pathologists in large medical examiner systems.