My mother died in March and appointed me her executor. Does an executor receive any compensation for the work involved?

Absolutely!! And anyone who does 'work' on behalf of the estate settlement gets paid too.

Each state is different as to the amounts.

Keep meticulous records. Not for you, so much, but for that inevitable relative who will want an accounting of every second of time spent.

My DH was his dad's executor, and my BIL (NOT the son, the husband of DH's sister) went absolutely BALLISTIC about DH and me taking payment for the hours upon hours we spent closing out dad's estate.

Yet, BIL (as as realtor) sold 2 properties for the estate and HAPPILY pocketed the sizeable commissions. It caused me to truly dislike this man and I still struggle with it. He would come to the condo I was cleaning and 'flipping' so we could get top dollar and all he'd do was point out what he didn't like. One day I blew up at him and told him if he felt I wasn't doing a good enough job painting he could pick up and effing paintbrush and HELP instead of pointing out what he did not like. He also made me have a very tight budget, so though the condo looked terrific and sold for at least $30K more than it would have (and sold before it was even LISTED) I received nothing for my labors.

Yeah, I am still a little mad.

My son is an attorney and he did have my back--in that he called out his uncle, but good, in our behalf. It was a few years after the estate was settled, but he made BIL VERY aware we had a case to 'sue' him for about $15K. We didn't, because we don't do that---but son lost complete and total respect for his uncle.

Yes & it’s exactly as others have posted: the amount is a fee and a % of value of estate and is set by your State uniquely and can be considered taxable income. You should speak clearly with your probate attorney as to how to do this as there’s forms that must be done correctly.

Executor might be able to file MIE (mileage and incidental expenses) as reinbursement as well. Ask your atty on this. For myself, the probate atty gave me a form for this and rate sheet on amount for me to use. Rates tied to set federal rate for mileage (like this year is .56 per mile) and daily federal rate costs for staying in the city where assets are.
If your deceased was a widow or widower on LTC Medicaid, the only assets would be their home (like JoAnn posted) or if they had a old term life insurance policy that had their estate as the beneficiary. MERP is required to attempt a recoup. So you’ll have to deal with estate recovery in some way. In this situation as no assets initially to be paid as fee to executor over time probate is opened, you have to wait till probate wrapped up to see what’s left.

Not unusual for Executor to find there’s no real $ in the estate. You do it out of a sense of familial responsibility & absorb the costs. If you think this might be the case, and you cannot afford to do all that goes into being an executor, you can decline.

In the US, the laws in every state allow the executor to be paid. If the will expressly forbids that, well it’s not enforceable & won’t hold up legally. You can’t force the executor to administer your estate for free.

Yes. You get a % of the estate. I think my State its 4% up to a certain amount. The bigger the estate the less % u get. I did sort of opt for payment. Even though Mom had no money she still had a house. It had to be sold. I had to make sure all her bills were paid, contact all beneficiaries, open probate, etc. I also was her POA and the only child, out of 3, that was able to do for her. She had some shares that my brothers told me to put in my name. I considered that my payment.

Unless the Will expressly forbids it the executor can be compensated, there will be a legal formula for wherever you are living that lists the rates allowed.
Since executor fees are taxable income and since most often the executor is a family member and also a beneficiary they often do not opt for payment.