Butchers and Meat Cutters
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Overview
Cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments.
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Titles for this career often contain these words
MeatButcherCutterTeamMemberClerkServiceSlicerSeafoodBlockmanCleaverHalalJourneymanKosherCarverCounterWorkerDresserLoinerSpecialistTrimmerWrapperMeatmanSmallOrder
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Responsibilities and activities

Butchers typically do the following:

  • Sharpen and adjust knives and cutting equipment
  • Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery
  • Cut, debone, or grind pieces of meat
  • Weigh, wrap, and display meat or meat products
  • Cut or prepare meats to specification or customers’ orders
  • Store meats in refrigerators or freezers at the required temperature
  • Clean equipment and work areas to maintain health and sanitation standards

Butchers cut and trim meat from larger, wholesale portions into steaks, chops, roasts, and other cuts. They then prepare meat for sale by performing various duties, such as weighing meat, wrapping it, and putting it out for display. In retail stores, they also wait on customers and prepare special cuts of meat upon request.

Butchers in meat-processing plants are also known as meatcutters. They may have a more limited range of duties than those working in a grocery store or specialty meat shop. Because they typically work on an assembly line, those in processing plants usually perform one specific function—a single type of cut—during their shift.

Butchers use knives, grinders, or meat saws. They follow sanitation standards while working and when cleaning equipment, countertops, and working areas in order to prevent meat contamination.

Butchers who run their own retail store also track inventory, order supplies, and perform other recordkeeping duties.

Salary
Median salary: $32,900 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $26,950 and $40,930.
$33K$0$20K$40K$60K
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
$29K$32K$34K$30K$27K$33K$29K$36K$21K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
Number employed
010K20K30K40K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
About Butchers and Meat Cutters
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of butchers and meat cutters who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
  • Hazardous Equipment (83%)
  • Time Pressure (81%)
  • Unpleasant or Angry People (64%)
  • Responsible for Others' Health (64%)
  • Consequence of Error (64%)
  • Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites (48%)
  • Exposed to Contaminants (38%)
  • High Conflict Frequency (32%)
SOURCES:
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Butchers and Meat Cutters? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Customer-service skills
Butchers who work in retail stores should be courteous, be able to answer customers’ questions, and fill orders to customers’ satisfaction.
Dexterity
Butchers use sharp knives and meatcutting equipment as part of their duties. They must have good hand control in order to make proper cuts of meat that are the right size.
Physical stamina
Butchers spend hours on their feet while cutting, packaging, or storing meat.
Physical strength
Butchers should be strong enough to lift and carry heavy boxes of meat, which may weigh more than 50 pounds.
Injury and Illness
About 190 butchers and meat cutters become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 92% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Amputations
All cuts, lacerations, punctures
Chemical burns and corrosions
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by butchers and meat cutters
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), butchers and meat cutters typically hold no formal educational credential.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for butchers and meat cutters

There are no formal education requirements for becoming a butcher.

Education level of Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers
Only 4% of butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most butchers and meat cutters? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as butchers and meat cutters. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where butchers and meat cutters earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
  • In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
  • Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers.
We hope the ratio allows perspective about how salaries may compare to the regional cost-of-living.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers (ACS for all specialties)
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Employment
13% of Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 13% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 51% of careers.
13%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
$29K$29K$37K$33K$45K$26K$0$20,000$40,000$60,000Self-employed not incorporatedSelf-employed incorporatedFederal governmentPrivate not-for-profitPrivate for-profitAll
Gender
Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers and gender
With 23% women, this occupation has a lower percentage of women than 63% of careers.
Gender of Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers
Men (77%)
Women (23%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
$24K$31K$0$100K$200K$300KWomenMen
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
23%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Salary inequity
The median (middle) salary for all full-time male workers in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women by 19%, and the difference for butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers tops that, with the median salary for men 28% higher than the median salary for women.
28%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers.
Race/origin of butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers
White (62% )
Black (15% )
Other (11% )
Asian (6% )
Multiracial (2% )
Hispanic (2% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
$24K$25K$27K$27K$29K$31K$31K$31K$0$20K$40K$60KAmerican IndianBlackOtherAsianMultiracialHispanicPacific IslanderWhite
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.