Career
Slaughterers and meat packers
Process livestock for meat.
$40,130
Median pay
+2.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
7,700
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
Perform nonroutine or precision functions involving the preparation of large portions of meat. Work may include specialized slaughtering tasks, cutting standard or premium cuts of meat for marketing, making sausage, or wrapping meats. Work typically occurs in slaughtering, meat packing, or wholesale establishments.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Meat Cutting/Meat CutterCIP 12.0506
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers$38,300 · +5.7%
- Butchers and Meat Cutters$40,140 · +2.4%
- Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals$36,670 · -3.2%
- Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products$35,730 · -3.4%
- Food Preparation Workers$35,320 · -3.0%
Ask anything about this career.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.