Slaughterers and Meat Packers
Also called: Boning Room Worker, Meat Packer, Meat Processor, Meat WrapperPerform 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.
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What the data says: AI couldn't halve the time on any of its 14 tasks, and jobs are projected to grow 2.0% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
Recent conditions
- In 2024, 3.9% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers”
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 8.4 hires for every 10 job openings in nondurable goods manufacturing, which employs about 91% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.8.4 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $36,360 | $33,940 to $38,240 | 240 |
| Arizona | $49,020 | $48,950 to $58,870 | 440 |
| Arkansas | $37,800 | $34,030 to $39,080 | 2,140 |
| California | $39,420 | $36,290 to $43,690 | 6,170 |
| Colorado | $50,480 | $45,270 to $57,950 | 1,590 |
| Connecticut | $36,290 | $35,140 to $44,240 | 70 |
| Delaware | $31,200 | $31,200 to $31,200 | 50 |
| Florida | $34,430 | $30,580 to $34,720 | 400 |
| Georgia | $36,770 | $33,340 to $39,510 | 3,660 |
| Hawaii | $38,890 | $35,610 to $45,160 | 120 |
| Idaho | $40,370 | $37,950 to $47,680 | 450 |
| Illinois | $44,950 | $35,310 to $48,810 | 3,360 |
| Indiana | $43,770 | $42,610 to $45,310 | 1,210 |
| Iowa | $43,820 | $39,730 to $44,680 | 4,220 |
| Kansas | $48,240 | $45,800 to $49,410 | 2,170 |
| Kentucky | $38,330 | $37,520 to $42,400 | 320 |
| Louisiana | $40,120 | $30,290 to $40,120 | 650 |
| Maine | $38,740 | $34,440 to $44,470 | 50 |
| Maryland | $37,650 | $34,240 to $39,250 | 130 |
| Massachusetts | $37,780 | $36,390 to $44,950 | 170 |
| Michigan | $45,850 | $41,650 to $53,120 | 2,920 |
| Minnesota | $43,360 | $40,130 to $43,950 | 2,820 |
| Mississippi | $33,650 | $29,270 to $35,650 | 1,100 |
| Missouri | $44,490 | $37,780 to $47,040 | 1,280 |
| Montana | $46,700 | $43,410 to $48,860 | 80 |
| Nebraska | $48,910 | $45,060 to $51,740 | 5,480 |
| Nevada | $30,430 | $30,430 to $35,220 | 140 |
| New Hampshire | $39,270 | $38,840 to $49,260 | 40 |
| New Jersey | $45,230 | $35,560 to $55,850 | 1,050 |
| New Mexico | $30,560 | $29,460 to $30,610 | not published |
| New York | $33,880 | $33,790 to $38,940 | 1,750 |
| North Carolina | $39,930 | $35,720 to $46,180 | 6,120 |
| North Dakota | $39,730 | $35,900 to $46,380 | 160 |
| Ohio | $36,800 | $35,630 to $37,690 | 2,440 |
| Oklahoma | $45,970 | $34,770 to $45,970 | 1,560 |
| Oregon | $45,980 | $37,390 to $48,360 | 360 |
| Pennsylvania | $37,330 | $35,790 to $42,050 | 4,410 |
| Puerto Rico | $22,710 | $21,840 to $23,540 | 290 |
| Rhode Island | $37,570 | $37,570 to $47,100 | 280 |
| South Carolina | $46,000 | $37,490 to $46,630 | 250 |
| South Dakota | $44,410 | $38,650 to $45,440 | 740 |
| Tennessee | $35,790 | $34,550 to $40,390 | 650 |
| Texas | $43,160 | $34,320 to $48,320 | 2,950 |
| Utah | $44,040 | $39,680 to $44,280 | 560 |
| Vermont | $42,220 | $34,300 to $47,220 | 50 |
| Virginia | $37,430 | $37,160 to $37,430 | 1,480 |
| Washington | $45,100 | $44,040 to $48,010 | 840 |
| Wisconsin | $37,510 | $35,250 to $49,040 | 2,620 |
Nationally: $40,130. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on none of its 14 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Remove bones, and cut meat into standard cuts in preparation for marketing. | Not published |
| Not much | Slit open, eviscerate, and trim carcasses of slaughtered animals. | Not published |
| Not much | Cut, trim, skin, sort, and wash viscera of slaughtered animals to separate edible portions from offal. | Not published |
| Not much | Trim head meat, and sever or remove parts of animals' heads or skulls. | Not published |
| Not much | Skin sections of animals or whole animals. | Not published |
| Not much | Saw, split, or scribe carcasses into smaller portions to facilitate handling. | Not published |
See all 14 tasks
| Not much | Shave or singe and defeather carcasses, and wash them in preparation for further processing or packaging. | Not published |
| Not much | Shackle hind legs of animals to raise them for slaughtering or skinning. | Not published |
| Not much | Tend assembly lines, performing a few of the many cuts needed to process a carcass. | Not published |
| Not much | Sever jugular veins to drain blood and facilitate slaughtering. | Not published |
| Not much | Stun animals prior to slaughtering. | Not published |
| Not much | Grind meat into hamburger, and into trimmings used to prepare sausages, luncheon meats, and other meat products. | Not published |
| Not much | Wrap dressed carcasses or meat cuts. | Not published |
| Not much | Trim, clean, or cure animal hides. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 0 of the 14 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 14 tasks fall under 3 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process animal carcasses | |||
| Prepare foods or beverages | |||
| Clean workpieces, finished products, or other objects |
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for slaughterers and meat packers specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved next
of 2,477 moves out
- 1 First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers High +1.8% 13%
- 2 Chief Executives Very high +3.2% 8%
- 3 First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers Moderate +5.0% 5%
- 4 First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers High -3.7% 4%
- 5 Industrial Production Managers High +2.6% 3%
Where people moved in from
of 1,696 moves in
- 1 First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers High -3.7% 8%
- 2 Cashiers High -6.5% 7%
- 3 First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers High +1.8% 6%
- 4 Waiters and Waitresses Moderate +2.0% 6%
- 5 Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand Low +1.8% 4%
Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
O*NET survey of workers in this occupation
- 29% less than high school
- 61% high school
- 11% some college
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 18 people answered.
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 28% less than high school
- 45% high school
- 16% some college
- 5% associate's
- 4% bachelor's
Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers” · 2,230 people surveyed.
Why the two can differ
O*NET asks about 20 people in each occupation, which makes its shares uncertain, but it reports the exact occupation and counts certificates. The Census survey reaches thousands, but it groups some occupations together and counts degrees only. More in the Guide
Median pay by highest degree full-time, year-round · Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers”
1 program: Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter.
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
BLS publishes no credential figures for this occupation.
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeship Finder ↗ DOL lists 1 registered apprenticeship in this occupation (Butcher, Allround). Apprenticeship.gov can't be linked to one occupation, so search for “Slaughterers and Meat Packers” there.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
See it online, and explore any career: https://www.pathmosaic.com/card/51-3023.00