Education:
70%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)
20%
Less than a High School Diploma
Butcher
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Job Outlook:
Little or no change
Education:
None
Salary
High:
$51,180.00
Average:
$38,200.00
Hourly
Average:
$18.36
What they do:
Cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments.
On the job, you would:
- Prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye.
- Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat.
- Cut, trim, bone, tie, and grind meats, such as beef, pork, poultry, and fish, to prepare in cooking form.
Important Qualities
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 able to lift and carry heavy boxes of meat, which may weigh more than 50 pounds.
Personality
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Characteristics of this Career |
|---|---|---|---|
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86% | Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. | |
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83% | Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. | |
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80% | Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical. | |
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77% | Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. | |
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75% | Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. | |
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71% | Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. | |
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71% | Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations. | |
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68% | Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. | |
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67% | Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. | |
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67% | Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
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95% | Realistic - Work involves designing, building, or repairing of equipment, materials, or structures, engaging in physical activity, or working outdoors. Realistic occupations are often associated with engineering, mechanics and electronics, construction, woodworking, transportation, machine operation, agriculture, animal services, physical or manual labor, athletics, or protective services. | |
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61% | Conventional - Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources. |
Job Details
Responsibilities
Mark products, workpieces, or equipment with identifying information.
Weigh finished products.
Prepare meat products for sale or consumption.
Prepare meat products for sale or consumption.
Cut meat products.
Prepare meat products for sale or consumption.
Cut meat products.
Inspect food products.
Prepare meat products for sale or consumption.
Cut meat products.
Estimate material requirements for production.
Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
Direct operational or production activities.
Record operational or production data.
Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications.
Load items into ovens or furnaces.
Calculate costs of goods or services.
Collect payments for goods or services.
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent |
|---|---|---|---|
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100% | Indoors, Environmentally Controlled - How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? | |
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97% | Spend Time Standing - How much does this job require standing? | |
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95% | Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls - How much does this job require using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls? | |
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89% | Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets - How much does this job require wearing common protective or safety equipment such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hard hats or life jackets? | |
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88% | Contact With Others - How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? | |
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87% | Deal With External Customers - How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job? | |
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85% | Work With Work Group or Team - How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job? | |
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83% | Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results - What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer? | |
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83% | Face-to-Face Discussions - How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? | |
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83% | Exposed to Hazardous Equipment - How often does this job require exposure to hazardous equipment? | |
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82% | Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions - How much does this job require making repetitive motions? | |
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78% | Very Hot or Cold Temperatures - How often does this job require working in very hot (above 90 F degrees) or very cold (below 32 F degrees) temperatures? | |
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78% | Time Pressure - How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines? | |
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76% | Physical Proximity - To what extent does this job require the worker to perform job tasks in close physical proximity to other people? | |
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74% | Frequency of Decision Making - How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? | |
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73% | Importance of Being Exact or Accurate - How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job? | |
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73% | Responsible for Others' Health and Safety - How much responsibility is there for the health and safety of others in this job? | |
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73% | Consequence of Error - How serious would the result usually be if the worker made a mistake that was not readily correctable? | |
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71% | Deal With Unpleasant or Angry People - How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements? | |
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70% | Responsibility for Outcomes and Results - How responsible is the worker for work outcomes and results of other workers? | |
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70% | Coordinate or Lead Others - How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job? | |
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66% | Telephone - How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? | |
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66% | Sounds, Noise Levels Are Distracting or Uncomfortable - How often does this job require working exposed to sounds and noise levels that are distracting or uncomfortable? |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Tasks & Values |
|---|---|---|---|
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74% | Performing for or Working Directly with the Public - Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests. | |
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70% | Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. | |
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69% | Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials - Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects. | |
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67% | Performing General Physical Activities - Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials. | |
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67% | Selling or Influencing Others - Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions. |
What Butchers Do
Butchers cut meat for display and retail sale.
Butchers cut, trim, and package meat for retail sale.
Duties
Butchers typically do the following:
- Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery
- Sharpen knives and adjust cutting equipment
- Cut, debone, or grind pieces of meat, including preparing orders to customers’ specifications
- Weigh and wrap meat or meat products for display or to fulfill customers’ orders
- Clean equipment and work areas to maintain health and sanitation standards
- Store meats in refrigerators or freezers at the required temperature
- Monitor inventory and sales trends and order meat
Butchers cut and trim meat from larger, wholesale portions into steaks, chops, roasts, and other cuts. They then prepare meat for sale by doing various tasks, 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 use equipment such as knives, grinders, and meat saws. They follow sanitation standards while working and when cleaning equipment, countertops, and working areas in order to prevent meat contamination.
Butchers also keep track of inventory and determine what to stock, especially in anticipation of seasonal demands such as grilling meats for summer and turkeys for Thanksgiving. Butchers must also track inventory and sales to limit waste by determining which items have not sold well. They also order supplies and have other duties, including maintaining records for purposes of federal safety and inspection.
Work Environment
Butchers held about 131,600 jobs in 2022. The largest employers of butchers were as follows:
| Grocery and specialty food retailers | 77% |
| General merchandise retailers | 9 |
| Animal slaughtering and processing | 7 |
| Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods | 3 |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 1 |
The work may be physically demanding, particularly for butchers who make repetitive cuts. Butchers typically stand while cutting meat and often lift and move heavy carcasses or boxes of meat supplies.
Because meat must be kept at cool temperatures, butchers commonly work in cold rooms—typically around 40 degrees Fahrenheit—for extended periods.
Butchers must keep their hands and working areas clean to prevent contamination, and those working in retail settings must remain presentable to customers.
Injuries and Illnesses
Butchers have one of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations. These workers use dangerous tools, such as sharp knives and meat saws, and work in areas with slippery floors and surfaces. To reduce the risk of cuts and falls, workers wear protective clothing, such as cut-resistant gloves, heavy aprons, and nonslip footwear.
Work Schedules
Most butchers work full time. Some work early mornings, late evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Getting Started
How to Become a Butcher
Butchers typically learn their skills on the job.
Butchers typically need no formal educational credential to enter the occupation. They learn their skills through on-the-job training.
Education
No formal education credential is typically required for becoming a butcher, although some employers may prefer to hire workers who have a high school diploma.
Training
Butchers typically learn their skills on the job, and the length of training varies considerably. Training for simple meat cutting, such as for prepared food items, may take about a week. However, more complicated cutting tasks, such as for specialty cuts of meat from a large animal, generally require training that may last from several months to more than a year.
Training for entry-level workers often begins by having the worker learn less difficult tasks, such as making simple cuts, removing bones, or dividing wholesale cuts into retail portions. Under the guidance of more experienced workers, trainees learn the proper use and care of tools. For example, they learn how to sharpen knives and clean working areas and equipment.
Trainees also may learn how to shape, roll, and tie roasts; make sausage; and cure meat. Employees also receive training in food safety to minimize the risk of foodborne pathogens in meats.
Workers typically enter the occupation as a meat clerk or meat cutter. After gaining experience as a meat cutter and demonstrating proficiency, they may become a butcher.
Some employers or unions may offer apprenticeship programs for butchers.
Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations
Some states and localities require butchers to have a food handler’s certification. Requirements vary. For more information, contact your state or local licensing board.
Butchers who follow religious dietary guidelines for food preparation may be required to undergo more specialized training that leads to certification before becoming endorsed by a religious organization to prepare meat.
Job Outlook
Employment of butchers is projected to show little or no change from 2022 to 2032.
Despite limited employment growth, about 15,300 openings for butchers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Most of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Employment
Long-term food purchasing patterns have trended towards more pre-made and pre-packaged meat products and cuts. This trend is expected to continue over the decade, which may limit employment demand for butchers and meat cutters.
Contacts for More Information
For details about apprenticeships or other work opportunities in this occupation, contact the offices of the state employment service, the state apprenticeship agency, local unions, or firms that employ butchers. Apprenticeship information is available from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Apprenticeship program online or by phone at 877-872-5627. Visit Apprenticeship.gov to search for apprenticeship opportunities.
For information about the meat-processing industry and related trends, visit
Occupational Requirements Survey
For a profile highlighting selected BLS data on occupational requirements, see
Butchers and meat cutters (PDF)
Similar Occupations
This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of butchers.
| Occupation | Job Duties | Entry-Level Education | Median Annual Pay, May 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Chefs and Head Cooks |
Chefs and head cooks oversee the daily food preparation at restaurants and other places where food is served. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $56,520 |
|
Food Processing Equipment Workers |
Food processing equipment workers operate machinery that mixes, cooks, or processes ingredients for manufacturing food products. |
See How to Become One | $36,190 |
|
Food Preparation Workers |
Food preparation workers perform a variety of tasks other than cooking, such as slicing meat and brewing coffee. |
No formal educational credential | $29,790 |