Butcher Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 6,089 US job postings by 305 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for butchers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 6,089 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for butchers in US job postings is $18.64 an hour (1,181 postings from 85 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $17.00 to $21.46 an hour.
- The skills that most set butcher postings apart are customer service, product knowledge, friendly.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Butcher job postings in the US, October 2026
- $18.64/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,181 postings)
- $17.00–$21.46
- Middle 50% of postings
- 6,089
- US job postings from 305 employers
- 2 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a butcher make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $18.64 an hour, from 1,181 US job postings by 85 employers that state pay. That is about $39,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,181 US butcher job postings: median $39,000 a year ($18.64 an hour), middle half $35,000 to $45,000.
- Median: $39,000 ($18.64/hr)
- 25th percentile: $35,000
- 75th percentile: $45,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 8.2% |
| $30K–$40K | 49.5% |
| $40K–$50K | 31.9% |
| $50K–$60K | 5.9% |
| $60K–$70K | 3.0% |
| $70K–$80K | 0.2% |
| $80K–$90K | 0.2% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $18.64 | $17.00–$21.46 | 376 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $39,000 | $35K–$45K | 1,181 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Butchers and Meat Cutters (51-3021) at $40,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for a butcher?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying butcher jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meat Cutter | $18.64/hr | 1,150 | 73 |
Butcher pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $21.50/hr | $18.86–$24.32 | 126 | 10.5% |
Skills employers ask for in butcher job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Customer service | 36% |
| Communication | 16% |
| Dependable | 9% |
| Teamwork | 9% |
| Attention to detail | 9% |
| Product knowledge | 9% |
| Interpersonal skills | 8% |
| Friendly | 8% |
| Basic math skills | 7% |
| Problem-solving | 7% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set butchers apart
- Customer service3.6× as often as in all postings · 36%
- Product knowledge19.6× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Friendly6× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Dependable3.5× as often as in all postings · 9%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a butcher job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a butcher do?
Employers post these jobs as Meat Cutter, Meat Clerk, Meat Wrapper, Meat Manager, Seafood Clerk and other titles. The largest specializations are Meat Cutter (97%).
The closest official occupation is Butchers and Meat Cutters (51-3021.00). Its most important tasks:
- 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.
- Prepare special cuts of meat ordered by customers.
- Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery to ensure meat quality.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a butcher?
Among 255 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. Under 1% say 0 years and 46% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 255 US butcher job postings: median 2 years, and 46% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 1% |
| 1 yr | 45% |
| 2 yrs | 25% |
| 3-4 yrs | 23% |
| 5-7 yrs | 5% |
| 8-9 yrs | 0% |
| 10+ yrs | 0% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for a butcher: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Meat Cutter | 163 (53.4%) |
| Meat Clerk | 57 (18.7%) |
| Meat Wrapper | 32 (10.5%) |
| Meat Manager | 29 (9.5%) |
| Butcher | 21 (6.9%) |
| Seafood Clerk | 21 (6.9%) |
| Seafood Manager | 20 (6.6%) |
| Assistant Meat Manager | 15 (4.9%) |
| Meat Department | 15 (4.9%) |
| Meat Associate | 15 (4.9%) |
| Meat Department Manager | 14 (4.6%) |
| Seafood Associate | 12 (3.9%) |
| Meat Lead | 10 (3.3%) |
| Fish Cutter | 10 (3.3%) |
| Meat & Seafood Clerk | 9 (2.9%) |
| Apprentice Meat Cutter | 9 (2.9%) |
| Meat Cutter Apprentice | 9 (2.9%) |
| Meat Cutter/Butcher | 7 (2.3%) |
| Meat Cutter FT | 6 (2.0%) |
| Experienced Meat Cutter | 6 (2.0%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Butcher compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butcher | $18.64/hr | 2 years | 6,089 | – |
| Stocker | $17.50/hr | 1 year | 31,374 | 18 |
| Cook | $19.00/hr | 1 year | 52,846 | 14 |
| Baker | $18.50/hr | 1 year | 9,167 | 15 |
| Retail Sales Associate | $17.24/hr | 1 year | 141,396 | 17 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Stocker | 18 | $17.50/hr |
| Cook | 14 | $19.00/hr |
| Baker | 15 | $18.50/hr |
| Retail Sales Associate | 17 | $17.24/hr |
| Chef | 12 | $60K |
| Server | 13 | $16.90/hr |
Applying for butcher jobs?
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find butcher jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 19 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.