How To Become A Butcher: What It Is and Career Path

What is a butcher and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

As a butcher, you cut, trim and package meat to sell to customers. Butchers have access to lots of dangerous machinery, so while you'll have to be careful in your day-to-day responsibilites it's probably also safe to assume no one will want to mess with you.

All jokes aside, there's no formal education needed to become a butcher. Basically they'll let anyone work in a grocery store or specialty meat shop as a butcher, as long as they can safely prepare the meat.

ScoreButcherUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,047

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.8

Growth Rate -3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.19%

Asian 6.61%

Black or African American 7.56%

Hispanic or Latino 19.50%

Unknown 3.81%

White 61.33%

Gender

female 11.95%

male 88.05%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress Level

8.8

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.9

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.5

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a butcher

Explore butcher education requirements

Most common butcher degrees

High School Diploma

42.4 %

Bachelor's

21.1 %

Associate

18.4 %

Start to develop specific butcher skills

Skills	Percentages
Food Safety	13.96%
Culinary	11.53%
Safety Standards	10.62%
Food Preparation	10.16%
Sanitation Standards	9.42%

Complete relevant butcher training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New butchers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a butcher based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real butcher resumes.

Research butcher duties and responsibilities

Coordinate in processing beef and fish to prepare meat in cooking form.
Carve bone-in or boneless cuts of meat with the use of knives, slicers, power cutters and band saws.
Handle cutting meats such as chicken, steak, pork, etc.
Maintain smokers for sausage, bacon and jerky.

Prepare your butcher resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your butcher resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a butcher resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Butcher Resume templates

Build a professional Butcher resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Butcher resume.

Apply for butcher jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a butcher job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do butchers rate their job?

4/5

Based On 1 Ratings

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Butcher reviews

4.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2022

Pros

I am good at it.

Cons

The pay could be/should be better for such a skilled and dangerous profession.