Butcher shops operate within a specialized part of the U.S. food retail market, while their workers and customers are affected by broader labor and meat-price trends. The figures below cover employer establishments in 2023, employment and wages in 2024, retail ground-chuck prices from March 2024 through May 2025, and USDA meat values through March 2026.
Table of contents
- Butcher shop industry size
- Employment outlook
- Butcher wages
- Ground chuck retail prices
- Choice beef and pork retail values
- Pork values and retail spreads
Butcher shop industry size
The U.S. meat markets industry had 5,676 total employer establishments in 2023, according to the Census Bureau meat markets profile for NAICS 445210. This is an establishment count, not a count of individual storefronts without employees, sales volume, or businesses across every possible retail classification. It nevertheless provides a concrete measure of the employer-based meat-market footprint.
Because the measure is tied to employer establishments, it is especially useful for describing formal operating locations with employees. It does not by itself describe ownership structure, shop size, product mix, or regional distribution across the country.
The wider food-store market was much larger. U.S. food stores sold $717 billion in retail food and nonfood products in 2019, according to USDA ERS Retail Trends. Specialized food stores, including meat and seafood markets, accounted for 3.3% of total food-store sales that year. The category therefore sat inside a broad retail system while representing a relatively small share of recorded food-store sales.
Retail concentration was also substantial in the same USDA ERS Retail Trends data. The 20 largest U.S. food retailers generated $410.4 billion in sales in 2019, and those retailers held 65.1% of total food sales. These figures describe the overall food-retail market rather than butcher shops alone, so they should not be read as a direct market-share estimate for independent meat businesses.
Employment outlook
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected employment for butchers and meat cutters at 143,100 in 2024 and 144,500 in 2034. That is a projected numeric increase of 1,400 jobs over the decade, equivalent to projected growth of 1% from 2024 to 2034.
The projected growth rate is modest, but the occupation still has a sizable annual hiring need. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected about 16,900 openings for butchers each year on average over the decade. Annual openings can reflect workers leaving an occupation as well as newly created positions, so the openings figure is not the same as the projected net employment gain.
| Bureau of Labor Statistics measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Employment | 143,100 | 2024 |
| Projected employment | 144,500 | 2034 |
| Numeric change | 1,400 jobs | 2024–2034 |
| Projected growth | 1% | 2024–2034 |
| Average annual openings | 16,900 | Per year over the decade |
For readers considering butcher work, these measures point to replacement demand and continuing opportunities even alongside limited overall employment growth. The projection concerns butchers and meat cutters as an occupation; it is not a forecast of how many jobs will be located in independent butcher shops specifically.
Butcher wages
The median annual wage for butchers and meat cutters was $38,960 in May 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. The wage distribution was wide: the lowest 10% earned less than $28,850, while the highest 10% earned more than $57,130. These are wage thresholds, so they describe the lower and upper ends of the occupation rather than typical pay for every shop.
Pay also varied by industry in May 2024. Butchers in general merchandise retailers had median annual pay of $45,160. The median was $41,630 in merchant wholesalers of nondurable goods, $39,940 in animal slaughtering and processing, and $37,920 in grocery and specialty food retailers.
| Industry setting | Median annual pay, May 2024 |
|---|---|
| General merchandise retailers | $45,160 |
| Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods | $41,630 |
| Animal slaughtering and processing | $39,940 |
| Grocery and specialty food retailers | $37,920 |
The all-worker comparison in the same Bureau of Labor Statistics material was $49,500 in median annual wages in May 2024, above the $38,960 median for butchers and meat cutters. The comparison is across all workers and is not limited to food retail, so it is best used as a broad labor-market reference rather than a direct comparison between shop types.
Ground chuck retail prices
USDA retail-prices-for-beef-pork-poultry-cuts-eggs-and-dairy-products data show ground chuck prices moving from $5.421 per pound in March 2024 to $6.018 per pound in May 2025. The monthly observations provide a useful view of price movement across the period, with a lower point in spring 2024 and higher readings in 2025.
| Month | Ground chuck retail price per pound |
|---|---|
| March 2024 | $5.421 |
| April 2024 | $5.277 |
| May 2024 | $5.331 |
| June 2024 | $5.364 |
| July 2024 | $5.470 |
| August 2024 | $5.638 |
| September 2024 | $5.576 |
| October 2024 | $5.586 |
| November 2024 | $5.605 |
| December 2024 | $5.576 |
| January 2025 | $5.495 |
| February 2025 | $5.744 |
| March 2025 | $5.854 |
| April 2025 | $5.996 |
| May 2025 | $6.018 |
The lowest listed monthly price was $5.277 per pound in April 2024. The highest was $6.018 per pound in May 2025. The USDA series gives retail price observations; it does not identify the price charged by a particular independent butcher, the cut quality sold by a specific shop, or a shop’s gross margin.
Choice beef and pork retail values
The USDA Summary of Retail Prices and Price Spreads recorded Choice beef retail value at 1,011.3 cents per pound in October 2025. It was 1,008.3 cents in November, 1,008.4 cents in December, 992.5 cents in January 2026, 1,012.3 cents in February 2026, and 1,008.5 cents in March 2026.
| Month | Choice beef retail value, cents per pound |
|---|---|
| October 2025 | 1,011.3 |
| November 2025 | 1,008.3 |
| December 2025 | 1,008.4 |
| January 2026 | 992.5 |
| February 2026 | 1,012.3 |
| March 2026 | 1,008.5 |
The same USDA summary reported pork retail value at 502.2 cents per pound in October 2025, 492.5 cents in November, 485.6 cents in December, 494.5 cents in January 2026, 490.0 cents in February, and 487.1 cents in March. These beef and pork figures are retail values expressed in cents per pound, distinct from the ground chuck series above, which is reported in dollars per pound for a specified cut.
Pork values and retail spreads
USDA Pork Values and Spreads data reported an annual pork retail value of 487.3 cents per pound in 2024 and 494.7 cents per pound in 2025. Within 2024, the value was 478.0 cents per pound in the first quarter and 491.8 cents in the fourth quarter. Those annual and quarterly figures use different time groupings, so they should be kept separate from the monthly USDA summary observations.
The same source reported that the pork wholesale-retail spread represented 41.8% of retail value in annual 2024 data and 42.4% in annual 2025 data. This share describes the spread’s portion of retail value; it is not a measure of a butcher shop’s profit, because shop-level labor, rent, equipment, waste, taxes, and other costs are not supplied here.
The USDA Historical Monthly Price Spread Data for Beef, Pork, Broilers reported pork byproduct value of 7.31 cents per pound of retail equivalent in January 2024. A retail-equivalent measure is not the same thing as a posted shelf price for pork, and the January 2024 observation should not be generalized to every month or shop.
Taken together, these statistics show three separate dimensions of the butcher-shop market: 5,676 U.S. employer establishments in the 2023 meat-markets classification, an occupation with 143,100 projected workers in 2024 and about 16,900 annual openings, and meat retail values that vary by product, unit, and measurement period. Keeping those definitions separate is essential when using industry statistics to understand butcher shops and cooking-related food costs.