Butchers and Meat Cutters · SOC 51-3021

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Butchers and Meat Cutterss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for butchers and meat cutters. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 363 metro areas

Butchers and Meat Cutters: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$60,600	1,300	0.6
2	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$57,930	100	1.0
3	Fairbanks-College, AK	$57,920	30	0.9
4	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$54,980	70	0.9
5	Longview-Kelso, WA	$53,550	40	1.0
6	Anchorage, AK	$52,130	110	0.6
7	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$51,980	840	0.7
8	El Centro, CA	$51,960	70	1.1
9	Bend, OR	$51,690	90	0.8
10	Bellingham, WA	$50,970	90	0.9
11	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$50,720	60	1.1
12	Barnstable Town, MA	$50,290	50	0.6
13	Urban Honolulu, HI	$49,860	330	0.7
14	Grants Pass, OR	$49,800	40	1.3
15	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$49,790	110	0.8
16	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$49,610	790	0.7
17	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$49,320	220	0.9
18	Medford, OR	$49,210	70	0.7
19	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$49,070	300	0.6
20	Salem, OR	$49,070	140	0.7
21	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$49,060	160	0.6
22	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$49,050	1,110	0.7
23	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$48,910	1,150	0.4
24	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$48,700	40	0.9
25	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$48,560	80	0.6

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Butchers and Meat Cutters overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.