Production
Slaughterers and Meat Packers
Perform nonroutine or precision functions involving the preparation of large portions of meat. Work may include specialized slaughtering tasks, cutting standard or premium cuts of meat for marketing, making sausage, or wrapping meats. Work typically occurs in slaughtering, meat packing, or wholesale establishments.
Also called: Boning Room Worker, Meat Packager, Meat Packer, Meat Processor, Meat Wrapper, Saw Man
- Median pay in Greater Boston
- $37,800
- $18.17/hr
- Jobs in Greater Boston
- 90
- Massachusetts 2024–2034
- +4.8%
- 20 openings a year
- Typical U.S. entry requirement
- No formal educational credential
- plus Short-term on-the-job training
Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.
Pay range in Greater Boston
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $37,370 | $37,750 | $37,800 | $44,290 | $47,660 |
10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.
AI and this job
AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.
Lower exposure2 of 100
The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:
- AIOE 1
- Language-model AIOE 2
- GPTs-are-GPTs 3
Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)
AI exposure for slaughterers and meat packers is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. The work is physical and precise: slaughtering, cutting, making sausage, and wrapping meat. These are hands-on tasks that AI tools do not do, so any change is likely to be small and mostly in the paperwork around the job.
Likely to change
- Production paperwork and record-keeping
- Tracking orders and packed product
Still relies on people
- Precise cutting and preparing large portions of meat
- Hands-on slaughtering, sausage making, and wrapping
Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.
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Training near Boston
College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).
No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.
Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.
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Talk to a career coach
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