How To Become A Meat Packer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a meat packer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a meat packer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $13.75 an hour? That's $28,599 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 358,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMeat PackerUS Average

Salary

2.2

Avg. Salary $28,599

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.5

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.23%

Asian 6.20%

Black or African American 7.89%

Hispanic or Latino 18.16%

Unknown 3.87%

White 62.65%

Gender

female 39.01%

male 60.99%

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

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a meat packer

Explore meat packer education requirements

Most common meat packer degrees

High School Diploma

60.3 %

Diploma

14.6 %

Associate

9.8 %

Start to develop specific meat packer skills

Skills	Percentages
Pallets	22.42%
OSHA	14.27%
Safety Regulations	13.66%
Assembly Line	7.62%
Safety Standards	7.05%

Complete relevant meat packer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New meat packers 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 meat packer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real meat packer resumes.

Research meat packer duties and responsibilities

Pack meat products an run packing machines
Pack meats in the various containers, run a meat grinder.
Maintain FDA regulations by keeping meat slicing utensils, tables, and floors sanitize.
Implement safety techniques according to FDA regulations and attend regular safety meetings to ensure all safety techniques are properly implement.

Prepare your meat packer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your meat packer 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 meat packer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable meat packer resume templates

Build a professional meat packer 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 meat packer resume.