Butchers and meat cutters job market in Kentucky
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Butchers and meat cutters in Kentucky.
Occupation pay
What Butchers and meat cutters earn in Kentucky
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$35,430Kentucky- Middle 50% of published wages
- $28,350 – $41,640
- U.S. median annual wage
- $40,140
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Kentucky
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Butchers and meat cutters, compared with the Kentucky median of $35,430.
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN$40,030+13.0% vs. state
Elizabethtown, KY$38,180+7.8% vs. state
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN$37,200+5.0% vs. state
Clarksville, TN-KY$36,900+4.1% vs. state
Lexington-Fayette, KY$36,780+3.8% vs. state
Owensboro, KY$35,370−0.2% vs. state
View 2 more published metro areas
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH$33,370−5.8% vs. state
Bowling Green, KY$33,340−5.9% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Kentucky median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Kentucky’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 30,548 represented establishments, 88.07% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for butchers and meat cutters in Kentucky
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.
Industry groups are pulling in opposite directions
In January to March 2026, Leisure and hospitality recorded a +0.7% year-over-year employment change in Kentucky; Trade, transportation, and utilities recorded -0.6%. The contrast matters when reading the combined industry measure for this occupation. The leading industry groups examined account for 99.9% of its national industry mix, and their employment movements point in opposite directions.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWPublished median pay is below the U.S. median
OEWS May 2025 records a state median annual wage of $35,430 for butchers and meat cutters in Kentucky. Against the national median of $40,140, that is 11.7% lower. A median describes the middle of the distribution and does not include a living-cost adjustment.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Kentucky industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Kentucky · 2026 Q1-0.9%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-1.0%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Kentucky | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | -0.4% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +0.6% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | -0.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | 0.0% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | +0.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | -0.9% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | -0.8% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | -0.9% | 100% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Kentucky’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -1.0%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Butchers and meat cutters Work
The occupation mix determines which Kentucky industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 88.0% | -0.6% | 30,548 | $1,148 |
| Manufacturing | 9.3% | -3.4% | 7,646 | $1,566 |
| Leisure and hospitality | 1.7% | +0.7% | 12,252 | $497 |
| Federal | 0.8% | -10.0% | 1,168 | $1,869 |
| Professional and business services | 0.1% | +0.7% | 32,895 | $1,427 |
Which industries are growing?
2 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Kentucky employment change are listed.
- Leisure and hospitality+0.7%
- Professional and business services+0.7%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Kentucky context
Current Kentucky Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Kentucky. They are not Butchers and meat cutters demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Kentucky
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 100.82 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 100.32 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 99.22 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 98.73 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 98.90 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 99.06 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 99.83 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 101.12 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 101.43 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 102.87 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 102.25 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 102.87 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 102.68 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 102.78 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Butchers and meat cutters in Kentucky FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Butchers and meat cutters in Kentucky?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Kentucky industries weighted to Butchers and meat cutters changed -0.9% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -1.0% nationwide.
Are wages for Butchers and meat cutters rising in Kentucky?
QCEW does not publish pay for Butchers and meat cutters in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +1.2% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Kentucky industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Butchers and meat cutters openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Butchers and meat cutters
- SOC code
- 51-3021
- State
- Kentucky
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -0.9%State data coverage 100%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -1.0%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.1 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- -0.6%State data coverage 100%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +1.2%State data coverage 100%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/butchers-and-meat-cutters/kentucky#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.