The Meat Institute is releasing an economic study that found the meat and poultry processing industry contributes $57.3 billion to the US economy and provides 584,000 jobs. The entire meat and poultry industry, including livestock production, animal feed, equipment manufacturing, transportation and more contributes $347.7 billion in value to the nation, supporting 3.2 million jobs.

“The meat and poultry industry is a critical and growing part of the US economy, and one that has outsized importance to rural economies,” said Meat Institute President and CEO, Julie Anna Potts. “Our member companies are often the biggest employers in their rural communities, and their impact goes beyond jobs. In addition to the taxes they pay, they invest in their communities with generous donations of food and make financial and other irreplaceable contributions to local infrastructure like housing, community spaces, schools, and childcare.”

The Meat Institute commissioned Decision Innovation Solutions to conduct the economic contribution study.

The study and data searchable by state and Congressional district is available here.

Key findings

Meat and poultry processing industry direct contributions to the national economy in 2025:

• $57.3 billion in value 
• Nearly 584,000 jobs 
• $40.6 billion in labor income 
• $311.0 billion in total sales (output) 
• $12.5 billion in local, state and federal taxes

Indirect and induced effects: The meat and poultry processing industry generates significant economic activity in other industries including livestock and poultry production, animal feed manufacturing, grain and oilseed production, truck and rail transportation, equipment manufacturing and more.

After accounting for these indirect and induced effects, the total economic contribution of the US meat and poultry industry is:

• $347.7 billion in value 
• More than 3.2 million jobs 
• $205.3 billion in labor income 
• $911.7 billion in total sales (output) 
• $77.0 billion in local, state, and federal taxes

State and congressional district economic contributions: The report also estimates the economic contributions of the meat and poultry processing industry for each state and federal congressional district. While the meat and poultry processing industry drives some economic activity in every state and nearly every district, there are some areas where the industry’s impact is undeniably irreplaceable:

Top states: Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina, Kansas, California and Arkansas.

Top districts: Nebraska-3, Iowa-4, Texas-13, Kansas-1, Minnesota-1 and Arkansas-3.

Source: Meat Institute