Employment
556,205
Total employees (Census CBP)
Manufacturing ·NAICS 31161
NAICS 31161 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Animal Slaughtering and Processing - Industry Benchmarks
$50,981/yr average annual pay, with 283 SBA loans on record for NAICS 31161.
- 4K
- Establishments
- 556K
- Workers employed
- $50,981/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $254M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 31161
Texas leads Animal Slaughtering and Processing activity nationally, across 4K establishments employing 556K workers. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level.
- 4K
- Business establishments (Census)
- 556K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $50,981/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $254M
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Animal Slaughtering and Processing's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Animal Slaughtering and Processing is reported here with financial measures from IRS Statistics of Income and workforce measures from Census County Business Patterns. The page keeps those source systems distinct, shows unavailable fields rather than estimating them, and links the underlying industry context so readers can compare the same NAICS activity before interpreting a margin or payroll figure.
Source: IRS SOI (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023
Benchmarking Insights for Animal Slaughtering and Processing
Animal Slaughtering and Processing sits inside Manufacturing.
3,716 establishments employ 556,205 workers (149.7/location) at $50,981/yr average annual pay. Texas leads employment, followed by Georgia and North Carolina.
Animal Slaughtering and Processing sits in the 91st percentile for employment among 5-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$50,981/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
3,716
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 22,049; establishment count increased by 53. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Subscribe to this industry's release updates (RSS)Workforce scale
Financial Detail
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $28.4B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 149.7
Sub-Industries
| Industry | Profit Margin |
|---|---|
| Animal (except Poultry) Slaughtering NAICS 311611 | N/A |
| Meat Processed from Carcasses NAICS 311612 | N/A |
| Poultry Processing NAICS 311615 | N/A |
| Rendering and Meat Byproduct Processing NAICS 311613 | N/A |
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| Texas | 45,056 |
| Georgia | 37,848 |
| North Carolina | 34,430 |
| Iowa | 34,010 |
| Alabama | 25,711 |
| Illinois | 23,872 |
| Pennsylvania | 19,447 |
| Mississippi | 18,488 |
| Wisconsin | 18,089 |
| Minnesota | 17,848 |
Showing top 10 of 50 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
283
Total Loan Volume
$254M
Avg Loan Size
$898K
Jobs Supported
4,242
Program Breakdown
7(a) 233 (82%)
504 50 (18%)
Top SBA Lender
The Huntington National Bank
11 loans in this industry
New Business Share
35.0% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 30
2021 63
2022 50
2023 39
2024 47
2025 48
2026 6
Frequently Asked Questions
How many businesses are in Animal Slaughtering and Processing?
3,716 business establishments. Together they employ 556,205 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Animal Slaughtering and Processing?
$50,981/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 149.7 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Animal Slaughtering and Processing employment?
Texas leads with 45,056 workers. Georgia (37,848) and North Carolina (34,430) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Animal Slaughtering and Processing receive?
Animal Slaughtering and Processing businesses received 283 SBA loans totaling $254 million between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $898K. These loans supported 4,242 jobs at origination. Most lending (82%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Animal Slaughtering and Processing, both at NAICS level 5 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Animal Slaughtering and Processing ranks #48 of 551 U.S. industries at the 5-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (556,205 here).
Read with this industry: Industry employment trends · Manufacturing · Rankings
Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.
Sources: IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) Business Tax Statistics · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023
NAICS 31161 · CBP 2023 · IRS SOI
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, which released its 2023 County Business Patterns dataset in June 2025, PlainBizBench benchmarks 2,002 U.S. industries against Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income data. See our methodology for the full compilation process.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns / SUSB Industry employment scale, payroll, and firm-size benchmarks · 2023
Every figure on PlainBizBench is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates profit-margin, payroll, entity-type, and SBA-lending benchmarks for this industry, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.
Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.