Pennsylvania food manufacturing employed 79,970 people in 2023 and is forecast to reach 80,390 jobs in 2025. The industry connects a large agricultural base with dairy, meat, bakery, snack-food, specialty-food and other processing operations across the state.
Contents
- Employment baseline and outlook
- Subsector trends and forecasts
- Dairy, livestock and poultry inputs
- Grain, oilseed and field-crop inputs
- Fruit, vegetable and specialty-crop processing
- Snack-food capacity and investment signals
Employment baseline and outlook
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Pennsylvania 2023-2025 Short-Term Industry Employment Projections reports 79,970 food-manufacturing jobs in 2023. Its forecast for 2025 is 80,390 jobs, a projected gain of 420 positions, or 0.5%, over the two-year period. That equals an average of 210 additional jobs per year. These figures are forecasts where labeled, rather than completed employment outcomes.
A separate long-term series shows a much flatter decade. The Pennsylvania Long-Term Industry Employment Projections, 2014-2024 reports 69,530 food-manufacturing jobs in 2014 and 69,380 in 2024. The change was a decrease of 150 jobs, or 0.2%. The long-term historical series and short-term forecast use different periods and should not be treated as one continuous estimate.
Food manufacturing also represents a significant portion of the wider agricultural economy. The Economic Impact of Agriculture in Pennsylvania 2021 reports that food manufacturing accounted for 17% of Pennsylvania agriculture’s 301,900 direct jobs in 2019. It also represented 19% of the sector’s $14.5 billion in labor income in 2019.
| Measure | Figure | Period or basis |
|---|---|---|
| Food-manufacturing employment | 79,970 | 2023 |
| Forecast employment | 80,390 | 2025 forecast |
| Forecast change | 420 jobs; 0.5% | 2023-2025 forecast |
| Long-term employment | 69,530 to 69,380 | 2014-2024 |
| Share of agriculture direct jobs | 17% of 301,900 | 2019 |
| Share of agriculture labor income | 19% of $14.5 billion | 2019 |
Subsector trends and forecasts
The short-term forecast identifies several large Pennsylvania food-manufacturing subsectors. Animal slaughtering and processing is forecast at 17,470 jobs in 2025, up 600 jobs, or 3.6%, from 2023. Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing is forecast at 16,010 jobs, an increase of 280, or 1.8%. Other food manufacturing is forecast at 15,490 jobs, up 1,300, or 9.2%.
Sugar and confectionery product manufacturing is forecast at 11,770 jobs in 2025, an increase of 520, or 4.6%. Fruit, vegetable and specialty-food manufacturing is forecast at 7,020 jobs, up 160, or 2.3%. Dairy-product manufacturing is forecast at 7,190 jobs, up 170, or 2.4%. Animal food manufacturing is forecast at 5,010 jobs, up 230, or 4.8%.
| Subsector | 2025 forecast jobs | Change from 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Animal slaughtering and processing | 17,470 | +600; 3.6% |
| Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing | 16,010 | +280; 1.8% |
| Other food manufacturing | 15,490 | +1,300; 9.2% |
| Sugar and confectionery products | 11,770 | +520; 4.6% |
| Dairy-product manufacturing | 7,190 | +170; 2.4% |
| Fruit, vegetable and specialty foods | 7,020 | +160; 2.3% |
| Animal food manufacturing | 5,010 | +230; 4.8% |
The long-term historical series provides a different view of change by subsector. From 2014 to 2024, animal slaughtering and processing employment increased from 15,280 to 16,440, a gain of 1,160 jobs, or 7.6%. Other-food manufacturing rose from 11,380 to 11,880, adding 500 jobs, or 4.4%. Sugar and confectionery manufacturing increased from 9,580 to 9,730, a gain of 150 jobs, or 1.6%.
Some categories declined over that historical period. Fruit, vegetable and specialty-food manufacturing fell from 7,240 to 6,970 jobs, a decrease of 270, or 3.7%. Dairy-product manufacturing fell from 6,450 to 6,120, a decrease of 330, or 5.1%. The historical values are from the Pennsylvania Long-Term Industry Employment Projections, 2014-2024; they are not presented as newly verified estimates.
Dairy, livestock and poultry inputs
The 2025 State Agriculture Overview: Pennsylvania reports 48,400 farm operations and 7.1 million farm acres in its 2025 overview. The same overview reports 205,000 beef cows on January 1, 2026, and 455,000 milk cows on January 1, 2026. Pennsylvania’s cattle and calf inventory was 1.4 million head on January 1, 2026, while the hog inventory was 1.4 million head on December 1, 2025.
Poultry production in the 2025 overview period included 244.5 million broiler chickens and 7.6 million turkeys. These agricultural figures describe production inputs and inventories, not a complete census of food-manufacturing establishments.
Pennsylvania had two plants producing dry nonfat human milk in the 2025 overview and produced 130.955 million pounds of that product. Milk production averaged 21,121 pounds per milk cow. Total milk production was 9.737 billion pounds and was valued at $2.093455 billion. The inventory dates and the overview period are retained as reported by USDA/NASS.
Grain, oilseed and field-crop inputs
Pennsylvania harvested 1.2 million dry-basis tons of hay and haylage in 2025, with a yield of 2.8 tons per acre. Corn grain production reached 102.68 million bushels at 151 bushels per acre, while corn silage production reached 6.3 million tons at 20 tons per acre.
The state produced 25.08 million bushels of soybeans at 44 bushels per acre and 13.32 million bushels of winter wheat at 72 bushels per acre. Other reported grain totals were 2.392 million bushels of oats at 52 bushels per acre, 2.08 million bushels of barley at 80 bushels per acre, and 700,000 bushels of rye at 35 bushels per acre.
Specialty field crops added several processing-relevant measures. Pennsylvania harvested 5,400 acres of pumpkins and produced 1.053 million hundredweight at 195 hundredweight per acre. Snap-bean production was 440,200 hundredweight at 71 hundredweight per acre. Maple syrup production was 191,000 gallons at 0.251 gallons per tap. All figures in this section are 2025 values from the USDA/NASS overview.
Fruit, vegetable and specialty-crop processing
Pennsylvania utilized 503 million pounds of apples in 2025, including fresh-market and processing uses. Of that total, 272.7 million pounds went to processing, with a reported value of $37.633 million. The distinction matters: the utilized total includes both markets, while the processing figure isolates the processing destination.
Peach utilization totaled 20,310 tons, including 1,310 tons for processing. Processing peaches were priced at $596 per ton. Processing pumpkins had a reported value of $147,000, and processing snap beans were priced at $317 per ton.
The state produced 452.029945 million pounds of agaricus mushrooms at 4.73 pounds per square foot. The reported agaricus mushroom processing price was $0.764 per pound. These production and price measures describe agricultural and processing inputs in the USDA/NASS 2025 overview, rather than the full value of every manufactured food product made in Pennsylvania.
Snack-food capacity and investment signals
Pennsylvania had 57 snack-food manufacturing plants in 2024, employing 6,955 people, according to Rural Perspectives, November/December 2025: The Making of Pennsylvania’s Famous Snack Foods. More than 40% of those jobs were located in York County, indicating a substantial geographic concentration within the statewide snack-food workforce.
The same Center for Rural Pennsylvania analysis reports an inflation-adjusted average snack-food manufacturing salary of $61,800 in 2024 dollars for 2014 wages, equivalent to $48,000 nominally in 2014. It reports that workers lost about $550 in annual purchasing power over the decade to 2024. The dollar comparison is inflation-adjusted where identified; other dollar figures in this article are nominal unless the source says otherwise.
Two 2026 announcements provide investment signals, not completed outcomes. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announcement on Chobani says the company announced a $1.2 billion investment to establish its first Pennsylvania dairy-product manufacturing operation. The operation is expected to create more than 900 jobs at full scale and, at full scale, source more than 3 billion pounds of Pennsylvania milk annually. These are announced investment and job projections.
The Pennsylvania governor’s announcement on Tandem Foods reports a $42 million expansion of the company’s Allegheny County food-manufacturing operations. The expansion is expected to create 83 new jobs over three years and retain 446 existing full-time positions. Those figures are also projections tied to the 2026 announcement, rather than completed employment results.