Oregon’s Food Manufacturing Industry – Adding Value
July 08, 2026Food manufacturers process livestock and agricultural inputs into products for intermediate or final consumption. The industry adds value to raw agricultural products, selling its output to wholesalers or retailers for distribution to consumers. Although wholesalers and retailers are an important cog in bringing products to market, much like agricultural producers, they are not part of the food manufacturing industry.
Food manufacturing employed more than 28,000 people in Oregon in 2025. More detail on an industry is available by the type of product manufactured, with the largest industries by employment in the table below.
| Industry | 2025 Annual Average Employment |
|---|---|
| Food Manufacturing | 28,207 |
| Frozen Food | 6,695 |
| Bread and Bakery Product | 4,809 |
| Fruit and Vegetable Canning, Pickling, and Drying | 2,378 |
| Animal Slaughtering and Processing | 2,370 |
| Dairy Product (except Frozen) | 1,818 |
| Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging | 1,179 |
| Coffee and Tea | 956 |
| Flour Milling and Malt | 911 |
| Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert | 693 |
| Snack Food | 666 |
| All other food types | 5,732 |
Nationally, the food manufacturing industry provided nearly 1.8 million jobs in 2025 with a payroll of $112.5 billion. Oregon’s food manufacturing industry had a location quotient (LQ) of 1.25 in 2025, showing a higher concentration of employment relative to the nation. Nebraska produced an LQ of 3.6 to lead the states, and Oregon’s food manufacturing industry ranked 19th among states by that measure. California ranked highest for total employment in 2025, with close to 167,000 jobs, while Oregon ranked in the middle of the pack.
Oregon Food Manufacturing in 2025
Oregon’s food manufacturing industry provided over 28,000 jobs in 2025, up from around 24,000 in 1990. Employment in the industry peaked between 2017 and 2019 with just under 30,000 jobs. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, food manufacturing cut about 2,000 jobs, a one-month drop of 7.1%, falling to 26,000. Overall jobs recovered from that decline relatively quickly, partly because demand for at-home food products increased during the course of pandemic response measures. However, total employment has been stable for several years.
Food manufacturing’s payroll exceeded $1.6 billion in 2025. Annual pay per worker in the sector averaged $57,459 in 2025, below the all-industry average of $73,748, and significantly below manufacturing’s average wage of $90,046.
Food manufacturing included 981 business units in 2025, about 10% more establishments than in 2019.
Food Manufacturing Subsectors
The largest product subsector by employment in 2025 was frozen food manufacturing, which employed around 6,700 and had an annual wage at about the average for the industry. Other subsectors with a substantial number of employees were bread products, fruit and vegetable preservation, animal slaughtering, dairy products, and seafood.
Food manufacturers produced products and jobs in 33 of Oregon’s 36 counties in 2025. Multnomah County led the state with about 6,268 jobs or 22% of Oregon’s total. Marion County ranked second with around 3,590 jobs (13%), followed by Washington County’s 2,594 (9%), Clackamas County’s 2,450 (9%), and Lane County’s 2,309 (8%). Rural Oregon was led by Morrow County’s 1,411 jobs (5%), ranking sixth statewide, followed by Tillamook County’s 1,207 jobs (4%), ranking seventh.
10-Year Forecast
Oregon’s food manufacturing industry is expected to add 300 jobs between 2024 and 2034, for a growth rate of 1%. Oregon’s manufacturing industry has a slightly faster growth projection, at 2%, while the overall rate for private industry is 7%. The only food manufacturing subsector for which projections are released is fruit and vegetable preserving, which is projected to decline by 800 jobs, (-9%).
That projection departs slightly from the perspective in the U.S., where the industry is projected to grow faster than average for manufacturing. Part of this is due to Oregon’s local industry mix. Oregon has far fewer jobs in the fast growth sector of animal slaughtering and more in preserving and specialty manufacturing, which is projected to decline in the U.S. as well.
Even with slow growth, there will be substantial opportunities to enter the sector over the next 10 years. More than 90% of openings in all occupations across the economy are due to replacement rather than growth. People moving out of food manufacturing into another sector or retiring from the labor force means businesses will need to hire thousands of workers into food manufacturing that do not currently work in the field, even if very few new jobs are added.