Background: Burnout has been highlighted as a significant problem for workers in the intellectual disabilities field. A growing number of studies have investigated the levels of burnout and its correlates amongst this population, although they have often reported somewhat contradictory findings. Materials and methods: The present paper sought to systematically review the literature describing the levels and correlates of burnout amongst direct care workers of adults with intellectual disabilities. Results: Meta-analytic comparisons suggested that the levels of burnout are somewhat lowered in this population compared with normative samples and that there appeared to be a trend of burnout rates decreasing steadily over the past 20 years. Discussion: Burnout appears to represent a useful construct for measuring the distress of workers supporting adults with intellectual disabilities. Gaps and inconsistencies were highlighted in the research literature and future research directions discussed.