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.