Background: The advancement of genomic selection in beef cattle populations is reliant upon the identification of regions in the genome that underlie carcass quality genetic variation. A genome wide association study and genetic analysis was performed using 50K SNP genotypes from 2,285 Angus-sired calves with observations for 10 growth and 8 carcass traits. Results: The estimate of SNP marker-based heritability ranged from 0.10 (rib-eye area) to 0.42 (marbling score) and the pedigree based heritability ranged from 0.11 (weaning weight) to 0.53 (marbling score). A total of 31 genomic regions were significantly associated with the 10 growth traits and a total of 84 genomic regions were significantly associated with the 8 carcass traits. Of these regions, 11 were associated with multiple carcass traits, 8 were associated with mutiple growth traits, and 2 were associated with multiple growth and carcass traits. The 2 regions associated with both growth and carcass traits were located on chromosomes 20 and 26 and harbor genes known to be important for normal postnatal growth and development and protein sorting such as SH3PXD2B and ERGIC1. Conclusions: This genome wide association/genetic analys study has provided evidence of pleitropic effects of these highly variable genomic regions with regard to multiple growth and carcass traits. Important candidate genes were identified for marker windows where appropriate and maybe worthwhile for further investigation. Results may possibly enhance the understanding of the biological and genetic architecture that provoke growth and body composition in meat cattle industry.