Career
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers
Cut and trim meat, poultry and fish.
$38,300
Median pay
+5.7%
Job growth, 2025–35
17,000
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming.
- Weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents.
- Inspect meat products for defects, bruises or blemishes and remove them along with any excess fat.
- Cut and trim meat to prepare for packing.
- Separate meats and byproducts into specified containers and seal containers.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Speaking, Monitoring.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though short-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $38,300 a year and 17,000 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Slaughterers and Meat Packers$40,130 · +2.0%
- Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products$35,730 · -3.4%
- Butchers and Meat Cutters$40,140 · +2.4%
- Packers and Packagers, Hand$36,280 · -5.0%
- Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals$36,670 · -3.2%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
Not sure this fits who you are? Start with Vocational Finder →
Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.