---
title: "Cutter and Trimmer, Hand"
description: "Use hand tools or hand-held power tools to cut and trim a variety of manufactured items, such as carpet, fabric, stone, glass, or rubber."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutter-and-trimmer-hand"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Cutter and Trimmer, Hand

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-9031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-9031.00

Use hand tools or hand-held power tools to cut and trim a variety of manufactured items, such as carpet, fabric, stone, glass, or rubber.

Also advertised as: Cloth Cutter; Denim Cutter; Fabric Cutter; Finisher; Glass Cutter; Hand Cutter; Leather Cutter; Offline Cutter.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $38,020 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $18.28/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $26,630 to $57,870, with the middle half between $34,050 and $47,850
- **Total US employment:** 6,060
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -18.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 500 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 47/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 6,060 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $26,630 |
| 25th | $34,050 |
| 50th (median) | $38,020 |
| 75th | $47,850 |
| 90th | $57,870 |
| Mean (average) | $41,050 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NE | $48,830 | $54,194 | 60 |
| VT | $48,670 | $49,685 | Not published by BLS |
| IA | $48,580 | $55,354 | Not published by BLS |
| RI | $48,100 | $47,028 | 50 |
| NC | $47,910 | $50,792 | 1,060 |
| MI | $46,830 | $48,671 | 50 |
| MN | $46,570 | $47,221 | 40 |
| NY | $46,190 | $42,800 | 220 |
| IN | $41,740 | $44,724 | 360 |
| MO | $40,560 | $44,661 | 110 |
| MA | $39,970 | $37,794 | 110 |
| SC | $39,340 | $41,963 | 50 |
| WI | $39,010 | $41,458 | 60 |
| KS | $38,800 | $43,079 | 130 |
| CA | $37,840 | $34,176 | 770 |

15 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 30 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutter-and-trimmer-hand/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/cutter-and-trimmer-hand.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 5,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 4,800 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 1,100 jobs, or -18.9%. Declining: -18.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 500 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** No formal educational credential (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 72.8% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 16.4% |
| Some College Courses | 5.7% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 5.2% |

## What the work involves

- Cut, shape, and trim materials, such as textiles, food, glass, stone, and metal, using knives, scissors, and other hand tools, portable power tools, or bench-mounted tools.
- Mark cutting lines around patterns or templates, or follow layout points, using squares, rules, and straightedges, and chalk, pencils, or scribes.
- Mark or discard items with defects such as spots, stains, scars, snags, chips, scratches, or unacceptable shapes or finishes.
- Position templates or measure materials to locate specified points of cuts or to obtain maximum yields, using rules, scales, or patterns.
- Trim excess material or cut threads off finished products, such as cutting loose ends of plastic off a manufactured toy for a smoother finish.
- Read work orders to determine dimensions, cutting locations, and quantities to cut.
- Fold or shape materials before or after cutting them.
- Separate materials or products according to size, weight, type, condition, color, or shade.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Production and Processing — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 2.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 1.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 1.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Category Flexibility — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.24 |
| C — Conventional | 3.75 |
| A — Artistic | 2.20 |
| I — Investigative | 1.22 |
| S — Social | 1.13 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 82.6 |
| ISTP | 73.3 |
| ISFJ | 72.1 |
| ESTJ | 67.1 |
| INTJ | 62.2 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Cutting and Slicing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutting-and-slicing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $46,570
- [Grinding and Polishing Worker, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-and-polishing-worker-hand) — median $42,660
- [Sewing Machine Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sewing-machine-operator) — median $36,670
- [Sawing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Wood](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sawing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-wood) — median $42,770
- [Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Except Sawing](https://nuecareer.com/careers/woodworking-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $43,380
- [Textile Cutting Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/textile-cutting-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $38,760
- [Machine Feeder and Offbearer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/machine-feeder-and-offbearer) — median $41,220
- [Shoe Machine Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/shoe-machine-operator-and-tender) — median $35,650
- [Molder, Shaper, and Caster, Except Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/molder-shaper-and-caster) — median $46,170
- [Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutting-punching-and-press-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $46,330

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/cutter-and-trimmer-hand