---
title: "Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutter and Trimmer"
description: "Use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/meat-poultry-and-fish-cutter-and-trimmer"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutter and Trimmer

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-3022 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-3022.00

Use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood.

Also advertised as: Beef Trimmer; Breast Trimmer; Chicken Cutter; Deboner; Fish Processor; Meat Cutter; Meat Trimmer; Seafood Processor.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $38,300 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $18.41/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $29,980 to $48,150, with the middle half between $35,350 and $44,170
- **Total US employment:** 145,700
- **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:** +5.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 17,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 56/100 — 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 145,700 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $29,980 |
| 25th | $35,350 |
| 50th (median) | $38,300 |
| 75th | $44,170 |
| 90th | $48,150 |
| Mean (average) | $39,280 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CO | $50,390 | $48,898 | 2,470 |
| AZ | $48,550 | $48,224 | 620 |
| KS | $48,080 | $53,382 | 5,000 |
| NE | $47,580 | $52,806 | 8,340 |
| NH | $47,260 | $45,370 | Not published by BLS |
| ND | $47,250 | $53,114 | 390 |
| MI | $44,430 | $46,177 | 920 |
| SD | $44,290 | $49,997 | 2,080 |
| UT | $44,150 | $44,657 | 1,080 |
| MN | $43,400 | $44,007 | 3,790 |
| WI | $43,300 | $46,017 | 2,040 |
| IA | $43,190 | $49,213 | 3,970 |
| WA | $43,010 | $40,191 | 3,630 |
| IN | $42,450 | $45,484 | 2,640 |
| MO | $41,890 | $46,126 | 2,880 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/meat-poultry-and-fish-cutter-and-trimmer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/meat-poultry-and-fish-cutter-and-trimmer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 149,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 158,300 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 8,500 jobs, or +5.7%. Faster than average: 5.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 17,000 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 | 62.4% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 36.3% |
| Doctoral Degree | 1.3% |

## What the work involves

- Inspect meat products for defects, bruises or blemishes and remove them along with any excess fat.
- Cut and trim meat to prepare for packing.
- Use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming.
- Separate meats and byproducts into specified containers and seal containers.
- Weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.3 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.

- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Production and Processing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Food Production — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Selective Attention — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.1 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 | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 3.92 |
| I — Investigative | 1.77 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.42 |
| S — Social | 1.37 |
| A — Artistic | 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 | 87.1 |
| ISTP | 74.5 |
| ISFJ | 74.3 |
| ESTJ | 73.4 |
| INTJ | 62.2 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Slaughterer and Meat Packer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/slaughterer-and-meat-packer) — median $40,130
- [Grader and Sorter, Agricultural Products](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grader-and-sorter-agricultural-products) — median $35,730
- [Butcher and Meat Cutter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/butcher-and-meat-cutter) — median $40,140
- [Packer and Packager, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/packer-and-packager-hand) — median $36,280
- [Farmworker, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animal](https://nuecareer.com/careers/farmworker-farm-ranch-and-aquacultural-animal) — median $36,670
- [Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-and-tobacco-roasting-baking-and-drying-machine-operator-and-tender) — median $44,810
- [Packaging and Filling Machine Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/packaging-and-filling-machine-operator-and-tender) — median $43,220
- [Food Batchmaker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-batchmaker) — median $42,290
- [Cutting and Slicing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutting-and-slicing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $46,570
- [Machine Feeder and Offbearer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/machine-feeder-and-offbearer) — median $41,220

## 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/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **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/meat-poultry-and-fish-cutter-and-trimmer