Skip to content
Boston Career Explorer

Production

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

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

Also called: Beef Trimmer, Breast Trimmer, Chicken Cutter, Deboner, Fish Processor, Meat Cutter

Median pay in Greater Boston
$38,830
$18.67/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
1,250
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+5.7%
210 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
No formal educational credential
plus Short-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$34,810$36,560$38,830$43,040$54,280

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d 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.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure11 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 13
  • Language-model AIOE 17
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 3

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. AI tools may help with simple record-keeping like weights and tags. Cutting, trimming, and spotting defects by eye and by hand are physical tasks that AI tools do not do.

Likely to change

  • Recording weights and tagging containers
  • Tracking packed products and container contents

Still relies on people

  • Cutting and trimming meat with knives and saws
  • Spotting bruises and blemishes by sight

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic

    You already trim with knives and saws and follow work orders. This move offers higher pay ($55,530) and long-term on-the-job training.

    Pay difference
    +$16,700 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +6.7%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers

    Checking products for defects and working safely carry over to welding. It offers much higher pay ($63,770) and moderate on-the-job training.

    Pay difference
    +$24,940 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +4.2%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

    Inspecting products for defects carries over to this machine work. It offers higher pay ($51,220) and moderate on-the-job training.

    Pay difference
    +$12,390 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +3.9%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.

Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

Talk to a career coach