Also called: Meat Cutter, Whole-Animal Butcher
Breaks down carcasses into steaks, chops, and roasts at grocery stores, butcher shops, or processing plants.
You work in a cold room with sharp knives and saws, turning a side of beef into ribeyes and brisket. In a neighborhood butcher shop, you also advise customers on cuts and cooking.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. On-the-job training or apprenticeship; some meat science programs exist.
Ways in: On-the-job training, Apprenticeship. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Meat Science.
Growing slowly (about 1% over 10 years). Butchers and meat cutters.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Packing plants use robot cutters, but grocery and shop cutting by hand holds; robots reach further by 2036.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply to grocery store meat departments (Kroger, Publix, H-E-B) for meat cutter apprentice jobs
Classes: Culinary arts, Agriculture science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 51-3021.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.