Butchers and Meat Cutters
Cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Food Production
- Production and Processing
- Sales and Marketing
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat.
- Prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye.
- Prepare special cuts of meat ordered by customers.
- Cut, trim, bone, tie, and grind meats, such as beef, pork, poultry, and fish, to prepare in cooking form.
- Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery to ensure meat quality.
- Shape, lace, and tie roasts, using boning knife, skewer, and twine.
- Estimate requirements and order or requisition meat supplies to maintain inventories.
- Supervise other butchers or meat cutters.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (69.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (32.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (33.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Butchers and Meat Cutters is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 60% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 90% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 61% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 86% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 71% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 52% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 91% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 87% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 3.76%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 33.24%
- Constant contact with others: 62.99%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 3.76%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 7.87%
- Very important: 21.66%
- Extremely important: 66.72%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 11.63%
- Very important: 36.88%
- Extremely important: 51.49%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 11.57%
- Very little freedom: 15.34%
- Limited freedom: 15.35%
- Some freedom: 19.06%
- A lot of freedom: 38.68%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Time pressure
- Never: 15.64%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.15%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.04%
- Every day: 62.17%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Conflict situations
- Never: 24.33%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 3.76%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 40.09%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.06%
- Every day: 7.76%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.67%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 29.19%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 36.1%
- Every day: 28.04%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2016
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 9.65%
- Fairly serious: 13.57%
- Serious: 12.6%
- Very serious: 5.07%
- Extremely serious: 59.11%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2016
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
- Analyze
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
Closeness 92/100
- Analyze
Upholsterers
Closeness 92/100
- Analyze
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers
Closeness 92/100
- Analyze
Stockers and Order Fillers
Closeness 92/100
- Analyze
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Closeness 92/100
- Analyze
Cooks, Fast Food
Closeness 91/100
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 51-3021.00 · SOC 51-3021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8