Community Sentiment
Do you agree?
Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Butchers and Meat Cutters?
Task-level automation exposure for Butchers and Meat Cutters: 11 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
22%
weighted task index
11 of 11 tasks scored
Median Salary
$40,140 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
High
136,430 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+2.4%
employment change
15,100 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 54 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$22,780 – $51,670
Highest medians
Washington $51,670
Alaska $50,450
Hawaii $50,080
Oregon $49,360
District of Columbia $48,760
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $22,780
Guam $29,110
Virgin Islands $29,120
Mississippi $29,700
West Virginia $33,570
State figures come from the 51-3021 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 23%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 61%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 16%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 7%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 59/100
High
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
11 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 16%
2 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 6%
1 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 78%
8 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- New 07/2016 · Incumbent
Clean and sanitize meat cases and cutting equipment.
Constituent Tasks
#8784 · Core · 4% automatable
Prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye.
physical manipulation — Hands-on meat preparation
Prepare meat products for sale or consumption.
#8783 · Core · 13% automatable
Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat.
physical manipulation — Physically weighing finished products on scale
Mark products, workpieces, or equipment with identifying information. Weigh finished products. Prepare meat products for sale or consumption.
#8786 · Core · 4% automatable
Cut, trim, bone, tie, and grind meats, such as beef, pork, poultry, and fish, to prepare in cooking form.
physical manipulation — Hands-on meat preparation
Prepare meat products for sale or consumption. Cut meat products.
#8785 · Core · 4% automatable
Prepare special cuts of meat ordered by customers.
physical manipulation — Manual meat cutting
Cut meat products.
#8787 · Core · 20% automatable
Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery to ensure meat quality.
visual inspection — Food product inspection is sensory and hands-on
Inspect food products.
#8789 · Core · 70% automatable
Estimate requirements and order or requisition meat supplies to maintain inventories.
decision support — Ordering via systems automatable; human approves spend
Estimate material requirements for production. Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
#8788 · Core · 4% automatable
Shape, lace, and tie roasts, using boning knife, skewer, and twine.
physical manipulation — Hands-on meat preparation
Prepare meat products for sale or consumption. Cut meat products.
#8791 · Supplemental · 82% automatable
Record quantity of meat received and issued to cooks or keep records of meat sales.
data analysis — Record production data into structured logs
Record operational or production data.
#8790 · Supplemental · 30% automatable
Supervise other butchers or meat cutters.
interpersonal — Directing production operations is human supervisory authority
Direct operational or production activities.
#8793 · Supplemental · 3% automatable
Cure, smoke, tenderize, and preserve meat.
physical manipulation — Manual loading into hot ovens or furnaces
Load items into ovens or furnaces.
#8792 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Negotiate with representatives from supply companies to determine order details.
interpersonal — Order spec negotiation with customers is relational
Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications.
Embed this calculator on your site ↓
Bloggers & authors: Embed this interactive calculator directly in your articles or comparison guides. It loads dynamically via a responsive iframe (auto-resizing to prevent double scrollbars) and provides a direct, high-value tool for your audience.
<div class="giniloh-calculator-embed" data-calculator="butchers-and-meat-cutters"></div>
<script src="https://giniloh.com/embed.js" async></script> Method
How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
See the full method →Related Article
Best AI Proof Jobs in a Changing Market
Worried robots are coming for your paycheck? You’re not alone—but the real story is far more hopeful. This guide cuts through the scare headlines to reveal exactly where smart, sustainable career opportunities exist right now. We’ve curated a list of true ai proof jobs—roles in healthcare, skilled trades, and cybersecurity that not only survive automation but thrive because of human judgment and empathy. You’ll get specific, money-making data on projected growth (the BLS says wind turbine technicians, for instance, will grow 44% by 2032), real salary ranges from active job listings, and a simple self-assessment quiz to identify your own most resilient path. Plus, we name companies hiring today and the niche job boards they use. Stop worrying and start planning—your secure career is closer than you think.
Read Article ->