Cutters and Trimmers, Hand salary

SOC 51-9031 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$38,020

per year, nationally

Middle half

$34,050–$47,850

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

6,060

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-18.1%

600 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$26,630$57,870

10th: $26,630
25th: $34,050
Median: $38,020
75th: $47,850
90th: $57,870

Getting in

Typical education to enter: No formal educational credential
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where cutters and trimmers, hand earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Nebraska	$48,830	90.1	60	1.61×
2	Vermont	$48,670	98.0	—	—
3	Iowa	$48,580	87.8	—	—
4	Rhode Island	$48,100	102.3	50	2.39×
5	North Carolina	$47,910	94.3	1,060	5.51×
6	Michigan	$46,830	96.2	50	0.30×
7	Minnesota	$46,570	98.6	40	0.33×
8	New York	$46,190	107.9	220	0.57×
9	Indiana	$41,740	93.3	360	2.91×
10	Missouri	$40,560	90.8	110	0.96×
11	Massachusetts	$39,970	105.8	110	0.80×
12	South Carolina	$39,340	93.7	50	0.58×
13	Wisconsin	$39,010	94.1	60	0.48×
14	Kansas	$38,800	90.1	130	2.39×
15	California	$37,840	110.7	770	1.09×
16	Georgia	$37,480	96.3	290	1.53×
17	Mississippi	$37,280	87.0	90	2.09×
18	Connecticut	$35,970	103.6	50	0.74×
19	Washington	$35,960	107.0	—	—
20	Pennsylvania	$35,560	97.6	140	0.59×
21	Illinois	$35,360	100.0	30	0.14×
22	Ohio	$35,360	92.8	120	0.56×
23	Alabama	$35,160	88.8	—	—
24	Florida	$35,150	103.4	150	0.38×
25	Oklahoma	$34,910	87.8	—	—
26	New Jersey	$34,600	108.8	380	2.26×
27	Virginia	$32,470	101.1	60	0.36×
28	Arizona	$31,110	100.7	—	—
29	Texas	$29,130	97.1	740	1.35×
30	Tennessee	$27,030	91.9	230	1.81×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where cutters and trimmers, hand wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for cutters and trimmers, hand

The 22 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC	$49,200	88.5	590	97.45×
2	Winston-Salem, NC	$45,520	92.0	50	4.51×
3	St. Louis, MO-IL	$45,250	95.1	40	0.78×
4	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$44,140	101.8	70	2.69×
5	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$42,580	115.6	40	0.45×
6	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$41,890	100.1	110	1.00×
7	Elkhart-Goshen, IN	$41,740	90.3	70	13.96×
8	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$40,970	97.3	130	2.41×
9	Kansas City, MO-KS	$39,300	92.5	100	2.40×
10	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$39,160	112.6	440	1.20×
11	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$38,420	95.7	40	0.94×
12	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$38,010	106.4	60	0.88×
13	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$37,500	113.6	530	2.16×
14	Greensboro-High Point, NC	$37,020	92.9	200	14.02×
15	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$36,840	103.1	380	2.44×
16	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$35,140	114.2	50	0.49×
17	Tulsa, OK	$34,890	89.2	40	2.13×
18	Cleveland, OH	$34,360	93.9	40	1.01×
19	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$34,000	102.6	100	0.88×
20	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$30,010	96.3	30	0.78×
21	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$25,900	98.6	130	1.01×
22	Dalton, GA	$22,930	89.8	80	31.83×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where cutters and trimmers, hand wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.