Ask what is an optician and the short answer is: the eye care worker who fits people for eyeglasses and contact lenses and helps them choose frames and lenses, filling prescriptions written by optometrists and ophthalmologists.
Opticians do not examine eyes or prescribe.
The job is the measuring, fitting and adjusting of eyewear after the exam, and it happens in optometry practices, retail opticals and physician offices.
What is an optician?
An optician is the member of the eye care team who fits customers for eyeglasses and contact lenses and helps them select which frames and lenses to buy.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics gives the occupation its own category — opticians, SOC 29-2081 — and draws its boundary plainly: opticians fill prescriptions written by optometrists and ophthalmologists rather than examining eyes.
In the United States, “optician” means this dispensing role — O*NET’s occupational data covers dispensing opticians — not the examining doctor, which is what the word often means in the UK.
Employer titles blur around the same job: O*NET’s sample titles for the occupation include Licensed Dispensing Optician (LDO), Ophthalmic Dispenser, Certified Optician and Contact Lens Technician.
The federal government puts a neat frame around the work, too.
The FTC’s Eyeglass Rule defines “ophthalmic services” as the measuring, fitting and adjusting of eyewear after a refractive eye examination — and that after-the-exam work is the optician’s job.
Just as important is what the role does not include.
US opticians do not perform eye exams and do not prescribe.
Florida law, for example, makes it unlawful for an optician to diagnose the eyes, attempt to determine their refractive powers, or prescribe for or treat diseases or ailments.
What does an optician do day to day?
O*NET rates measuring as the top optician task: measuring clients’ bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance and optical centers using measuring devices.
O*NET scores its importance 99 out of 100.
Turning the prescription into finished eyewear runs through the rest of the task list.
O*NET lists reading a client’s current lens prescription with lensometers or lens analyzers, and heating, shaping or bending plastic or metal frames with pliers and hands so they fit the client.
The retail side is real work, not an add-on.
O*NET lists recommending specific lenses, lens coatings and frames to suit client needs, and selling contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses and related eye goods — it rates “selling or influencing others” at 89 out of 100 among the occupation’s work activities.
The skills behind those tasks, as BLS groups them, are business, communication, customer service, decision-making, detail orientation and dexterity, with opticians using pliers and pupilometers to adjust and repair eyeglasses.
Hours skew retail.
BLS says most opticians work full time, part-time work is common, and the job can include evenings and weekends.
O*NET’s survey of dispensing opticians adds the worker’s side of the hours: 96 percent reported a typical 40-hour week, and 96 percent a regular, set schedule.
There is a systems layer too.
O*NET names practice software such as First Insight MaximEyes and OctoPlus among the tools opticians use, and flags QuickBooks, Microsoft Excel and Word as technologies that show up repeatedly in job postings.
Licensed vs unlicensed opticians in one paragraph
Licensing is the dividing line in this career and it is set state by state.
ABO-NCLE, the national certification body, lists opticianry licensing boards in 22 states plus Puerto Rico on its October 2026 board list — Florida, New York, California, Massachusetts and Washington among them.
The United Opticians Association, the industry group formed in 2024 when the Opticians Association of America unified with the National Federation of Opticianry Schools, puts the count the same way: 22 states requiring some type of certification or licensure for opticians.
Where a state does license, BLS describes the usual shape: passing one or more exams, plus an approved education program or an apprenticeship or supervised experience.
National certification is a separate track.
ABO-NCLE certifies spectacle opticians (ABO) and contact lens fitters (NCLE), and describes its exams as voluntary competency certification, separate from state licensure.
A certified optician is not automatically licensed, and in licensing states the state license is what permits practice.
BLS adds that employers may prefer certified candidates.
Licensing rules are state rules
Where do opticians work?
BLS counted 74,300 optician jobs in 2025 — an Employment Projections count that includes the self-employed.
The largest employer groups it lists: offices of optometrists at 43 percent, general merchandise retailers at 23 percent, health and personal care retailers at 20 percent, and offices of physicians at 8 percent.
Read as workplaces, that is both sides of the industry: the optical inside an optometry or physician practice on one side, and store-based vision centers and optical retail on the other — the general merchandise category is BLS’s term for the big-box and warehouse-club stores.
Outlook, briefly: BLS projects optician employment to grow 4 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as average, with 5,600 openings a year.
It also flags a headwind — growing consumer interest in buying eyewear online may temper demand somewhat.
The role sits in a small family of optical careers with different lanes.
Contact lens fitters fit and work with contact lenses; optical lab technicians grind, surface and mount lenses in the lab, and O*NET’s titles there include Surfacing Technician and Edger Technician.
Optical managers and optical sales associates run and staff the retail floor — BLS has no dedicated occupation for optical managers or optical sales associates.
How do you become an optician?
The common entry, per BLS, is a high school diploma plus long-term on-the-job training — much of this trade is learned at the dispensing table.
Some opticians complete a 1-year certificate or a 2-year associate degree instead, and others enter through apprenticeship.
O*NET places the occupation in Job Zone Three — medium preparation, usually one or two years of training — and lists two Department of Labor–approved registered apprenticeship titles for dispensing opticians.
On the school side, the Commission on Opticianry Accreditation listed 17 accredited opticianry programs as of October 2026.
If your state is one of the 22 with a licensing board, expect the shape BLS describes: licensure usually means passing one or more exams, plus completing an approved education program or an apprenticeship or other supervised work experience, before you practice.
ABO and NCLE certification stays voluntary, sits outside state licensure, and is something employers may prefer on top.
- Check whether your state licenses or certifies opticians — start from your state board’s own pages
- Get in: long-term on-the-job training, a 1- or 2-year opticianry program, or an apprenticeship
- Sit the exams your state requires, plus its practical exam if its board uses one
- Add voluntary ABO or NCLE certification — BLS notes employers may prefer certified candidates
What does an optician earn?
BLS’s OEWS wage survey put the median annual wage for opticians (SOC 29-2081) at $47,260 in May 2025.
The figure covers wage-and-salary workers only, so self-employed opticians are not in the survey.
For the full breakdown, see optician salary data.
Optician vs optometrist vs ophthalmologist in one table
The three roles meet at the same counter, and the division of labor between them is the point.
BLS separates them cleanly: optometrists examine and prescribe; ophthalmologists are physicians who also perform a wider range of surgeries; opticians fit and adjust eyeglasses and, in some states, fill contact lens prescriptions.
| Optician | Optometrist (OD) | Ophthalmologist (MD or DO) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performs the eye exam | No — fills prescriptions rather than examining eyes | Yes — vision tests; diagnosing refractive errors and eye diseases such as glaucoma | Yes — a physician, who also performs a wider range of surgeries |
| Prescribes glasses and contacts | No — opticians fill prescriptions rather than prescribing (Florida law, for one, makes it unlawful for an optician to prescribe) | Yes — prescribing glasses, contacts and visual aids is a listed BLS duty | Yes — opticians fill prescriptions written by ophthalmologists too |
| Measures, fits and adjusts the eyewear | Yes — the job itself, after the exam | Writes the prescription opticians work from | Writes the prescription opticians work from |
The schooling gap is the widest row of all: BLS says optometrists typically need a Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree, which takes 4 years to complete after at least 3 years of undergraduate education, and every state requires a license.
The optician path runs on long-term on-the-job training, certificate and degree programs and apprenticeships instead.
Requirements for both roles are set state by state, so confirm specifics with the relevant board before you act on them.
Find optician jobs
Opticians are hired across the employer groups BLS counts as the largest: optometry practices, retail opticals and physician offices.
Every listing on OptometryHires is eye care work — browse open optician jobs from practices and optical retailers.
Hiring instead of job hunting?
Practices and optical retailers can post an optician job and use the hiring guides written for eye care employers.
Career information, not licensing, legal, medical, clinical or billing advice. Licensing and scope rules change by state — confirm current requirements with your state’s opticianry licensing board, and with the FTC for the federal Eyeglass and Contact Lens Rules, before you act on them.