Doctor of Optometry (OD): Optometrist Career Guide

Doctor of optometry (O.D.) is the doctoral degree in optometry and the credential behind the job title optometrist.

Optometrists examine eyes, diagnose refractive errors and eye diseases such as glaucoma, and prescribe glasses, contact lenses and medication as state law permits.

The profession is defined in law as much as in the clinic.

Every state requires optometrists to be licensed, to take continuing education and to renew their license periodically, and board certification is optional and separate from the license.

Two professions sit closest to optometry, and BLS distinguishes both from it: ophthalmologists, physicians who also perform a wider range of surgeries than optometrists, and opticians, who fit and adjust eyeglasses and, in some states, fill contact lens prescriptions.

Training runs through accredited optometry schools and the profession's own qualifying exam, not through medical school.

What holds in every state is the structure: an accredited O.D. degree, a state license, continuing education and periodic renewal, with the scope of practice set by each state's law.

That structure is also the career's recurring commitment.

The degree and the qualifying exam stand between you and the first license; after that, continuing education and renewal come back every cycle, and what you can do in the exam room is the state's to set.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) lists an optometrist's typical duties:

• Performing vision tests and eye examinations.
• Diagnosing refractive errors and eye diseases such as glaucoma.
• Prescribing eyeglasses, contact lenses and other visual aids.
• Performing minor surgical procedures and prescribing medications, as permitted by state law.
• Providing vision therapy or low-vision rehabilitation.
• Providing pre- and post-operative care.
• Screening for diseases such as diabetes and referring patients to other providers.

BLS names decision-making skills, communication skills, compassion and being detail oriented as the qualities it flags for optometrists.

The list itself shows the two halves of the career: first-exam optometry — vision tests, refractive errors, glasses and contacts — and its medical side — disease diagnosis, minor procedures as state law allows, pre- and post-operative care and referral.

In offices of optometrists, BLS's OEWS occupation mix counts dispensing opticians, ophthalmic medical technicians, medical secretaries and receptionists working alongside optometrists.

How the work divides up is set by the practice.

The rhythm varies too.

Most optometrists work full time, part-time work is common, and schedules may include evenings and weekends.

BLS's largest employers of optometrists in 2025 show how many shapes one career can take: offices of optometrists (61%), offices of physicians (14%), retail trade (13%), self-employed workers (5%) and outpatient care centers (4%).

Those percentages map onto the career modes optometrists talk about: an associate position in a private practice, a salaried role in an OD-MD group, and corporate optometry inside a retail optical.

Practice ownership does not sit in one column — BLS surveys generally count owners of incorporated practices as wage-and-salary workers, so its self-employed row is not a practice-ownership rate.

Fill-in and per-diem work cuts across all of them.

The corporate column hides more variety than the label suggests.

Costco's own optical pages say eye exams are provided by independent doctors of optometry in or next to most warehouses, not by Costco, and Visionworks says it runs both employed and subleasing independent doctor models.

Check who employs the OD before you assume the terms.

In the data we checked, the VA shows up as a training setting.

Our research did not establish how many optometrists the VA employs.

In ASCO's 2024-25 externship survey, schools reported 931 affiliated private-practice externship sites and 422 VA sites, so optometry students completed more externships in VA settings than in any setting except private practices.

Each mode changes the job: who you answer to, how pay is structured and how much business risk you carry.

The license belongs to you, not to an employer; the employment terms are set anew with each one.

The route in is long and graduate-level, and it ends in a state license rather than at the diploma.

The sequence:

Residency is optional for licensure, so new graduates who skip it go straight into practice once the exam and license are done.

The license, not the diploma, is what lets you start seeing patients.

Optometry's focused careers build on the same license rather than replacing it.

Residency is the formal route in: BLS names primary care, cornea and contact lenses, and ocular disease among the residency areas optometrists choose.

The BLS duty list also shows where day-to-day practice specializes.

Vision therapy, low-vision rehabilitation, pre- and post-operative care and contact lens prescribing all appear as routine optometric work.

Scope decides how far a specialty can go.

States vary in which medications optometrists may prescribe and in whether they may perform surgery or other procedures, so the same specialty can look different across state lines.

Optometrists also describe their work by the patients and problems they focus on — pediatric, neuro, low-vision and specialty contact lens optometry among them — and on OptometryHires each of those focuses has its own job category.

BLS's Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey put the median annual wage for optometrists (SOC 29-1041) at $136,570 in May 2025, or $65.66 per hour.

The spread around that median is wide.

The lowest-paid 10 percent of optometrists earned less than $74,870, and the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $202,180.

Read the figures for what they cover.

OEWS is a payroll survey: it counts wage-and-salary optometrists and excludes self-employed ODs — including many practice owners and sublease ODs — whose income is not in the wage data.

Pay also follows the settings above, because an associate's salary, a corporate schedule and an owner's practice income are different kinds of number.

The May 2025 release is also a national figure.

It describes the profession as a whole, not any one state, city or employer.

The objective signals point the same direction.

BLS counts about 45,100 optometrist jobs in 2025 and projects 10% employment growth to 49,400 by 2035, which it calls much faster than average, with about 2,000 openings a year.

Label the counts correctly, because BLS keeps two series.

This projection count includes self-employed optometrists; the payroll wage survey above does not.

BLS attributes the demand to an aging population, rising myopia and refractive error, digital eye strain and rising diabetes, which drives diabetic retinopathy.

Growth is not the whole answer, though.

Whether optometry is a good career depends on the mode you build: setting and employment terms shape the daily pace, and BLS notes part-time work is common in the profession.

Three questions cut through it.

Which settings are hiring where you want to live, which mode of practice matches the risk and pace you want, and what the license requires in the state you plan to work in.

The sections above give you the factual side of each.

Use the rest of this guide to weigh the decision: the daily work, the settings, the licensing path and the pay data above are the facts behind it.

OptometryHires lists only eye care work, so optometrist openings sit next to the roles optometrists practice alongside.

Browse current optometrist jobs to see associate positions, corporate and retail schedules, per-diem coverage and medical-practice roles.

Focused roles get their own listings too.

Pediatric, neuro, low-vision and contact lens optometry appear as separate categories, so you can narrow a search to the practice area you want.

Employers use the same board in the other direction, posting openings for the optometrists they want to hire.

Career information, not medical, licensing or legal advice. Confirm any licensing question with the state board of optometry where you practice or plan to practice.