An optometrist is a doctor of optometry: a 4-year O.D. program after at least three years of undergraduate study, with a license required in every state.
Their duty list runs from vision tests and diagnosing refractive errors and eye disease to prescribing medication, which all states allow.
An optician fits and adjusts eyeglasses and, in some states, fills contact lens prescriptions — typically entering the field with a high school diploma and long-term on-the-job training.
Here is the optometrist vs optician comparison.
What is the difference between an optometrist and an optician?
The headline difference: clinical care versus dispensing craft.
BLS draws the line between the occupations itself — optometrists perform vision tests and diagnose refractive errors and eye diseases such as glaucoma, while opticians fit and adjust eyeglasses and, in some states, fill contact lens prescriptions.
Ophthalmologists are the third side of that split — BLS distinguishes them from optometrists too — and our optometrist vs ophthalmologist comparison covers that pairing.
The training and licensing gap is the practical difference.
Every state requires optometrists to be licensed — an accredited O.D. degree plus all sections of a qualifying exam, plus continuing education and periodic renewal.
Opticians' typical entry education is a high school diploma plus long-term on-the-job training, and some states require opticians to be licensed.
Prescribing sits on one side of that line too: all states allow optometrists to prescribe medication, though states vary in which medications an OD may prescribe and in whether an OD may perform surgery or other procedures.
If you are new to either role, the optometrist career guide and the optician career guide profile each job in full.
What does each do day to day?
An optometrist's day runs on the exam lane.
BLS's typical-duty list covers vision tests and diagnosing refractive errors and eye diseases such as glaucoma.
It also runs to prescribing glasses, contacts and visual aids; minor surgical procedures and medications as permitted by state law; vision therapy or low-vision rehabilitation; pre- and post-operative care; and screening for diseases such as diabetes with referral.
BLS lists decision-making, communication, compassion and being detail oriented as important qualities for optometrists.
An optician's day is the dispensing side of that flow: fitting and adjusting eyeglasses and, in some states, filling contact lens prescriptions.
The hands-on dispensing skills behind the work are the optician career guide's territory — this page stays at the career-comparison level.
Education and license for each
The optometrist route is the longer one.
It takes at least 3 years of undergraduate education before applying — applicants to O.D. programs typically hold a bachelor's degree — then the entrance exam covering natural sciences, reading comprehension, physics and quantitative reasoning (the OAT), then a 4-year O.D. program.
After the degree, a 1-year residency in areas such as primary care, cornea and contact lenses, and ocular disease is optional — BLS notes residency is optional for licensure.
Licensure is the gate: all states require optometrists to be licensed, through an accredited O.D. plus all sections of a qualifying exam, and some states add an exam on clinical skills or optometry law.
Continuing education and periodic renewal follow, and board certification is optional.
The optician route is an entry-level one by comparison.
BLS's typical entry education is a high school diploma or the equivalent plus long-term on-the-job training, and some opticians enter with an associate's degree or a certificate in ophthalmic dispensing or a related field.
Some states require opticians to be licensed.
State rules vary enough that they deserve their own reading: our optometrist license requirements guide and optician license requirements guide cover both, state by state.
Licensing rules are state rules
Pay and job outlook for each
The salary gap is wide.
Both medians come from the same BLS OEWS May 2025 release.
| Measure | Optometrists (SOC 29-1041) | Opticians, dispensing (SOC 29-2081) |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage, May 2025 | $136,570 | $47,260 |
| Median hourly wage, May 2025 | $65.66 | $22.72 |
| Lowest-paid 10% earned less than | $74,870 | $35,610 |
| Highest-paid 10% earned more than | $202,180 | $76,750 |
| Jobs in 2025 (Employment Projections) | about 45,100 | about 74,300 |
| Projected growth, 2025-35 | 10% (much faster than average) | 4% (about as fast as average) |
| Openings per year | about 2,000 | about 5,600 |
Read the labels before you read the gap.
Both wage medians are payroll (OEWS) figures, so they cover employees: self-employed ODs — practice owners and many sublease ODs — are not in the $136,570, and the optician figure is the BLS dispensing optician row, which includes contact lens fitters.
Around each median the spread is wide: the lowest-paid 10 percent of optometrists earned less than $74,870 while the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $202,180, and the optician range runs $35,610 to $76,750 across the same percentiles.
The job counts are a different BLS series — Employment Projections — which includes the self-employed, so keep them separate from the payroll wage figures.
On that series, BLS projects 10 percent growth for optometrists from 2025 to 2035, to 49,400 jobs, much faster than average, with about 2,000 openings a year.
Opticians grow more slowly in percentage terms — 4 percent, about as fast as average — but from a larger base, with about 5,600 openings a year against about 2,000.
Can an optician become an optometrist?
Yes — by completing the optometry route itself.
All states require optometrists to be licensed through an accredited O.D. plus all sections of a qualifying exam, so dispensing experience substitutes for neither the degree nor the exam.
In practice that means at least 3 years of undergraduate education — applicants typically hold a bachelor's — then the OAT entrance exam, then a 4-year O.D. program, then your state's license.
The optional 1-year residency, advanced clinical training in areas such as primary care, cornea and contact lenses, and ocular disease, comes after the degree if you want it.
How admissions committees weigh years of dispensing experience is not established in the research verified for this page — ask each program's admissions office directly.
The full route, step by step, is in how to become an optometrist.
Which career should you choose?
Neither is better; they trade off differently.
The differences the verified facts support:
- What you want to do all day. Clinical examination and treatment — vision tests and diagnosis, medications and procedures as state law allows, pre- and post-operative care — or the dispensing craft of fitting and adjusting eyewear.
- Training time. At least 3 years of undergraduate study plus a 4-year O.D. and licensure, against a typical entry of a high school diploma plus long-term on-the-job training.
- Pay. May 2025 medians of $136,570 for optometrists against $47,260 for dispensing opticians — payroll figures, so owners' income sits outside them.
- Field size and hiring. BLS's Employment Projections count about 74,300 optician jobs against about 45,100 optometrist jobs in 2025, with about 5,600 versus about 2,000 openings a year.
If the optician side wins, how to become an optician walks through the routes into dispensing.
If the optometry side does, the bridge section above is your starting point.
Quick answer
Short version: optometrists examine and treat; opticians dispense.
The optometrist holds a 4-year O.D., a state license, and prescribing authority in every state, with surgery and procedures as state law allows.
The optician fits and adjusts eyeglasses and, in some states, fills contact lens prescriptions, typically entering with a high school diploma plus long-term on-the-job training.
The pay medians track the training gap: $136,570 for optometrists versus $47,260 for dispensing opticians in May 2025, and BLS projects 10 percent growth for optometrists through 2035 against 4 percent for opticians.
What each role does
BLS's typical-duty list for optometrists reads as follows.
- Vision tests, and diagnosing refractive errors and eye diseases such as glaucoma.
- Prescribing glasses, contact lenses and other visual aids.
- Minor surgical procedures and medications as permitted by state law.
- Vision therapy or low-vision rehabilitation.
- Pre- and post-operative care.
- Screening for diseases such as diabetes and referring.
Opticians: BLS describes the occupation as fitting and adjusting eyeglasses and, in some states, filling contact lens prescriptions.
Contact lens fitters are counted in the same BLS optician row (SOC 29-2081).
Training and credentials
- Optometrist: at least 3 years of undergraduate education, typically a bachelor's degree → OAT entrance exam → 4-year O.D. program → state license. The license takes an accredited degree plus all sections of a qualifying exam; some states add an exam on clinical skills or optometry law. Continuing education and periodic renewal follow, with an optional 1-year residency and optional board certification on top.
- Optician: typical entry is a high school diploma or the equivalent plus long-term on-the-job training; some opticians add an associate degree or a certificate in ophthalmic dispensing or a related field; some states require licensure.
Work settings
The "optical versus optometry" split shows up in BLS's industry wage rows.
BLS reports offices of optometrists as a separate industry row.
The same tables also carry optometrist employment in health and personal care retailers — a row that includes pharmacies, other health retailers and optical goods retailers — and in offices of physicians, which includes ophthalmology practices.
Dispensing opticians appear in those same two rows.
In the May 2025 industry data, dispensing opticians' medians ran $47,460 in health and personal care retailers and $48,590 in offices of physicians.
The same tables put optometrists at $159,460 and $145,630 in those rows — employees only, like every OEWS figure on this page.
For the optometrist side in depth — the practice settings where ODs work and what each involves — see where optometrists work.
The optician career guide covers the optical side.
Career information, not medical, licensing or legal advice. License, exam and scope rules are set by state boards — confirm current requirements with your state's board of optometry, and with the agency that regulates opticians in your state, before you apply, renew or hire.