Optometry Industry Statistics 2026
How many eye care openings are live right now, where they are, and what federal data says about the optometry workforce.
Every federal figure below names the BLS occupation it describes and says whether it counts payroll employees only or the self-employed too.
Live Eye Care Openings
These numbers are OptometryHires’s own: every active listing on the board, from employer career sites and direct postings.
Every other figure on this page comes from a federal agency.
| Role | Listings with hourly pay | Median posted low | Median posted high |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optometric Technicians | 76 | $16.00/hr | $20.00/hr |
| Opticians | 69 | $20.00/hr | $25.00/hr |
| Optical Sales Associates | 66 | $15.00/hr | $16.00/hr |
| Optometry Front Desk Staff | 51 | $17.00/hr | $19.00/hr |
| Ophthalmic Technicians | 36 | $18.00/hr | $25.00/hr |
| Optical Managers | 24 | $18.00/hr | $23.00/hr |
| Corporate Optometrists | 19 | $70.00/hr | $70.00/hr |
| Optometrists | 18 | $85.00/hr | $92.00/hr |
| Optical Lab Technicians | 18 | $16.00/hr | $18.00/hr |
| Optometric Assistants | 16 | $15.50/hr | $16.00/hr |
Roles with at least 15 hourly-pay listings are shown; each column is the median of the posted range’s low or high end.
Posted ranges are what employers advertise, not what workers earn, so they do not compare directly with the BLS wages below.
How to read these numbers.
This is a live sample of the openings OptometryHires tracks, not a count of every eye care job in the country.
Roles follow our job categories, not BLS occupations, and listings we cannot place in a state count only in the total.
If you cite them, include the date shown and link to this page.
How Big Is the Optometry Workforce?
BLS counts the main eye care roles as their own occupations.
Payroll counts leave out practice owners and other self-employed workers. Projection counts include them, so they run higher.
| BLS occupation | Payroll jobs, May 2025 | Employment 2025 | Projected 2035 | Browse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optometrists SOC 29-1041The exact BLS occupation for Doctors of Optometry. The payroll count leaves out practice owners and other self-employed ODs. | 42,790 | 45,100 | 49,400 | Optometrist openings |
| Opticians, Dispensing SOC 29-2081The exact BLS occupation for dispensing opticians. It includes contact lens fitters. | 73,530 | 74,300 | 77,400 | Optician openings |
| Ophthalmic Medical Technicians SOC 29-2057The exact BLS occupation for ophthalmic technicians. BLS has no optometric technician occupation, so this is also the closest available group for optometric technicians. | 71,010 | 72,500 | 88,000 | Ophthalmic technician openings |
| Related occupations | ||||
| Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians SOC 51-9083The exact BLS occupation for optical lab technicians. Only 2,580 of them worked in offices of optometrists in May 2025. | 18,660 | 18,600 | 19,000 | Optical lab technician openings |
Payroll jobs are BLS OEWS wage-and-salary estimates. Employment 2025 and 2035 are BLS Employment Projections figures, which also count the self-employed, so they run higher.
Offices of optometrists (NAICS 621320) is the BLS industry for optometry practices. Payroll employees only, so practice owners are not counted. Other occupations in the industry are not shown.
Payroll optometrists only. BLS does not publish an employment estimate for optometrists in health and personal care retailers.
Payroll opticians only. Offices of optometrists employ more dispensing opticians than any other industry shown here.
Roles BLS does not count on their own
- Optometric technicians and assistants. BLS has no occupation code for them. The closest available group is ophthalmic medical technicians working in offices of optometrists: 22,900 payroll jobs at a $38,650 median in May 2025. That is a stand-in, not an optometric-technician count. Source
- Vision therapists. BLS publishes no occupation for vision therapists, so this page shows no federal count or wage for them.
- Optometric scribes. BLS publishes no occupation for scribes in eye care offices, so this page shows no federal count or wage for them.
- Practice owners. OEWS counts payroll employees only, so self-employed optometrists who own their practice are not in the payroll counts or wages. BLS Employment Projections do include them: 5.0% of optometrists were self-employed in 2025. Source
Where BLS has no occupation for a role, we name the closest group and label it, or show no figure at all.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates, BLS Employment Projections 2025–35
BLS Pay and Growth Benchmarks
BLS projects employment growth from 2025 to 2035 of 9.5% for optometrists, 4.2% for dispensing opticians and 21.4% for ophthalmic medical technicians.
Ophthalmic medical technician figures are the closest available benchmark for optometric technicians; BLS publishes no optometric-technician pay or projection.
| BLS occupation | Median wage, May 2025 | 10th to 90th percentile | Growth 2025–35 | Openings a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optometrists SOC 29-1041 | $136,570$65.66/hr | $74,870 to $202,180 | +9.5% | 2,000 |
| Opticians, Dispensing SOC 29-2081 | $47,260$22.72/hr | $35,610 to $76,750 | +4.2% | 5,600 |
| Ophthalmic Medical Technicians SOC 29-2057 | $45,570$21.91/hr | $35,700 to $61,940 | +21.4% | 11,800 |
| Related occupations | ||||
| Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians SOC 51-9083 | $39,460$18.97/hr | $33,530 to $57,380 | +2.2% | 2,200 |
Wages are BLS OEWS national estimates for wage-and-salary workers in all industries, so they leave out practice owners. Openings include replacements for workers who leave the occupation.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, BLS Employment Projections 2025–35
Statistics by Role
Each role page combines live listing figures with the BLS data for that role.
A role page is published once the board tracks at least 300 of its listings from 25 employers.
- Optometrist statistics1,753 live listings from 69 employers
- Optician statistics2,226 live listings from 53 employers
- Optometric Technician statistics522 live listings from 53 employers
- Ophthalmic Technician statistics394 live listings from 66 employers
Frequently Asked Questions
How many optometry jobs are open right now?
OptometryHires listed 7,378 live eye care openings from 140 employers on November 5, 2026. The count covers every active listing on the board and is refreshed every six hours.
How many optometrists are there in the U.S.?
Employers reported 42,790 optometrists on payroll in May 2025 (BLS OEWS), and 27,340 of them worked in offices of optometrists. That payroll count leaves out practice owners. BLS Employment Projections, which include the self-employed, count 45,100 optometrist jobs in 2025.
How many opticians are there?
Employers reported 73,530 dispensing opticians on payroll in May 2025 (BLS OEWS). That occupation includes contact lens fitters. 31,920 of them worked in offices of optometrists and 15,430 in health and personal care retailers.
Is the eye care workforce growing?
Yes, by BLS projections. From 2025 to 2035 BLS projects employment growth of 9.5% for optometrists, 4.2% for dispensing opticians, 21.4% for ophthalmic medical technicians and 2.2% for ophthalmic laboratory technicians. That is about 2,000, 5,600, 11,800 and 2,200 openings a year.
What do optometrists earn?
The national median wage for optometrists was $136,570 a year ($65.66 an hour) in May 2025 (BLS OEWS). In offices of optometrists the median was $129,250. These figures cover payroll employees only.
Do BLS figures include practice owners?
Not the OEWS payroll counts and wages, which cover wage-and-salary workers only. BLS Employment Projections do include the self-employed, which is why they run higher: 45,100 optometrist jobs in 2025, 5.0% of them self-employed.
Does BLS publish figures for optometric technicians?
No. BLS has no occupation code for optometric technicians or assistants. The closest available group is ophthalmic medical technicians working in offices of optometrists: 22,900 payroll jobs at a median of $38,650 a year in May 2025. Treat it as a stand-in, not an optometric-technician figure.
Methodology and Sources
Live figures count every active, paid listing on OptometryHires when the page was generated, and the page refreshes every six hours.
Federal figures are quoted as BLS published them: OEWS May 2025 for payroll employment and wages, and Employment Projections 2025–35 for growth and openings.
Industry figures come from the OEWS industry file for offices of optometrists (NAICS 621320) and other employer types.
Where BLS has no occupation for an eye care role, such as optometric technicians, we name the closest occupation and label it, or show no figure at all.
Shares marked as calculated are our arithmetic on the published BLS counts.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national fileWage-and-salary employment and annual and hourly wage percentiles for each occupation, all industries.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, industry fileEmployment and wages by industry for the same occupations, including offices of optometrists (NAICS 621320), offices of physicians and health and personal care retailers.
- BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, Table 1.22025 and 2035 employment (including the self-employed), percent change, self-employed share and average annual openings.
- OptometryHires job listingsActive, paid listings on the board, queried live.