Optometrist Statistics 2026: Job Market, Pay, Demand & Workforce

OptometryHires had 1,753 open optometrist listings from 69 employers on November 5, 2026.

164 were first posted in the previous 14 days and 937 in the previous 30 days.

The benefit optometrist listings named most often on November 5, 2026 was paid time off, in 53.5% of listings, followed by flexible scheduling (15.5%).

A listing that does not mention a benefit may still offer it.

To browse the openings themselves, see all optometrist listings.

BLS publishes no optometrist-only wage, so the figure here is for optometrists (SOC 29-1041), the exact BLS occupation.

The median wage for that occupation was $136,570 a year in May 2025 (BLS OEWS, Optometrists (SOC 29-1041), May 2025).

The middle half of workers in that occupation earned $109,400 to $165,120 a year.

Employers hiring optometrists on OptometryHires advertise a median of $150,000 a year across 13 employers on November 5, 2026; this is advertised pay, not earnings.

California had the most open optometrist listings on November 5, 2026, with 165 (9.4% of the national total).

Florida followed with 120 (6.8%).

To browse the openings in one state, start with optometrist openings in California.

69 employers had open optometrist listings on OptometryHires on November 5, 2026, and the five largest posted 71% of them.

30 employers (43.5%) had exactly one open optometrist listing.

The largest single employer, EssilorLuxottica North America retail, posted 26.3% of all optometrist listings, so this sample leans toward large employers.

Employers reported 42,790 optometrists on payroll in May 2025 (BLS OEWS, SOC 29-1041), a count that leaves out practice owners and other self-employed ODs.

27,340 of those payroll optometrists worked in offices of optometrists in May 2025, at a median of $129,250 a year (BLS OEWS industry estimates, NAICS 621320).

BLS projects optometrist employment, self-employed included, to grow 9.5% from 2025 to 2035, from 45,100 to 49,400 jobs, with about 2,000 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections 2025-35).

Listing figures are computed from every active, paid optometrist listing on OptometryHires at the time shown, and refreshed every six hours.

Listings on a job board are not a random sample of all optometrist jobs, so read them as a picture of current hiring, not of total employment.

This page is published only while the live sample has at least 300 listings from 25 employers.

Advertised pay is the midpoint of the range an employer posts, or its single figure, and hourly and annual postings are never converted into each other.

The headline is the employer median: each employer’s own median, then the median across employers, so a group posting hundreds of openings counts once.

A pay figure needs at least 30 listings from 10 employers and is withheld when one employer posted more than half of them.

Federal figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the other sources listed below, quoted as published, with the year in each sentence.

BLS counts Doctors of Optometry in one occupation (SOC 29-1041). OEWS covers payroll employees only, so practice owners and independent sublease ODs are not in the wage or OEWS employment figures on this page.