Eye Care Salaries
BLS OEWS May 2025 · national and state pay for optometrists, opticians, technicians and office staff
Four eye care job titles match a BLS occupation exactly: optometrists, dispensing opticians, ophthalmic medical technicians and ophthalmic laboratory technicians.
Each has a full percentile table and pay in every state BLS published.
The optometrist figures cover payroll ODs only.
Practice owners and other self-employed optometrists are not in the BLS wage survey, and no page here estimates their income.
Front desk and billing staff have no eye care occupation of their own, so their pages show the closest available occupation in offices of optometrists, labelled as such.
BLS has no occupation for optometric technicians, so no page here shows a figure as their pay.
Salary by state
Optometrist salary by state: median $136,570, pay in 51 of the 50 states + DC (BLS occupation: SOC 29-1041 Optometrists) →Optician salary by state: median $47,260, pay in 51 of the 50 states + DC (BLS occupation: SOC 29-2081 Opticians, Dispensing) →Ophthalmic Technician salary by state: median $45,570, pay in 51 of the 50 states + DC (BLS occupation: SOC 29-2057 Ophthalmic Medical Technicians) →Optical Lab Technician salary by state: median $39,460, pay in 40 of the 50 states + DC (BLS occupation: SOC 51-9083 Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians) →Eye care salaries by role
| Role | Median shown | What the number is |
|---|---|---|
| Optometrist | $136,570 | BLS occupation (SOC 29-1041) |
| Optician | $47,260 | BLS occupation (SOC 29-2081) |
| Optical Lab Technician | $39,460 | BLS occupation (SOC 51-9083) |
| Ophthalmic Technician | $45,570 | BLS occupation (SOC 29-2057) |
| Optometry Front Desk | $37,740 | Closest available occupation (SOC 43-4171, offices of optometrists) |
| Optometry Billing Specialist | $45,130 | Closest available occupation (SOC 43-3021, offices of optometrists) |
Medians are annual, BLS OEWS May 2025, for wage-and-salary workers only (no self-employed, private households, overtime or most bonuses). Front desk and billing medians are for offices of optometrists; the others cover all industries.