Optician

What opticians make

The national median is $47,260 a year, and the bottom tenth earn $35,610 or less. Pay varies by state, and so do the license rules.

The bottom quarter

This covers everyone in the job, not only beginners, because the survey publishes no separate starting figure. Many people start as an assistant with no training at all, learning frames, measurements and the lab machines on the job.

The top quarter

The survey does not say who makes up the top quarter. Commission on frames and lenses is a real part of the income in retail optical, and managing a department or owning a small shop turns the job into a retail business as much as a health one.

What it costs to get there

This is one of the cheapest health careers to enter. Fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) if you take the college route: a Pell Grant often covers community college tuition outright when family income is low, so many opticians finish with no debt at all.

What comes with the job

• Health insurance and a retirement plan

  Standard at the large optical chains and in hospital eye clinics, patchier in small independent shops.

• Eyewear at no cost or a discount

  A small perk, and a real one when frames retail for hundreds of dollars.

• Commission

  Many retail optical jobs pay a percentage on what you sell, on top of the hourly rate.

• Regular hours

  Retail hours including some evenings and Saturdays, but almost never a night shift or an on-call phone.

• Employer-paid certification

  Chains will often pay for your exam fees and study materials because they want certified staff.

The path to becoming an optician, step by step

Two routes: learn entirely on the job, or take a two-year degree first. Which one you can use depends on your state.

1. 1

   High school diploma

   Grade 12

   The usual requirement. Math, physics and any retail or customer service job help more than you would think.

2. 2

   Get hired into an optical

   Immediate

   Retail chains, independent shops and eye doctors' offices all hire assistants with no experience and train them.

3. 3

   Learn the craft

   1 to 2 years

   Frame selection and adjustment, pupil measurements, lens types and coatings, reading a prescription, and edging lenses in the lab.

4. 4

   Get certified

   A few months of study

   Sit the national eyeglasses exam, and the contact lens exam if you want to fit contacts. Certification is what turns an assistant into an optician on paper.

5. 5

   State license where it applies

   Varies by state

   In licensed states you need either a two-year accredited degree or a supervised training program plus the exams before you can dispense on your own.

High school courses that help you become an optician

• Physics

  Lenses, focal length and refraction. The whole job is applied optics.

• Math

  Measurements in millimeters, prescription arithmetic and lens power calculations.

• Shop or technology

  Grinding and edging lenses is machine work with fine tolerances.

• Anything with customers

  A Saturday retail job teaches the half of this career that is talking to people about money.

Time and money, at a glance

Licensed in some states and not in others

Check this before you plan anything. 21 states license opticians: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. The rest do not, so the same job can need a two-year degree and two exams in one state and nothing at all across the border. New York, for example, wants a two-year program or 2,400 hours of supervised training, plus two exams. National certification from ABO-NCLE (the American Board of Opticianry and National Contact Lens Examiners) is the credential employers recognize everywhere.

Where people study

• Accredited opticianry programs

  The Commission on Opticianry Accreditation lists 16 accredited opticianry degree programs nationally, at colleges including Broward College and Miami Dade College in Florida and New York City College of Technology.

• Community college certificates

  Shorter optical technician certificates exist in many states and are enough to get hired, though not always enough for a license.

• Employer training programs

  The big optical chains run structured apprentice programs that pay you from day one.

• Online exam preparation

  Most people study for the certification exams while working, using the exam board's own materials.

Certifications and skills that open doors

• Contact lens certification

  A separate national exam from the eyeglasses one. Fitting contacts is a distinct skill.

• Advanced certification

  The exam board offers a higher level of certification for experienced opticians, and licensed states often want it for supervisors.

• Lab and edging skill

  Being able to surface and edge a lens yourself, rather than sending everything out, makes you far harder to replace in an independent shop.

• Low vision aids

  Fitting magnifiers and specialist devices for people with serious sight loss. Specialized, satisfying and short of people.

• Management

  Running the optical department of a clinic or a chain store is the usual step up.

Nice-to-haves

• Patience with faces

  Every face is asymmetric. Adjusting a frame until it sits right is a fiddly conversation, not a measurement.

• Sales comfort

  Frames and coatings are a big-ticket purchase and much of your income can depend on them. If selling makes you uneasy, know that going in.

• A steady hand

  Heating, bending and aligning metal and plastic frames without snapping them takes practice.

• A second language

  Spanish especially. Explaining a prescription and a price to a family is the job.

Where this job leads

Plenty of opticians stay opticians for thirty years and are good at it. The common moves from here are managing an optical department, opening an independent shop, or going into sales and training for a lens or frame manufacturer. A smaller number go back to school for the four-year doctor of optometry degree, and the dispensing experience is a genuine advantage when they do, because they already understand the practical end of every prescription they write.

What an optician does day to day

Open the shop, check the jobs that came back from the lab overnight, and inspect each pair against the prescription before anyone collects it. Then customers: helping someone choose frames that suit their face and their budget, taking pupil measurements, explaining why the thin lenses cost more. Repairs and adjustments all day, most of them at no charge and most of them thirty seconds. Teaching a nervous teenager to put in contact lenses for the first time. Insurance forms, orders to the lab, and a fair amount of standing.

The honest pros and cons of being an optician

Work life

Similar paths

• OptometristTest eyes, catch disease early, prescribe glasses, contacts and medication. A four-year doctorate, no surgical residency, and clinics in every town.
• OphthalmologistThe eye surgeon. Twelve years of training, operations measured in fractions of a millimeter, and patients who can see again the next morning.
• Dental Laboratory TechnicianBuild the crowns, bridges and dentures that go in people's mouths. A craft trade with a scanner in it.

There are only 16 accredited degree programs

The Commission on Opticianry Accreditation accredits opticianry degree programs, and its national list has 16 of them, plus one military certificate program. That is why so many opticians learn on the job rather than in a classroom.

About 5,600 openings a year

Federal projections expect average growth for opticians from 2025 to 2035, with about 5,600 openings a year across the country as people retire or move on.

Two millimeters is a big mistake

The distance between the centers of your pupils decides where the optical center of each lens goes. Get it wrong by a couple of millimeters in a strong prescription and the wearer gets headaches and eye strain without ever knowing why.