Optometrists salary

SOC 29-1041 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$136,570

per year, nationally

Middle half

$109,400–$165,120

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

42,790

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+8.0%

2,400 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$74,870$202,180

10th: $74,870
25th: $109,400
Median: $136,570
75th: $165,120
90th: $202,180

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Doctoral or professional degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where optometrists earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Alaska	$170,310	102.4	60	0.67×
2	Maryland	$165,840	105.0	780	1.02×
3	North Carolina	$161,560	94.3	1,140	0.84×
4	Delaware	$161,270	99.8	190	1.39×
5	New York	$161,140	107.9	2,390	0.90×
6	New Jersey	$159,040	108.8	1,380	1.17×
7	Minnesota	$158,700	98.6	710	0.88×
8	Washington	$157,560	107.0	760	0.78×
9	Hawaii	$154,620	110.0	230	1.32×
10	Maine	$154,110	97.0	180	1.02×
11	Colorado	$152,000	103.1	880	1.12×
12	Massachusetts	$151,730	105.8	950	0.95×
13	Florida	$151,670	103.4	2,350	0.86×
14	Connecticut	$150,340	103.6	490	1.06×
15	South Carolina	$145,950	93.7	480	0.76×
16	Illinois	$145,620	100.0	1,540	0.92×
17	Alabama	$145,090	88.8	460	0.78×
18	New Mexico	$144,660	92.2	130	0.53×
19	Wisconsin	$139,720	94.1	790	0.97×
20	Kansas	$138,580	90.1	660	1.66×
21	Vermont	$137,290	98.0	90	1.12×
22	California	$136,300	110.7	6,890	1.37×
23	Nevada	$135,650	100.0	430	1.00×
24	Michigan	$135,650	96.2	1,410	1.16×
25	Indiana	$135,500	93.3	1,040	1.18×
26	Pennsylvania	$135,400	97.6	1,720	1.03×
27	Ohio	$134,850	92.8	1,300	0.85×
28	District of Columbia	$134,840	109.9	50	0.26×
29	Rhode Island	$134,520	102.3	250	1.82×
30	Tennessee	$134,170	91.9	660	0.73×
31	Missouri	$133,810	90.8	630	0.78×
32	North Dakota	$132,110	89.0	140	1.18×
33	Oregon	$132,020	103.4	560	1.04×
34	Virginia	$131,570	101.1	1,110	0.98×
35	Kentucky	$128,860	90.2	430	0.79×
36	Georgia	$128,830	96.3	870	0.65×
37	Texas	$126,000	97.1	4,110	1.06×
38	New Hampshire	$125,560	104.2	210	1.12×
39	Iowa	$125,380	87.8	450	1.05×
40	Nebraska	$125,040	90.1	340	1.20×
41	Arkansas	$124,470	86.9	320	0.90×
42	Arizona	$122,250	100.7	1,080	1.21×
43	Utah	$119,070	98.9	380	0.79×
44	Louisiana	$118,060	88.2	250	0.47×
45	West Virginia	$118,010	89.5	150	0.80×
46	Wyoming	$111,400	92.7	90	1.19×
47	Mississippi	$108,070	87.0	240	0.74×
48	Montana	$104,280	94.6	140	1.02×
49	Idaho	$103,390	95.5	160	0.68×
50	South Dakota	$102,320	88.6	190	1.50×
51	Oklahoma	$97,350	87.8	570	1.21×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where optometrists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for optometrists

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN	$175,810	91.8	40	1.72×
2	Asheville, NC	$167,980	96.5	40	0.82×
3	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$167,810	111.1	420	0.74×
4	Anchorage, AK	$167,000	105.4	30	0.62×
5	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$166,880	97.6	40	0.44×
6	Peoria, IL	$166,600	91.2	50	1.20×
7	Albuquerque, NM	$165,810	95.5	70	0.59×
8	Dover, DE	$165,660	97.5	30	1.64×
9	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$165,640	95.8	160	1.12×
10	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$165,360	107.8	80	1.42×
11	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$164,020	99.6	130	1.02×
12	Wilmington, NC	$163,800	96.4	120	2.29×
13	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$163,290	98.2	240	1.15×
14	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$163,240	101.1	80	1.66×
15	Birmingham, AL	$162,890	91.6	110	0.78×
16	North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL	$162,690	102.4	80	0.83×
17	Winston-Salem, NC	$162,540	92.0	70	0.96×
18	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$161,850	109.4	90	1.26×
19	Jacksonville, FL	$161,560	99.5	150	0.72×
20	Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL	$161,540	102.3	80	1.00×
21	Portland-South Portland, ME	$161,220	101.9	100	1.26×
22	Huntsville, AL	$161,170	93.1	50	0.64×
23	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$161,030	112.6	2,580	0.99×
24	Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL	$160,680	94.7	40	1.76×
25	Killeen-Temple, TX	$160,460	91.1	30	0.84×
26	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$160,090	101.4	290	0.73×
27	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$159,790	104.8	470	0.87×
28	Rochester, NY	$159,380	97.0	120	0.90×
29	Savannah, GA	$159,330	95.2	30	0.60×
30	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$158,130	105.8	470	1.07×
31	Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL	$157,970	99.4	50	0.77×
32	Tucson, AZ	$157,650	96.9	80	0.75×
33	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$157,210	97.3	260	0.70×
34	Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL	$157,140	97.1	120	1.62×
35	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$156,990	95.4	300	0.98×
36	Columbia, SC	$156,350	93.7	90	0.82×
37	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$155,960	103.2	70	1.05×
38	Vallejo, CA	$155,950	108.5	90	2.15×
39	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$154,970	108.3	710	0.96×
40	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$154,690	108.9	770	0.89×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where optometrists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.