Pay · 29-2081
Opticians, Dispensing earn $47,260 a year at the midpoint
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The lowest tenth are paid about $35,610, the highest tenth about $76,750 — figures from the 2025 federal wage survey.
National figures for opticians, dispensing, 29-2081, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
- What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
- The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
- Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
- Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”
Dispensing optician earnings, from starting pay to the highest 10%
Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →
Place 585 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 26% of the occupations in the survey.
- 583 Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys $47,340
- 584 Coaches and Scouts $47,320
- 585 Opticians, Dispensing $47,260
- 586 Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic $47,180
- 587 Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors $47,160
Examples
Resumes made for this kind of work.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
- Dispensing Optician Resume Template Healthcare
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Writing a resume for opticians, dispensing
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Measured clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices.
- Verified that finished lenses are ground to specifications.
- Evaluated prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Dispensing optician wages in each state
The 47 states where the most people do this work, of 51 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.07 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | $75,300 | $48,700 | $48,700 — $85,070 | 610 |
| New Jersey | $72,460 | $47,110 | $47,110 — $85,020 | 2,010 |
| Massachusetts | $67,210 | $48,850 | $48,850 — $83,550 | 1,360 |
| New York | $63,880 | $43,060 | $43,060 — $81,200 | 3,520 |
| Florida | $58,850 | $36,510 | $36,510 — $75,480 | 5,080 |
| California | $57,990 | $42,390 | $42,390 — $81,680 | 7,840 |
| Virginia | $55,820 | $36,360 | $36,360 — $77,460 | 1,860 |
| New Hampshire | $51,980 | $41,130 | $41,130 — $66,670 | 440 |
| Ohio | $50,500 | $35,830 | $35,830 — $65,280 | 2,960 |
| North Carolina | $50,190 | $36,500 | $36,500 — $81,340 | 2,020 |
| Tennessee | $49,840 | $34,740 | $34,740 — $74,160 | 1,530 |
| Washington | $49,220 | $41,120 | $41,120 — $78,830 | 2,100 |
| Oregon | $49,210 | $39,480 | $39,480 — $76,750 | 1,000 |
| Maryland | $48,700 | $37,100 | $37,100 — $64,830 | 1,060 |
| Arizona | $48,210 | $39,890 | $39,890 — $75,300 | 1,400 |
| Minnesota | $48,020 | $36,920 | $36,920 — $67,490 | 1,490 |
| Georgia | $48,010 | $36,800 | $36,800 — $74,120 | 2,290 |
| South Carolina | $48,000 | $36,240 | $36,240 — $73,890 | 890 |
| Rhode Island | $47,400 | $38,480 | $38,480 — $77,130 | 350 |
| Colorado | $47,310 | $38,900 | $38,900 — $66,160 | 1,520 |
| Maine | $47,220 | $39,110 | $39,110 — $60,190 | 350 |
| Montana | $47,050 | $36,240 | $36,240 — $64,730 | 330 |
| Nevada | $46,910 | $38,090 | $38,090 — $84,660 | 960 |
| Delaware | $46,220 | $31,200 | $31,200 — $60,790 | 270 |
| Pennsylvania | $45,450 | $36,160 | $36,160 — $58,450 | 2,230 |
| North Dakota | $45,230 | $37,220 | $37,220 — $56,100 | 230 |
| Wisconsin | $44,820 | $36,680 | $36,680 — $60,320 | 1,430 |
| Iowa | $44,480 | $37,270 | $37,270 — $53,790 | 920 |
| Kentucky | $44,290 | $30,190 | $30,190 — $65,130 | 950 |
| Illinois | $43,960 | $37,080 | $37,080 — $62,830 | 3,250 |
| Idaho | $43,950 | $34,730 | $34,730 — $75,300 | 530 |
| South Dakota | $43,400 | $32,390 | $32,390 — $49,730 | 430 |
| Arkansas | $42,880 | $30,100 | $30,100 — $73,890 | 690 |
| Utah | $41,780 | $35,680 | $35,680 — $76,750 | 700 |
| Michigan | $41,180 | $34,610 | $34,610 — $52,090 | 3,080 |
| Kansas | $40,140 | $36,050 | $36,050 — $48,480 | 630 |
| Nebraska | $39,830 | $35,800 | $35,800 — $52,670 | 870 |
| Indiana | $39,370 | $31,930 | $31,930 — $49,960 | 2,010 |
| Wyoming | $39,100 | $33,110 | $33,110 — $53,840 | 130 |
| New Mexico | $39,090 | $31,010 | $31,010 — $72,920 | 340 |
| Missouri | $38,750 | $34,110 | $34,110 — $54,810 | 1,600 |
| Texas | $38,720 | $29,970 | $29,970 — $58,240 | 6,700 |
| West Virginia | $38,120 | $31,250 | $31,250 — $52,370 | 350 |
| Oklahoma | $37,940 | $29,530 | $29,530 — $54,310 | 730 |
| Alabama | $36,880 | $31,000 | $31,000 — $47,720 | 880 |
| Mississippi | $36,680 | $28,180 | $28,180 — $47,210 | 560 |
| Louisiana | $36,360 | $28,840 | $28,840 — $46,870 | 720 |
Dispensing optician pay rate, hourly to annual
Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Questions people ask
What is a dispensing optician’s yearly income?
A dispensing optician makes a median of $47,260 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $38,820 and $61,700.
What is a dispensing optician’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $22.72 an hour; the average is $51,770 a year.
What is the starting pay for a dispensing optician?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $38,820 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $35,610.
Which state pays opticians, dispensing the most?
Connecticut, with a median of $75,300 a year.
How many people work as opticians, dispensing?
About 73,530 in the United States — number 585 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays nearly the same
Median pay within $80 of what opticians, dispensing earn — $47,260 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $60 more Coaches and Scouts $47,320median a year 10th percentile: $28,790 90th percentile: $98,860
- $80 more Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys $47,340median a year 10th percentile: $28,190 90th percentile: $138,440
- $80 less Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic $47,180median a year 10th percentile: $35,780 90th percentile: $74,450