Headline risk
10%
Low RiskOpticians, dispensing
United States AI Work Index tracks this occupation on the shared structural baseline and then layers on local demand resilience, wages, and confidence.
Why This Score
Share of job tasks that overlap with current AI capabilities
Median annual wage
Projected employment change over 10 years
Typical preparation needed for this occupation
Occupation profile
Design, measure, fit, and adapt lenses and frames for client according to written optical prescription or specification. Assist client with inserting, removing, and caring for contact lenses. Assist client with selecting frames. Measure customer for size of eyeglasses and coordinate frames with facial and eye measurements and optical prescription. Prepare work order for optical laboratory containing instructions for grinding and mounting lenses in frames. Verify exactness of finished lens spectacles. Adjust frame and lens position to fit client. May shape or reshape frames. Includes contact lens opticians.
Task evidence
100% weighted task match · 0% effective coverage
Scores combine AI task overlap, human advantages, and local demand. How it works
United States Now
Median Wage
USD 46,560
Employment 2024
79.9K
Projected Change (2024–34)
2.9%
Openings (2024–34)
6.8K
Wage distribution
Demand outlook
Employment of opticians is projected to grow 3 percent from 2024 to 2034, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
Role Profile
Tasks
- 1. Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices. AI use: 0%
- 2. Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications. AI use: 0%
- 3. Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions. AI use: 0%
- 4. Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs. AI use: 0%
- 5. Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands. AI use: 0%
- 6. Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses. AI use: 0%
Technologies
Requirements
Work context
Worker profile
Median age 45.4 · 50K employed
Under 25: 10% · 25–54: 66% · 55+: 26%
Related
No direct US role match is available yet for this occupation.
Source coverage
11/11 source families · O*NET 30.2 / OEWS 2024 / ORS 2025 / OOH 2025-08-28 / Projections 2024-34 / CPS 2025 / Anthropic task penetration
Mapping quality
crosswalk_exact · employment series present
Narrative & sources
Opticians fit customers for eyeglasses and contact lenses and help them select which frames and lenses to buy.
Opticians work in a variety of settings. Some work in offices of optometrists or ophthalmologists. Others work in stores that sell eyeglasses, contact lenses, visual aids, and other optical goods.
Opticians typically need a high school diploma or the equivalent and receive on-the-job training. Some opticians enter the occupation with an associate’s degree or a certificate in ophthalmic dispensing or a related field. Some states require opticians to be licensed.
The median annual wage for opticians was $46,560 in May 2024.
Employment of opticians is projected to grow 3 percent from 2024 to 2034, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
Published limitations
This page shows the local country layer, not realised individual job outcomes. The global structural baseline is shared across countries; only the local demand and wage layer changes here.
Built from O*NET occupation descriptions, task statements, technology skills, work context, Job Zones, Anthropic task penetration, BLS OEWS wages, BLS projection tables, BLS ORS requirements, BLS OOH narrative content, BLS skills data, and BLS CPS occupation age tables.