Optometrists

Low Risk
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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
7.2/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

22% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Assisting and caring for others

Very important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
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Working directly with the public

Very important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
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Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Show 5 more strengths

Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
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Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Consulting and advising others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide guidance and expert advice to managers or teams on technical, system, or process decisions—explaining options, tradeoffs, and recommended actions.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 319 votes

48% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. However, employees may be able to find reassurance in the automated risk level we have generated, which shows 22% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Optometrists will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Optometrists was $134,830 ($65 per hour).

The median annual wage for Optometrists was 172.4% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Optometrists' job openings is expected to rise 8.0% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 41,890 people employed as 'Optometrists' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 3 thousand people are employed as 'Optometrists'.

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What people are saying (13)

Leave a comment
Bobby Steward (Low)
28 Aug 2023 14:46
Optometry is human centric
Alex Bay (Highly likely)
22 Jun 2023 23:36
Thinks about optometry and what it entails. It is based on machines testing for glaucoma, retinal scans, images, and subjective visual tests based on "clearer" or not. Similar to a radiologist, an optometrist will likely only be able to give a general recommendation, a general prescription for contact lenses or glasses, and if severe, referral to ophthalmologist. A technologist/assistant would be able to accomplish this without the need for an optometrist.

A limited number of veteran optometrists or ophthalmologists can provide oversight and "double check" the AI. I don't see where the future need for more and newer classes of optometrists will be needed, especially as AI and technological advances improve.
Ian James Pengilley (Low)
05 Feb 2023 07:10
Many cases 'break the mold' on behavioural cooperation/ feedback - it will be very difficult to automate Pediatric optometry - people with low vision, poor understanding or mobility will not give adequate feedback to be properly diagnosed and treated.
robotic worrier (Moderate)
04 Jan 2023 22:12
Ophthalmologists are safe, but I think the risk for automation of the optometrist specialty is being underestimated here given the advances in AI software which can detect vision defects, signs of injury, ocular diseases, and other problems with general health.
Reality Chk. (Highly likely)
29 May 2020 14:20
There are already provisional patents in existence for glasses/refraction kiosks. Add AI for the exam, a pressure check, and you’ve eliminated about 90 percent of what an optometrist does. Check out GlobeChek. There is a reason they are pushing to do surgery with weekend classes! (No med school required.)
Dr. Evil (No chance)
04 Feb 2020 17:40
This profession continues to change and adapt to new technologies. The role of optometrists in medical eye care continues to increase as 80% or more of ophthalmologist are needed to perform surgery, leaving only a fraction of general ophthalmologists to address the increasing need of medical eye care. If all optometrist did were refractions for glasses, I do see a potential for SOME automation. But someone is still needed to subjectively determine why someone isn’t seeing clearly which may not be correctable with glasses or basic contact lenses.
Kemo (Moderate)
31 Jan 2020 05:35
Refraction and diagnosis of diseases are already performed by machines. It may just be a matter of time, until advancement of technology, automation, and laws catching up, before optometry almost disappears.
John
23 Nov 2019 23:31
Disagree. Virtual reality eye tests using AI and machine learning may remove the need for optometrists.
Elle
30 Jul 2019 19:51
Totally disagree. Besides specialists, optometrists will be obsolete as online retailers and virtual eye tests will eliminate the gatekeeping of prescriptive glasses and contacts, which are 95% of the reason people go to the optometrist.
Alwyn
06 Dec 2019 18:09
I totally agree with you. I'm waiting for someone to build a kiosk powered by AI that will perform all the standard tests. Customers should benefit greatly from this since the markup on prescriptive glasses and contacts is why my optometrists with a supposed median income of 106k drives a Porsche.
Ke
01 Sep 2021 16:00
It took that optometrist an investment of thousands of dollars of debt to pay for eight years of college making little money while learning their profession. Not to mention the years it takes to build a practice and pay off their debt while doing so. How many people are willing to give that many years up to receive a median salary of 106k? If you want to drive a Porsche you could do the same.
Dr. Ian
05 Feb 2023 07:34
"FREE EYE TEST" is what caused the gatekeeping - I've never seen "Free Architects Plans" with every home purchased, or Civil Engineer consultations... The root of this is that people would rather keep their wallets shut and put up with sub-par vision than pay an Optometrist to really let them see well, under all circumstances, and deal with their headaches, squints and dry eyes.
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Job description

Diagnose, manage, and treat conditions and diseases of the human eye and visual system. Examine eyes and visual system, diagnose problems or impairments, prescribe corrective lenses, and provide treatment. May prescribe therapeutic drugs to treat specific eye conditions.

O*NET-SOC code: 29-1041.00