Opticians, Dispensing
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.
73,530 people do this job in the US. $47,260 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 29%
- 10%
- 61%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 4%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 29%. Today's estimate: 29%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 25 min13 min to 46 min | Stays with people | |
| Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 25 min13 min to 42 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 1.1 h25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Arrange and maintain displays of optical merchandise.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Sell goods such as contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses, and goods related to eyes, in general.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Supervise the training of student opticians.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Grind lens edges, or apply coatings to lenses.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min8 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).