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Offices of Optometrists

National industry · NAICS 621320

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Offices of Optometrists is a U.S. industry in the NAICS classification. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates about 152,540 workers across 63 detailed occupations in it. A typical worker earns around $57,168 a year (Singulariki estimate, see below).

This industry comprises establishments of health practitioners having the degree of O.D. (Doctor of Optometry) primarily engaged in the independent practice of optometry. These practitioners examine, diagnose, treat, and manage diseases and disorders of the visual system, the eye, and associated structures as well as diagnose related systemic conditions. Offices of optometrists prescribe and/or provide eyeglasses, contact lenses, low vision aids, and vision therapy. They operate private or group practices in their own offices (e.g., centers, clinics) or in the facilities of others, such as hospitals or HMO medical centers, and may also provide the same services as opticians, such as selling and fitting prescription eyeglasses and contact lenses. Cross-References.

Employment is national May 2024 OEWS. "Typical pay" is Singulariki's own figure — the employment-weighted average of each occupation's national median wage — a rough center of the industry, not an official BLS number.

How exposed this industry is to AI

Weighting every occupation in this industry by its employment and its unified AI-exposure index (the OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" human-rated task overlap folded with the Felten/Raj/Seamans AIOE index), this industry sits in the Moderate band — 60th percentile across all industries.

Exposure measures how much of the work overlaps with what today's AI can do, not a prediction of automation; high-exposure industries are where AI is most likely to reshape tasks. Employment-weighted across 58 occupations that carry an exposure score. Compare every industry on the AI exposure hub.

How AI is actually used in this industry

Among measured Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations mapped to O*NET task statements (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these patterns are most associated with the occupations in this industry, weighted by its employment mix. They are shares of observed AI conversations — not of worker time, revenue, or what could be automated — and reflect one AI assistant's consumer sample, not all AI.

Signal coverage 61.1% of employment · 42/60 occupations have AEI task data
Augmentation vs. automation 55.0% working with AI · 29.3% handed to AI
Most common pattern Learning · you ask AI to explain or teach
Typical AI autonomy 3.3 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently

Tasks driving the signal

The task families that account for the most AI activity across this industry's occupations (employment × observed usage), each attributed to the occupation it comes from.

Task Occupation How Share of signal
Troubleshoot problems involving office equipment, such as computer hardware and software. Office Clerks, General Feedback loop 43.4%
Participate in the work of subordinates to facilitate productivity or to overcome difficult aspects of work. First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers Iteration 8.5%
Process and prepare memos, correspondence, travel vouchers, or other documents. Receptionists and Information Clerks Iteration 4.5%
Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing. Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Directive 3.7%
Conduct searches to find needed information, using such sources as the Internet. Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Directive 3.5%
Develop or maintain internal or external company Web sites. Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Directive 2.6%
Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. Medical Assistants Learning 2.0%
Process and prepare documents, such as business or government forms and expense reports. Office Clerks, General Directive 1.7%
Provide employees with guidance in handling difficult or complex problems or in resolving escalated complaints or disputes. First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers Iteration 1.7%
Recommend, select, and help locate or obtain merchandise based on customer needs and desires. Retail Salespersons Iteration 1.7%
Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs. Retail Salespersons none 1.6%
Prepare correspondence or assist physicians or medical scientists with preparation of reports, speeches, articles, or conference proceedings. Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants Iteration 1.5%

Occupations behind the signal

The occupations whose AI-touched tasks contribute most to this industry's signal, by employment here.

Occupation Workers Share How they use AI
Optometrists 25,710 16.9% Learning
Receptionists and Information Clerks 14,710 9.6% Directive
Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 11,540 7.6% Iteration
Medical Assistants 11,260 7.4% Learning
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers 5,930 3.9% Iteration
Office Clerks, General 4,870 3.2% Feedback loop
Billing and Posting Clerks 4,750 3.1% Directive
Retail Salespersons 1,930 1.3% none
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive 1,860 1.2% Directive
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks 1,690 1.1% Directive
Medical and Health Services Managers 1,590 1.0% Iteration
General and Operations Managers 1,050 0.7% Iteration

This rollup is only as complete as the occupation-task matches available for the industry; the coverage figure above is shown so sparse industries do not look falsely precise. AI exposure is not the same as replacement.

Skill & tool metabolism

What this industry's work actually runs on. Each figure is the share of the industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on a skill, knowledge area, or ability (O*NET importance ≥ 3 of 5), or that use a tool category — its employment reach. This is a measure of how widespread a requirement is across the workforce, not how intensively any one worker uses it. Shares are independent and need not add to 100%.

Based on 99.5% of this industry's employment that maps to a detailed occupation with an O*NET skill profile.

Skills

Skill Employment reach Workers
Reading Comprehension 99.2% 151,350
Critical Thinking 99.1% 151,230
Active Listening 97.8% 149,110
Speaking 97.7% 149,030
Writing 97.1% 148,110
Social Perceptiveness 92.7% 141,330
Service Orientation 92.5% 141,040
Coordination 92.0% 140,290
Monitoring 86.4% 131,740
Time Management 75.5% 115,190
Active Learning 70.0% 106,790
Complex Problem Solving 63.3% 96,590

Knowledge areas

Knowledge area Employment reach Workers
Customer and Personal Service 98.8% 150,650
English Language 97.5% 148,790
Administrative 81.9% 124,910
Computers and Electronics 77.2% 117,760
Administration and Management 65.9% 100,570
Mathematics 63.7% 97,170
Personnel and Human Resources 52.0% 79,300
Education and Training 49.6% 75,610
Medicine and Dentistry 48.9% 74,620
Psychology 41.5% 63,370
Sales and Marketing 40.3% 61,460
Law and Government 39.9% 60,830

Abilities

Abilitie Employment reach Workers
Near Vision 99.5% 151,770
Speech Recognition 99.2% 151,280
Written Comprehension 99.2% 151,350
Oral Comprehension 97.8% 149,150
Oral Expression 97.8% 149,150
Speech Clarity 97.4% 148,650
Written Expression 97.3% 148,480
Problem Sensitivity 89.8% 136,940
Information Ordering 89.5% 136,580
Deductive Reasoning 88.1% 134,460
Category Flexibility 87.7% 133,730
Inductive Reasoning 86.5% 131,920

Tool categories

Tool category Employment reach Workers
Spreadsheet software 99.7% 152,130
Word processing software 99.7% 152,050
Medical software 97.3% 148,360
Data base user interface and query software 83.3% 127,020
Office suite software 82.4% 125,730
Accounting software 80.8% 123,300
Internet browser software 75.1% 114,520
Electronic mail software 61.5% 93,780
Presentation software 60.5% 92,340
Calendar and scheduling software 52.9% 80,760
Operating system software 44.1% 67,230
Document management software 35.7% 54,520
Billing and invoicing software 34.4% 52,410
Cloud-based data access and sharing software 31.7% 48,320
Desktop publishing software 31.7% 48,300

Reach = share of industry employment in occupations where the requirement is significant; it is not a per-worker usage or proficiency measure. Skill, knowledge, and ability importance is from O*NET; tool use is reported presence of a technology category.

Largest occupations

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay AI task-overlap (horizontal) versus median pay (vertical), each as a percentile across all scored occupations, for 38 occupations in Offices of Optometrists. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners Surgical Technologists Maintenance and Repair Workers, General Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians Healthcare Support Workers, All Other Ophthalmic Medical Technicians Administrative Services Managers Occupational Therapists Optometrists Therapists, All Other Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers Medical Transcriptionists Retail Salespersons Medical and Health Services Managers File Clerks Business Operations Specialists, All Other Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks Computer User Support Specialists Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
The largest occupations in this industry with both an AI task-overlap score and a wage, plotted by task-overlap percentile (horizontal) and median-pay percentile (vertical). Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

The occupations that employ the most people in this industry, with their share of the industry's workforce and national median pay for the occupation (not industry-specific pay).

Occupation Workers Share National median pay
Opticians, Dispensing 32,580 21.4% $44,090
Optometrists 25,710 16.9% $127,980
Ophthalmic Medical Technicians 21,020 13.8% $37,600
Receptionists and Information Clerks 14,710 9.6% $36,700
Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 11,540 7.6% $37,560
Medical Assistants 11,260 7.4% $37,640
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers 5,930 3.9% $56,700
Office Clerks, General 4,870 3.2% $38,530
Billing and Posting Clerks 4,750 3.1% $43,830
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians 2,590 1.7% $37,660
Retail Salespersons 1,930 1.3% $37,630
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive 1,860 1.2% $40,230
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks 1,690 1.1% $43,830
Medical and Health Services Managers 1,590 1.0% $69,210
General and Operations Managers 1,050 0.7% $72,240
Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other 860 0.6% $37,990
Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric 690 0.5% $232,870
Customer Service Representatives 690 0.5% $37,440
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other 630 0.4% $40,380
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks 550 0.4% $39,040
Medical Transcriptionists 460 0.3% $37,200
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners 390 0.3% $34,390
Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians 360 0.2% $44,550
Medical Records Specialists 360 0.2% $45,100
Accountants and Auditors 320 0.2% $68,340
Occupational Therapists 310 0.2% $42,150
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants 300 0.2% $63,440
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers 270 0.2% $64,110
Business Operations Specialists, All Other 210 0.1% —
Healthcare Support Workers, All Other 210 0.1% $39,970
Registered Nurses 190 0.1% $77,930
Computer User Support Specialists 180 0.1% $44,190
Surgical Technologists 180 0.1% $45,730
Administrative Services Managers 170 0.1% $85,950
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists 170 0.1% $39,070
Therapists, All Other 160 0.1% $46,520
File Clerks 150 0.1% $36,830
Security Guards 140 0.1% $34,480
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 130 0.1% $35,450
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks 120 0.1% $40,370

Showing the top 40 of 63 occupations by employment.

Most distinctive occupations

The occupations most unusually concentrated in this industry compared with the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more common an occupation is here versus its economy-wide share (a value of 5 means five times as concentrated).

Occupation Concentration Workers
Optometrists 620.37× 25,710
Opticians, Dispensing 413.25× 32,580
Ophthalmic Medical Technicians 277.66× 21,020
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians 139.7× 2,590
Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric 57.59× 690
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other 17.22× 630
Receptionists and Information Clerks 15.42× 14,710
Medical Assistants 14.34× 11,260
Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 14.04× 11,540
Billing and Posting Clerks 11.5× 4,750
Medical Transcriptionists 10.8× 460
Therapists, All Other 8.37× 160
Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other 4.99× 860
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers 4.01× 5,930
Medical and Health Services Managers 2.84× 1,590
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks 2.43× 550
Occupational Therapists 2.06× 310
Healthcare Support Workers, All Other 2.05× 210
Office Clerks, General 1.96× 4,870
Medical Records Specialists 1.94× 360
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation

The Offices of Optometrists workforce sits at the 60th percentile of AI task overlap — 152,540 U.S. workers

  • Weighting every occupation by its real share of Offices of Optometrists employment, the industry's workforce ranks in the 60th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap — overlap with what AI can attempt, not a measure of jobs at risk.Eloundou et al. + Felten AIOE, weighted by BLS OEWS
  • The industry employs about 152,540 U.S. workers across 63 occupations.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
  • Employment-weighted typical annual pay is about $57,168.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
  • Of AI use observed across this industry's occupations, 55% looks like augmentation rather than automation — from a Claude.ai sample, not a census.Anthropic Economic Index
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The Offices of Optometrists workforce sits at the 60th percentile of AI task overlap — 152,540 U.S. workers

• Weighting every occupation by its real share of Offices of Optometrists employment, the industry's workforce ranks in the 60th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap — overlap with what AI can attempt, not a measure of jobs at risk. (Eloundou et al. + Felten AIOE, weighted by BLS OEWS)
• The industry employs about 152,540 U.S. workers across 63 occupations. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))
• Employment-weighted typical annual pay is about $57,168. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))
• Of AI use observed across this industry's occupations, 55% looks like augmentation rather than automation — from a Claude.ai sample, not a census. (Anthropic Economic Index)

Source: Singulariki — "Offices of Optometrists". https://singulariki.com/industries/621320
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom

Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 3, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Offices of Optometrists." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/industries/621320

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Offices of Optometrists. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/industries/621320

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-621320,
  title  = {Offices of Optometrists},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/industries/621320}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.