Career
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians
Make eyeglass lenses.
$39,460
Median pay
+2.2%
Job growth, 2025–35
2,200
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Mount and secure lens blanks or optical lenses in holding tools or chucks of cutting, polishing, grinding, or coating machines.
- Inspect lens blanks to detect flaws, verify smoothness of surface, and ensure thickness of coating on lenses.
- Set up machines to polish, bevel, edge, or grind lenses, flats, blanks, or other precision optical elements.
- Inspect, weigh, and measure mounted or unmounted lenses after completion to verify alignment and conformance to specifications, using precision instruments.
- Shape lenses appropriately so that they can be inserted into frames.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Mount and secure lens blanks or optical lenses in holding tools or chucks of cutting, polishing, grinding, or coating machines.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operation and Control, Quality Control Analysis, Operations Monitoring, Time Management.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $39,460 a year and 2,200 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Ophthalmic Laboratory Technology/TechnicianCIP 51.1006
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand$42,660 · -19.2%
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$46,550 · -10.8%
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners$50,060 · -6.8%
- Timing Device Assemblers and Adjusters$62,620 · -6.1%
- Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers$52,720 · -15.5%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.