We share our annual income survey this month, and there’s a lot in the data to be enthused about. The average income reported by the 422 optometrists who participated came in just shy of $200,000. Admittedly, that number obscures the wide range of results within various subgroups of survey respondents (see the article for details), but even practitioners on the lower end of the scale are making well into the six figures. It’s true that the personal debt one must accrue in order to create such earning potential is formidable, but with the prospect of a 40-year career ahead of them, ODs who are able to weather their cash-strapped early days are in for a very satisfying trajectory.

Some practice-owning ODs put up truly eye-popping income numbers this year, too—a few told us they hit the seven-figure mark. That’s admittedly atypical, but there was also a healthy spread of readers reporting incomes in the $300,000 to $500,000 range. It takes a ton of work and self-sacrifice, but private practice optometry truly is a gateway to upper income tiers that few professions can match.

Of course, money isn’t everything. The recurring theme among optometrists who work for someone else (and typically have a lower income ceiling as a result) was gratitude for the favorable quality of life this choice allows them. “I feel like if I wanted to earn more I could, but currently I like my work-life balance,” wrote one respondent, a comment echoed by many. 

I think what that sentiment gets at is the notion of autonomy—the ability to call the shots for yourself, at least to some extent. In that light, the high level of satisfaction among optometrists who work as employees makes sense. When you make an informed choice about how you want to spend your days, money is just one factor out of many. Among survey respondents, 65.2% of employed ODs reported that they were either “somewhat” or “very” satisfied with their professional earnings, and the result wasn’t tremendously higher for those who are self-employed: 68.8%. In fact, satisfaction remained consistently around that same level for many subgroups, including full-time (67.5%) and part-time workers (64.3%), plus each age/experience bracket.

Where we did see some notable separation, however, was along gender lines. In optometry as with the wider workforce, women earn less than men. As such, 61.2% of female ODs reported they were satisfied with their compensation vs. 72.7% for their male counterparts. Still, that’s a sizable majority of women who told us they’re satisfied with their incomes even in light of the professional and cultural headwinds that keep their earnings below the average.

None of this is meant to gloss over the real frustration that many readers did express about their earnings. Much of the anger in the candid comments about these hardships centered on complaints about forces beyond one’s control: inflation, insurers, bosses or, quite often, all three. So, if you’re among those who felt a bit shortchanged this year, spend some of 2025 trying to carve out a better path for yourself. Even if it doesn’t lead to a big windfall, the feeling of acting on your own behalf can sometimes be its own reward.