Optician vs bench optician

The differences between opticians and bench opticians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a bench optician has an average salary of $45,915, which is higher than the $38,412 average annual salary of an optician.

Optician vs bench optician overview

	Optician	Bench Optician
Yearly salary	$38,412	$45,915
Hourly rate	$18.47	$22.07
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	4,717	4,723
Job satisfaction	4	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	High School Diploma, 50%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	-	-

Optician vs bench optician salary

Opticians and bench opticians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Optician	Bench Optician
Average salary	$38,412	$45,915
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $50,000	Between $18,000 And $117,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	-
Highest paying state	New York	-
Best paying company	Horizon Laser Vision	-
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	-

Differences between optician and bench optician education

There are a few differences between an optician and a bench optician in terms of educational background:

	Optician	Bench Optician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	High School Diploma, 50%
Most common major	Business	Medical Technician
Most common college	University of Minnesota - Twin Cities	Duke University

Optician vs bench optician demographics

Here are the differences between opticians' and bench opticians' demographics:

	Optician	Bench Optician
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 22.2% Female, 77.8%	Male, 42.9% Female, 57.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 9.2% White, 61.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 8.1% White, 69.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between optician and bench optician duties and responsibilities

Optician example responsibilities.

Manage appointments and appointment reminders, checking in/out patients, check insurance eligibility.
Maintain coating quality using adhesion testing and spectrophotometers, and manage coating hues and reflectance adjustments.
Show manual dexterity, hand eye coordination and precision to work with different types of lenses and tools.
Assist patients with frame selections and lenses that are best suit for their lifestyle, Rx and price needs.
Produce forms for the authorization of insurance benefits and eligibility for incoming patients.
Prepare work orders and instructions for fabricating patients prescriptions and verify Rx are finished to specifications.

Bench optician example responsibilities.

Manage appointments and appointment reminders, checking in/out patients, check insurance eligibility.
Work with multiple optometrists to solve patient issues including inaccurate optical measurements, lens adaptations, and overall patient satisfaction.
Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.

Optician vs bench optician skills

Common optician skills

Patients, 31%
Customer Service, 23%
Basic Math, 5%
Patient Care, 5%
Math, 3%
Work Ethic, 3%

Common bench optician skills

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Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Optician
Optician vs Bench Optician

Updated January 8, 2025

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