Whether you need an optician license depends on your state: 21 states license opticians, New Hampshire requires registration only, and the other 28 states and DC have no state optician license. Where a license is required, you usually qualify through an approved opticianry program or a supervised apprenticeship, then pass exams, most often the national ABO and NCLE exams, sometimes a state practical. In states without a license, employers often look for ABO or NCLE certification instead.
This guide lists every state and DC, what each licensing state requires, and a link to the board or statute that decides it. If you are still deciding whether the job fits, start with what an optician does.
Which states require an optician license?
The Commission on Opticianry Accreditation says that “Twenty one states require licensure for Opticians” (COA FAQ). The ABO-NCLE list of licensing boards names the same 21 states, plus Puerto Rico:
- Licensing states (21): Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington.
- Registration only: New Hampshire. Under Chapter Plc 800 an ophthalmic dispenser registers with the state, and the rules do not require the national exam.
- No state optician license: the other 28 states and DC, listed after the table.
California is the odd one in the first group. It does not issue an optician “license” but registers spectacle lens dispensers and contact lens dispensers through the State Board of Optometry, and registration depends on passing the national exam.
Optician license requirements by state
The table covers the 21 licensing states plus New Hampshire. Every cell comes from the state board, statute or administrative code linked in the last column. Where a rule was unclear or the sources disagreed, the cell says “See board” instead of guessing. Licensing fees are left out on purpose, because they change and the boards publish them.
| State | What is licensed | Routes to qualify | Exams | Board or source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Dispensing optician, with endorsements for spectacles, contact lenses or both | 1,800 hours as a registered apprentice, or 1,800 hours as a practicing optician, plus a department-designated course. An associate degree from a recognized opticianry school substitutes for both | ABO exam (spectacles), NCLE exam (contact lenses) | Alaska DCCA |
| Arizona | Dispensing optician (one license covers lenses and contact lenses) | Apprenticeship for 3 of the 6 years before applying, under a dispensing optician, optometrist or physician. Graduates of an accredited school need 1 of those 6 years | Written and practical exams, spectacle and contact lens, from a nationally recognized body | AZ Board of Dispensing Opticians |
| Arkansas | Licensed or registered dispensing optician (spectacles only; contact lens dispensing is excluded) | Licensed: graduate of an opticianry school with at least 18 months of instruction, or 5 years of dispensing experience. Registered: 3 years of supervised work or an approved school | Board written and practical exams. See board for current format | AR Board of Dispensing Opticians |
| California | Registered spectacle lens dispenser and registered contact lens dispenser (separate registrations) | No education or apprenticeship requirement in statute | ABO exam (spectacles), NCLE exam (contact lenses) | CA Board of Optometry |
| Connecticut | Licensed optician | 4 years of full-time work as a registered apprentice under a licensed optician, or an approved 2-year program in place of the work experience | ABO exam, NCLE exam and a state practical | CT DPH |
| Florida | Optician (a separate board-certified status is needed to fit soft contact lenses) | Associate degree in opticianry, or 6,240 hours as a registered apprentice within 5 years | ABO exam, NCLE exam and a national practical | FL Board of Opticianry |
| Georgia | Dispensing optician (one license) | Approved education program, or 3,000 hours over at least 2 calendar years under a Georgia optician, physician or optometrist (apprentices register first) | ABO and NCLE exams plus the ABO and NCLE practicals | GA Board of Dispensing Opticians |
| Hawaii | Dispensing optician | COA-accredited opticianry course, or supervised work experience (statute says 2 years; older rule text says 3, so See board) | National opticianry exam, contact lens registry exam, and a practical the director may require | HI DCCA |
| Kentucky | Ophthalmic dispenser (spectacles), with an apprentice license | 2 years of supervised training and experience, or graduation from an accepted school | ABO Basic, NCLE Basic and a practical. Rule amendments were filed in 2026, so See board | KY Board of Ophthalmic Dispensers |
| Massachusetts | Dispensing optician (spectacles) | 2-year COA-accredited program; or 1 year of school plus a 2,100-hour apprenticeship over at least 18 months; or a 4,200-hour apprenticeship over at least 3 years | NOCE, contact lens registry exam and a practical | 235 CMR 2.07 |
| Nevada | Dispensing optician (the same license covers contact lens fitting) | Approved education program plus 2 years as an apprentice, or an approved associate degree plus 1 year as an apprentice | State exam covering neutralization, dispensing, instrumentation and law, plus any required certificate. See board | NV Board of Dispensing Opticians |
| New Jersey | Ophthalmic dispenser | 3 years of apprenticeship with 30 credits of ophthalmic science coursework, or an associate degree in ophthalmic science plus a 4-month apprenticeship | State written and practical exams (no ABO or NCLE requirement found) | N.J.A.C. 13:33 |
| New York | Ophthalmic dispenser (spectacles), with a separate contact lens certificate | 2-year program, or 24 months and 2,400 clock hours of supervised training under a trainee permit | NOCE and the ABO practical | NYSED |
| North Carolina | Registered licensed optician | Accredited 2-year school program (minimum 1,600 hours), or 2.5 years as a registered apprentice | Basic and practical exams (rule does not name the vendor) | NC Board of Opticians |
| Ohio | Spectacle, or spectacle-contact lens, dispensing optician | 2-year college program, or 1,000 hours (spectacle) or 1,500 hours (spectacle-contact lens) of supervised experience | Board national qualifying exam. See board | Ohio Admin. Code 4725-3-01 |
| Rhode Island | Optician (spectacles only; contact lens dispensing is prohibited) | 2-year opticianry school, or a registered apprenticeship of at least 4,100 hours over at least 2 years. Older rule text also mentions a postgraduate internship, so See board | NOCE or another approved written exam, plus a department-approved practical | RIGL 5-35.2-2 |
| South Carolina | Optician and contact lens optician (separate titles) | Certificate from a 2-year opticianry school, or 2 years as a registered apprentice, or 2 years in opticianry in a state with no license | ABO competency exam plus a practical; contact lens exam for the contact lens title | SC Board of Examiners in Opticianry |
| Tennessee | Dispensing optician | 2-year opticianry program, or a 3 to 6 year apprenticeship totaling 5,250 hours | NOCE, contact lens registry exam, Tennessee jurisprudence exam and a state practical. See board for current scores | TN Board of Dispensing Opticians |
| Vermont | Optician | 2-year approved school, or at least 2 years of approved supervised training (register as an optician trainee), or the NAO home-study program plus 1 year of training | An exam recognized by the director. See board | VT Office of Professional Regulation |
| Virginia | Optician, plus a contact lens endorsement (separate application) | Board-approved 2-year school, or a 2-year registered apprenticeship with 144 hours of related instruction per year | Board-approved written and practical exams; a separate board exam for the contact lens endorsement | 18VAC80-30 |
| Washington | Dispensing optician | 6,000 hours of certified apprenticeship over at least 3 years, or an accredited opticianry course | ABO-NCLE basic competency and basic contact lens exams plus the practicals | WA Dept. of Health |
| New Hampshire | Registration only (registered ophthalmic dispenser) | Age 18 and a high school diploma or equivalent. Someone with no training must work under a registered optician or eye care professional with at least a year of experience | None required | Chapter Plc 800 |
No state optician license (28 states and DC): Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Oregon’s Board of Optometry states that “Opticians are not licensed or regulated in Oregon”, Wisconsin’s statute 449.01(2) says a dispensing optician “need not be so licensed for the practice of optical dispensing”, and Texas repealed its registration requirement for dispensing opticians in 2015. For the rest, we relied on their absence from the ABO-NCLE licensing list and the COA’s count of 21, so check with your state before you rely on it.
Last verified: September 2026. Method: each licensing state was checked against its board page, statute or administrative code, using the ABO-NCLE state licensing boards list as the index. Rules change and several boards had amendments pending, so confirm with the board before you apply.
What the licensing states have in common
Read down the routes column and a pattern shows up. In most licensing states you can qualify through supervised work as well as school. Nevada asks for both on every route (an approved education program plus an apprenticeship), and California sets no route at all: it registers you once you pass the national exam. The BLS describes the same split: “licensure usually requires completing an approved educational program or completing an apprenticeship or other supervised work experience,” in addition to “one or more exams” (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).
Three details catch people out:
- Contact lenses are handled differently everywhere. Some states cover them with one license, some add an endorsement or certificate (Alaska, Florida, New York, South Carolina, Virginia), and Arkansas and Rhode Island keep contact lens dispensing outside the optician license altogether.
- Hours count only after registration. Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington, among others, require apprentices to register before starting, and unregistered time may not count.
- The rules and the statute can disagree. Hawaii and Rhode Island both have rule text that lags a newer statute, which is why those cells point you to the board.
The apprenticeship route: what it looks like in practice
An optician apprenticeship is paid, supervised work in an optical shop or eye clinic that counts toward the license. In a licensing state the board sets the terms, and the table shows how much they vary: 1,800 hours in Alaska, 6,240 in Florida, 6,000 in Washington.
An apprentice usually starts with frame adjustment, measuring pupillary distance and lens neutralization, then moves to fitting and dispensing as the supervisor signs off. The BLS describes apprentices learning “skills such as measuring the distance between a customer’s pupils and adjusting frames” under an experienced optician.
How it typically works:
- Register, where required. Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Washington ask apprentices to register with the state before hours count.
- Work under a qualified supervisor. Depending on the state, that can be a licensed optician, an optometrist or a physician. Several states cap apprentices per supervisor (Alaska, Georgia, Kentucky and Washington allow two or three).
- Log hours and take related instruction. Massachusetts requires at least 150 classroom hours per year, New Jersey 30 credits of ophthalmic science, and Virginia 144 hours per year.
- Pass the exams. The apprenticeship gets you eligible, but you still sit the same exams as a school graduate.
Where to find one: ask local independent optical shops and eye clinics, and check your state opticians association. The federal My Next Move profile for dispensing opticians says “an apprenticeship program may be a good choice.” That is practical guidance, not a licensing rule, and it applies in unlicensed states too, where on-the-job training is the norm.
The education route
Accredited opticianry programs are the alternative to an apprenticeship. The Commission on Opticianry Accreditation “accredits two-year Opticianry degree programs and one-year ophthalmic laboratory technology certificate programs” (COA FAQ), so the associate degree is the credential most states name. Note that the one-year COA certificate is for lab technology, not dispensing.
Boards treat schooling as a full or partial substitute for work experience. Nineteen of the 21 licensing states accept graduates of a COA-accredited program “in lieu of the apprenticeship portion,” according to the COA. Massachusetts, Nevada and Arizona blend the two, crediting school hours against a shorter apprenticeship.
Optician exams: ABO, NCLE and state practicals
Most licensing states build on two national exams from ABO-NCLE, which “administers voluntary competency certification examinations for dispensing Opticians and Contact Lens Technicians” (ABO-NCLE Basic Exam Handbook):
- ABO Basic (NOCE): the National Opticianry Competency Examination, for spectacle dispensing.
- NCLE Basic (CLRE): the Contact Lens Registry Examination, for contact lens fitting.
Several states add a practical exam, and a few, including New Jersey and Virginia, run their own exams instead. The ABO content outline shows what you are expected to do at the bench: transposing prescriptions and spotting irregular ones, using a lensmeter, adjusting frames and checking the fitting triangle, and applying standards such as ANSI. That is why skills like reading a prescription, frame adjustment and lensometry matter before you sit for a licensing exam. The outline also lists pupillometer use, vertex distance and centration, and the ANSI Z80.1 tolerances are worth knowing for lens verification.
License and certification are not the same thing. ABO and NCLE certification is a voluntary, national credential. A state license is the legal permission to work, and in the states above it is often built on those exam results.
| State license | ABO or NCLE certification | |
|---|---|---|
| Issued by | State board or department | ABO-NCLE (national) |
| Required to work | Yes, in the 21 licensing states | No, but employers often prefer it |
| Covers | Scope of practice in that state | Competency in spectacles or contact lenses |
| Where it applies | One state | Nationwide |
Moving to another state
Rules differ too much to give one answer. Several boards license by endorsement if the other state’s standards are similar: Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Washington all say so in their rules. Others are strict. Georgia’s board answers “No” to reciprocity, and New York’s education department states that endorsement “is not available in New York for the profession of ophthalmic dispensing.” Hawaii’s statute allows a license based on an out-of-state license, but its application sheet says it does not reciprocate, so See board. Check the board column before you move.
Working as an optician in a state with no license
In the 28 states and DC with no license, employers set the bar. The BLS notes that “employers may require or prefer to hire candidates who have certification in eyeglass dispensing and contact lens dispensing,” and most opticians there are trained on the job. ABO and NCLE certification is the portable credential if you might move to a licensing state later.
Pay also differs. In BLS May 2025 data, the median state mean wage was $55,810 in the 21 licensing states and $44,570 in non-licensing jurisdictions. That is an association between state averages, not proof that a license raises your pay, since licensing states include several high-cost markets. See optician salary by state for the full breakdown.
If you run a shop, licensing decides who may dispense at your counter. In a licensing state, check the board’s rules on licensure and apprentice supervision before you schedule anyone to fit or dispense alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need a license to be an optician?
It depends on the state. Twenty-one states license opticians, New Hampshire requires registration, and the other states and DC do not have a state optician license. Check the table above for your state.
How long does it take to get an optician license?
The board sets the timeline. Two-year school programs and apprenticeships of about two to three years are the most common routes, and the hours range from 1,800 in Alaska to 6,240 in Florida. Exams come after that.
Can you become an optician through an apprenticeship?
Yes, in most licensing states. You work under a qualified supervisor for the hours the board sets, register with the state first where required, then take the same exams as school graduates. Nevada also requires an approved education program alongside the apprenticeship, and California has no route requirement: it registers you after you pass the national exam.
What exams do you need for an optician license?
Most states use the ABO exam for spectacles and the NCLE exam for contact lenses, often with a practical exam. New Jersey and Virginia run their own state exams. The exams column in the table shows each state’s requirement.
Can you transfer an optician license to another state?
Sometimes. Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Washington license by endorsement when the other state’s requirements are similar. Georgia and New York do not offer reciprocity. Contact the destination board.
Is ABO certification the same as a license?
No. ABO certification is a voluntary national credential from ABO-NCLE. A license is issued by a state and gives you legal permission to dispense there. Many states require the ABO exam as one step toward the license.
Do you need a separate license to fit contact lenses?
In some states. Alaska, Florida, New York, South Carolina and Virginia use an endorsement, certificate or separate title. Arizona, Georgia and Washington cover contact lenses under one license, and Arkansas and Rhode Island exclude them from the optician license.
I grew up inside an optical shop. My mother likes to tell how, as a kid, I would watch eyeglasses being assembled, play with the tools, and draw on the back of service order slips. The family business taught me early what a precise measurement and work done right are worth.
I went on to spend more than twenty years as a software engineer, always keeping an eye on the optical world. Optogrid was born where the two meet: digital measurement technology (pupillary distance and fitting heights) built by someone who knows the dispensing counter from the inside.