NOC 2021 · 31111 · TEER 1
Optometrists
Unit group 31111 of the National Occupational Classification, 2021 Version 1.0.
What this group covers
Optometrists examine eyes to assess and diagnose ocular diseases and disorders. They prescribe and fit eyeglasses and contact lenses and recommend treatments such as exercises to correct vision problems or ocular disorders. They work in private practice, hospitals, clinics, community health centres, rehabilitation centres, the optical industry, government and universities.
Example job titles
As Statistics Canada publishes them. Yours may be worded differently and still belong here.
- doctor of optometry (OD)
- optometrist
What it pays, and where it is hiring
Job Bank publishes a wage estimate and a three-year employment outlook for each occupation, region by region. Both are below as published — where an estimate is missing from the source it is missing here too, because the alternative is inventing one.
Across Canada
$81,000 a year
Low $32,867, high $162,000
Where it pays most
- Winnipeg · Manitoba$135,000
- Montérégie · Quebec$110,000
- Windsor--Sarnia · Ontario$103,000
- Ottawa · Ontario$83,000
- Calgary · Alberta$83,000
Economic regions only. A province’s figure is an average over the regions inside it, so including one would rank a province above its own best region and read as a finding.
By province and territory
| Where | Median annual | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Prince Edward Island | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nova Scotia | $85,000 | Not published | Undetermined |
| New Brunswick | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Quebec | $97,000 | $33,109 – $178,000 | Very good |
| Ontario | $78,000 | $37,561 – $156,000 | Very good |
| Manitoba | $119,000 | Not published | Very good |
| Saskatchewan | $68,500 | Not published | Very good |
| Alberta | $84,000 | $32,867 – $178,000 | Very good |
| British Columbia | $69,500 | $37,929 – $145,000 | Very good |
| Yukon Territory | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Northwest Territories | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nunavut | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
By economic region
The 18 economic regions where Job Bank publishes a wage or a rated outlook, of 72.
| Where | Province | Median annual | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capitale-Nationale | Quebec | Not published | Not published | Very good |
| Montérégie | Quebec | $110,000 | Not published | Very good |
| Montréal | Quebec | $82,000 | Not published | Very good |
| Laval | Quebec | Not published | Not published | Very good |
| Laurentides | Quebec | Not published | Not published | Very good |
| Ottawa | Ontario | $83,000 | Not published | Very good |
| Kingston--Pembroke | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Very good |
| Toronto | Ontario | $69,500 | $37,561 – $162,000 | Very good |
| Kitchener--Waterloo--Barrie | Ontario | $76,500 | Not published | Very good |
| Hamilton--Niagara Peninsula | Ontario | $80,000 | Not published | Very good |
| London | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Very good |
| Windsor--Sarnia | Ontario | $103,000 | Not published | Very good |
| Winnipeg | Manitoba | $135,000 | Not published | Undetermined |
| Calgary | Alberta | $83,000 | Not published | Very good |
| Edmonton | Alberta | $81,000 | Not published | Very good |
| Vancouver Island and Coast | British Columbia | $74,500 | Not published | Very good |
| Lower Mainland | British Columbia | $67,500 | Not published | Very good |
| Thompson--Okanagan | British Columbia | Not published | Not published | Very good |
Job Bank rates employment prospects for each occupation in each economic region from very good to very limited over 2025–2027, and says “undetermined” where it has not got enough to rate. It is an assessment of prospects, not a count of vacancies.
The estimates on this page come from 2021 Census (2021).
Job Bank publishes an estimate for 24,364 of the 44,376 occupation-and-place pairs in this release. The rest are suppressed rather than modelled, and appear here as not published.
Wage estimates from the 2025 Wages release, revised 19 November 2025; employment outlooks from 2025-2027 Employment Outlooks - NOC 2021, released 8 December 2025. Both are updated annually. Estimates for different regions come from different surveys, so comparing two regions is exactly as sound as Job Bank’s own regional comparison and no more.
Source: Statistics Canada — National Occupational Classification 2021 V1.0; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank wages; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank 3-year employment outlooks. Data current as of 13 August 2026. NOC 2021 Version 1.0. The classification is versioned rather than dated — IRCC moved to it in November 2022, and a new version would be a new classification rather than an update.