Optometrists in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$114,932
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$36,738
24.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$111,097
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$151,670
Kept after tax
$114,932
Worth in national money
$111,097
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Florida is one of the better-paying states for optometrists. The middle earner takes $151,670, which ranks 13 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 11.06% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Florida reports, optometrists comes in at 9 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $151,670, tax leaves $114,932 — and because Florida is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $111,097 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $143,020.
- Florida ranks 13 of 51 states publishing a median for optometrists, at $151,670 — about 11.06% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Optometrists ranks 9 of 493 occupations by median in Florida, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After tax, $114,932 remains from the Florida median of $151,670 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $111,097 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $143,020 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Optometrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $151,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $196,210 |
| This salary | $151,670 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Florida | $114,932 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $114,932 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,176 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $151,670 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,203 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of optometrists in Florida earn under $151,670 and half over. The published range runs $62,490 at the tenth percentile to $196,210 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $114,932 take-home in Florida comes from $151,670. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 9 of 493.
- Two cautions on $111,097, the adjusted value of that $151,670 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Florida. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 9 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for optometrists in Florida, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $62,490 to $196,210; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $114,932, from $151,670, assumes a single Florida filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 9 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 51 for it.
- This $111,097 adjusted figure, worked from $151,670, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 9 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 9 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $143,020 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $62,490 at the bottom tenth to $196,210 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Florida costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $111,097 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $114,932 of this wage reaches your account, because Florida takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Florida is $143,020. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($62,490) and the ninetieth ($196,210) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $111,097 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $114,932 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.