Optician vs Technician/Technologist
Optician has 1.8 times as many registry records as Technician/Technologist: 6,972 against 3,778. Each count is the NPPES records whose primary taxonomy is the specialty, so it measures how providers describe their main practice, not everyone trained in it.
Optician: 6,972 records in 52 states
Technician/Technologist: 3,778 records in 51 states
By state, with records per 100,000 residents
| State | Optician | Technician/Technologist | Per 100,000 (first) | Per 100,000 (second) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 89 | 2,703 | 0.9 | 26.9 |
| New York | 1,141 | 49 | 5.8 | 0.3 |
| Ohio | 729 | 62 | 6.2 | 0.5 |
| Florida | 654 | 75 | 2.9 | 0.3 |
| California | 334 | 135 | 0.9 | 0.3 |
| Texas | 286 | 72 | 0.9 | 0.2 |
| Georgia | 265 | 70 | 2.4 | 0.6 |
| Massachusetts | 295 | 20 | 4.2 | 0.3 |
| Kentucky | 304 | 5 | 6.7 | 0.1 |
| South Carolina | 247 | 15 | 4.6 | 0.3 |
| New Jersey | 241 | 18 | 2.6 | 0.2 |
| Connecticut | 240 | 4 | 6.6 | 0.1 |
| Virginia | 219 | 17 | 2.5 | 0.2 |
| Pennsylvania | 183 | 36 | 1.4 | 0.3 |
| Washington | 146 | 50 | 1.9 | 0.6 |
| Arizona | 132 | 27 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| North Carolina | 124 | 15 | 1.1 | 0.1 |
| Oregon | 82 | 28 | 1.9 | 0.7 |
| Colorado | 66 | 22 | 1.1 | 0.4 |
| Illinois | 55 | 27 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Wisconsin | 71 | 9 | 1.2 | 0.2 |
| Nevada | 54 | 25 | 1.7 | 0.8 |
| Tennessee | 52 | 26 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Maryland | 56 | 20 | 0.9 | 0.3 |
| Minnesota | 56 | 19 | 1.0 | 0.3 |
| Montana | 69 | 1 | 6.1 | 0.1 |
| Missouri | 27 | 30 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Alabama | 46 | 5 | 0.9 | 0.1 |
| New Hampshire | 47 | 3 | 3.4 | 0.2 |
| Nebraska | 17 | 24 | 0.9 | 1.2 |
| Hawaii | 36 | 3 | 2.5 | 0.2 |
| Louisiana | 28 | 11 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| Oklahoma | 23 | 15 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Iowa | 18 | 19 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Alaska | 32 | 4 | 4.4 | 0.5 |
| Indiana | 21 | 15 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Kansas | 24 | 9 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| New Mexico | 24 | 5 | 1.1 | 0.2 |
| Rhode Island | 26 | 2 | 2.4 | 0.2 |
| Arkansas | 17 | 6 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| Utah | 12 | 11 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| South Dakota | 18 | 4 | 2.0 | 0.4 |
| West Virginia | 16 | 5 | 0.9 | 0.3 |
| Idaho | 12 | 7 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| North Dakota | 12 | 7 | 1.5 | 0.9 |
| Maine | 16 | 2 | 1.1 | 0.1 |
| Mississippi | 11 | 5 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Delaware | 11 | 2 | 1.1 | 0.2 |
| District of Columbia | 7 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| Vermont | 11 | 0 | 1.7 | 0.0 |
| Wyoming | 4 | 2 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
Source: CMS NPPES (NPPES files on CMS.gov), primary NUCC taxonomy by practice state; 2023 population estimates (census.gov).
Common questions
How many Optician providers are there vs Technician/Technologist?
There are 6,972 Optician and 3,778 Technician/Technologist records in the CMS NPPES registry, counted by primary taxonomy.
Which specialty is spread across more states?
Optician has records in 52 states and territories, against 51.
Where is the data from?
Provider counts are from the CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES). Per-capita rates use 2023 Census population estimates.
Figures on PlainDoctor are read from the federal files each page names (CMS NPPES, Medicare Part D, MIPS, Open Payments; the HHS-OIG exclusion list only as counts) and from Census population estimates, with the file date shown beside them. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of the NPPES file of Aug 9, 2026.