The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) newest occupational employment figures estimated that more than 40,000 optometrists were at work in the United States as of May 2024.  At that time, an estimated 3,030 optometrists were employed in the seven-state Great Plains region. BLS data indicated the region to be a disparate one for optometrist pay.  Three Great Plains states rated in the bottom quartile of all states nationally for optometrist annual mean wages, while at the same time two other states in the region rated in the top twenty nationally for the same pay metric. However, on the whole the region was a modestly good one for optometrist pay as about two-thirds of the region's optometrists lived in a state where the annual mean wage level was above the national average for the profession.  A closer examination of BLS data from May 2024 provides the following details about optometrist pay in the Great Plains region:

Optometrist Pay in the Great Plains Region

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
IA	460	$125,530	40th
KS	460	$142,400	18th
MN	700	$143,450	16th
MO	660	$121,680	44th
NE	370	$136,810	24th
ND	180	$130,840	35th
SD	200	$119,420	46th
U.S.	40,900	$137,190	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on September 25, 2025