2025 Best Optometry Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

If you pursue a doctor's degree in optometry, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #15 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual reviewed 2 schools in the Far Western US Region to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of optometry. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 318 doctor's degrees in optometry during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to optometry students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of optometry students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt optometry students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized optometry related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for optometry students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The optometry school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Optometry Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Optometry in the Far Western US Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in optometry.

Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Doctorate in Optometry

1

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

69 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in optometry needs to check out University of California - Berkeley. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in optometry from University of California - Berkeley

2

Pacific University
Forest Grove, OR

91 Annual Graduates

$107,293 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in optometry needs to look into Pacific University. Pacific is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Forest Grove.

After graduating, optometry doctorate recipients typically make an average of $107,293 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in optometry from Pacific University

Best Optometry Colleges by State

Explore the best optometry colleges for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	180	237
Oregon	107	88

View All Rankings >

Optometry Related Rankings by Major

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Optometry has other similar majors worth exploring.

Optometry Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Optometry	318

Majors Similar to Optometry

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Medicine	2,824
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	2,558
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	1,807
Dentistry	1,089
Nursing	1,006
Alternative Medicine & Systems	706
Chiropractic	450
Public Health	130
Communication Sciences	112
Mental & Social Health Services	98

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.