Montclair, NJ has six optician schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Albright College, the highest ranked school in this group with an optician program, has a total student population of 2,358. It is the 2342nd highest ranked school in the USA and the 200th highest in the state of Pennsylvania (#1 is University of Pennsylvania).
Optician students from Montclair schools who go on to become opticians, eye doctors, optics scientists, optics professionals, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 60,840 people working as opticians, dispensing alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $34,790. Also, Therapists make on average $54,400 per year and there are about 13,440 of them employed in the US today.
Montclair lies in Essex county, which is one of the 11 counties in New Jersey. Overall, the Newark-Union-PA Metropolitan area has 974,700 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1.6% unemployment rate, $25.36/hr average worker wage, and a $52,760 average annual salary.
Of the 6 optician schools with a 100-mile radius of Montclair, only 3 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Albright College comes out as the most expensive ($26,604/yr) for optician students, with Camden County College as the lowest, reported at only $3,258/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Montclair |
| Bloomfield | NJ | 48,995 | 2 | 17.5636 | 34 | 1.5 miles |
| Clifton | NJ | 78,248 | 4 | 27.5248 | 46 | 3.5 miles |
| West Orange | NJ | 49,330 | 0 | - | 0 | 3.6 miles |
| West Paterson | NJ | - | 1 | 20.7455 | 20 | 4.5 miles |
| Passaic | NJ | 67,055 | 0 | - | 0 | 4.8 miles |
| Livingston | NJ | - | 3 | 17.1946 | 56 | 5.9 miles |
| South Orange | NJ | - | 1 | 63.933 | 113 | 6.0 miles |
| Paterson | NJ | 145,162 | 2 | 18.1967 | 29 | 6.4 miles |
| Newark | NJ | 279,278 | 12 | 22.0426 | 375 | 7.6 miles |
| Union | NJ | 56,324 | 6 | 24.8766 | 160 | 9.3 miles |
| Hackensack | NJ | 42,824 | 4 | 27.098 | 27 | 9.4 miles |
| North Bergen | NJ | 59,771 | 0 | - | 0 | 9.7 miles |
| Paramus | NJ | - | 3 | 22.7173 | 64 | 10.8 miles |
| Hoboken | NJ | 41,307 | 1 | 72.0499 | 47 | 11.1 miles |
| Kenilworth | NJ | - | 2 | 30.2484 | 7 | 11.2 miles |
| Jersey City | NJ | 242,594 | 10 | 25.9195 | 190 | 11.2 miles |
| Parsippany | NJ | - | 1 | 29.0107 | 9 | 11.6 miles |
| Bayonne | NJ | 57,362 | 0 | - | 0 | 12.6 miles |
| West New York | NJ | 47,282 | 1 | 33.6373 | 6 | 12.6 miles |
| Morristown | NJ | - | 4 | 29.5898 | 111 | 14.4 miles |
| Long Island City | NY | - | 4 | 18.9499 | 59 | 14.7 miles |
| Denville | NJ | - | 1 | 0.43489 | 0 | 14.8 miles |
| Staten Island | NY | - | 3 | 40.1655 | 127 | 17.1 miles |
| Jackson Heights | NY | - | 1 | 28.2916 | 7 | 17.6 miles |
| New York City | NY | 8,459,026 | 86 | 26.2632 | 1,528 | 17.7 miles |
| Bronx | NY | - | 10 | 27.317 | 379 | 18.0 miles |
| Plainfield | NJ | 45,854 | 4 | 21.9493 | 28 | 18.0 miles |
| Ridgewood | NY | - | 1 | 34.5795 | 2 | 18.1 miles |
| Brooklyn | NY | - | 46 | 21.7861 | 571 | 18.2 miles |
| Iselin | NJ | - | 1 | 22.9572 | 8 | 18.3 miles |