How much do electricians make?

Electrician salary 2026 · BLS occupation: Electricians (SOC 47-2111) · Updated October 28, 2026

Answer

Electricians in the US earned a median of $63,190 a year ($30.38 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned $49,430 to $83,940.

Median annual pay: $63,190; Mean $71,490
Median hourly pay: $30.38; Mean $34.37
Typical range (10th–90th): $42.6K–$109K; $42,640 to $108,510
US jobs: 757,220; +9.2% projected, 2025–35

BLS OEWS, May 2025, released April 30, 2026. Wages include tips, commissions and production bonuses but not overtime premiums, shift differentials, other bonuses or benefits; self-employed workers are not included. Methodology

How to become an electrician: steps, years and cost · Best-paying state after cost of living: Illinois

Electrician pay range

Annual wages, May 2025

10th percentile$42,640
25th percentile$49,430
Median$63,190
75th percentile$83,940
90th percentile$108,510

Half of all electricians earned more than $63,190 and half earned less. The lowest-paid 10% made under $42,640; the top 10% made over $108,510. The middle 50%, from the 25th to the 75th percentile, ran from $49,430 to $83,940.

These percentiles describe everyone in the occupation at one time. They are not pay steps by years of experience: they mix new and senior workers, different states, employers and hours. Pay generally rises with experience, credentials and specialization, but BLS does not publish pay by experience.

Percentile	Annual	Hourly	Monthly
10th	$42,640	$20.50	$3,553
25th	$49,430	$23.76	$4,119
Median (50th)	$63,190	$30.38	$5,266
75th	$83,940	$40.36	$6,995
90th	$108,510	$52.17	$9,043
Mean (average)	$71,490	$34.37	$5,958

Electrician salary by state

Median annual pay; cost of living from BEA regional price parities 2024

Median annual pay for electricians by state. Darker tiles pay more.

Highest-paying states

1. Oregon $101,310
2. Illinois $99,560
3. Hawaii $96,460
4. Washington $95,220
5. Alaska $89,440

Lowest-paying states

51. Arkansas $49,070
50. Alabama $55,690
49. North Carolina $56,800
48. Florida $57,250
47. Georgia $58,320

Best after cost of living: Illinois. Its median of $99,560 is worth about $99,602 at national-average prices, more than in Oregon once prices are counted.


Alabama	$55,690	50	$62,698	41	$26.78	10,900	5.16
Alaska	$89,440	5	$87,379	5	$43.00	1,870	5.73
Arizona	$61,060	38	$60,649	44	$29.36	21,140	6.53
Arkansas	$49,070	51	$56,443	50	$23.59	7,500	5.75
California	$76,160	15	$68,786	32	$36.62	73,310	4.03
Colorado	$62,230	33	$60,387	46	$29.92	17,010	5.92
Connecticut	$77,540	10	$74,838	13	$37.28	7,710	4.55
Delaware	$63,700	28	$63,823	38	$30.63	2,260	4.66
District of Columbia	$78,970	7	$71,856	22	$37.97	2,440	3.47
Florida	$57,250	48	$55,360	51	$27.52	49,700	5.00
Georgia	$58,320	47	$60,565	45	$28.04	21,650	4.43
Hawaii	$96,460	3	$87,730	4	$46.38	3,070	4.90
Idaho	$63,000	30	$65,973	36	$30.29	5,690	6.64
Illinois	$99,560	2	$99,602	1	$47.87	23,120	3.79
Indiana	$68,490	21	$73,386	16	$32.93	19,020	5.94
Iowa	$60,860	40	$69,347	29	$29.26	10,310	6.61
Kansas	$65,860	23	$73,123	17	$31.66	6,350	4.42
Kentucky	$59,720	43	$66,239	35	$28.71	11,030	5.52
Louisiana	$61,540	35	$69,768	26	$29.59	10,550	5.45
Maine	$75,380	17	$77,671	11	$36.24	3,780	5.89
Maryland	$73,490	20	$70,018	24	$35.33	13,690	4.95
Massachusetts	$79,420	6	$75,097	12	$38.18	17,810	4.89
Michigan	$76,270	14	$79,269	9	$36.67	23,530	5.34
Minnesota	$78,160	9	$79,253	10	$37.58	14,350	4.86
Mississippi	$60,860	41	$69,992	25	$29.26	6,610	5.68
Missouri	$65,410	25	$72,024	21	$31.45	12,780	4.35
Montana	$76,760	12	$81,103	8	$36.90	2,750	5.37
Nebraska	$60,820	42	$67,501	33	$29.24	6,440	6.29
Nevada	$73,570	19	$73,585	15	$35.37	8,350	5.38
New Hampshire	$62,840	32	$60,327	48	$30.21	3,330	4.87
New Jersey	$77,250	11	$70,999	23	$37.14	13,520	3.15
New Mexico	$58,390	46	$63,321	39	$28.07	5,020	5.76
New York	$78,750	8	$72,970	18	$37.86	40,130	4.14
North Carolina	$56,800	49	$60,217	49	$27.31	21,640	4.38
North Dakota	$65,710	24	$73,865	14	$31.59	3,570	8.31
Ohio	$64,700	27	$69,739	27	$31.11	28,950	5.22
Oklahoma	$61,010	39	$69,453	28	$29.33	8,500	4.98
Oregon	$101,310	1	$98,016	2	$48.71	10,590	5.38
Pennsylvania	$67,600	22	$69,282	31	$32.50	22,730	3.75
Rhode Island	$74,090	18	$72,438	19	$35.62	2,420	4.83
South Carolina	$58,740	44	$62,657	42	$28.24	8,010	3.47
South Dakota	$61,390	36	$69,300	30	$29.51	2,980	6.51
Tennessee	$61,090	37	$66,496	34	$29.37	17,070	5.21
Texas	$58,570	45	$60,346	47	$28.16	76,770	5.46
Utah	$62,000	34	$62,712	40	$29.81	11,450	6.60
Vermont	$63,430	29	$64,752	37	$30.49	1,270	4.17
Virginia	$62,900	31	$62,213	43	$30.24	23,630	5.75
Washington	$95,220	4	$88,980	3	$45.78	19,380	5.46
West Virginia	$64,810	26	$72,416	20	$31.16	4,290	6.11
Wisconsin	$76,540	13	$81,343	7	$36.80	14,310	4.87
Wyoming	$76,120	16	$82,122	6	$36.59	2,960	10.54

BLS OEWS, May 2025, state estimates. Adjusted pay = median ÷ (state price level ÷ 100), using BEA regional price parities for 2024; it ignores taxes. Figures for states with few workers in the occupation have larger survey errors and can change sharply from one year to the next. “—” means BLS did not publish the figure. State names link to each state’s highest-paying jobs.

Best-paying metro areas for electricians

385 metro areas with published pay

Highest median pay
Metro area	Median	Adjusted	Jobs
Kankakee, IL	$105,500	$109,447	140
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$105,090	$99,686	7,340
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$104,510	$102,018	740
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$102,350	$98,798	17,720
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$101,780	$91,584	9,750
Champaign-Urbana, IL	$100,320	$108,215	410
Urban Honolulu, HI	$100,270	$90,365	2,290
Albany, OR	$100,230	$98,168	440
Corvallis, OR	$99,880	$96,023	80
Kennewick-Richland, WA	$99,850	$99,771	1,050

Most jobs
Metro area	Jobs	Median	Adjusted
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	36,550	$79,020	$70,201
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	20,930	$59,010	$57,241
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	20,610	$73,810	$64,993
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	19,730	$59,180	$60,003
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	17,720	$102,350	$98,798
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	17,240	$61,210	$59,245
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	16,580	$75,930	$69,735
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	13,430	$58,650	$58,616
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	13,410	$79,910	$73,809
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	12,990	$58,630	$51,360

BLS OEWS, May 2025, metropolitan statistical areas; adjusted with BEA metro price parities (2024).

What moves electrician pay: employers and settings

Industry and employer type make the biggest difference for electricians. Most work for building equipment contractors, where the median is $61,640. Electricians at power generation, transmission and distribution employers earn a median of $106,640 and those in utility system construction $73,310. Local government jobs, such as maintaining city buildings, water plants and street lighting, pay a median of $82,120. Staffing agency work is lower at $57,760.

Location also matters. Oregon has the highest state median at $101,310, followed by Illinois at $99,560, Hawaii at $96,460, Washington at $95,220, and Alaska at $89,440. Arkansas is lowest at $49,070. Once living costs are factored in, Illinois comes out on top at $99,602.

Across all electricians, the 10th percentile is $42,640, and the 90th percentile is $108,510, a spread driven by industry, state and hours as much as experience. Apprentices are paid on a scale that rises as they log hours, and a journeyman or master license opens higher-paid work, but our data does not split pay by license level or union membership. Overtime is common in this trade, so yearly earnings also depend on hours worked.

Where electricians work
Industry	Share of jobs	Median pay
Building Equipment Contractors	74%	$61,640
Employment Services	2.7%	$57,760
Local Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals	2%	$82,120
Nonresidential Building Construction	1.9%	$64,010
Utility System Construction	1.7%	$73,310
Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution	1%	$106,640

Private employers and government
Employer type	Jobs	Median pay
Private employers	725,020	$62,720
Federal government (incl. Postal Service)	5,080	$75,030
State government (incl. schools and hospitals)	7,020	$71,200
Local government (incl. schools and hospitals)	20,090	$79,410

BLS OEWS, May 2025, national industry-specific and ownership estimates (4-digit NAICS).

Electrician pay over time

Median annual pay, 2015–2025

$63.2K $51.9K

2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

Nominal median (dollars of each year)In May 2025 dollars (adjusted with CPI-U)

The median rose from $51,880 in 2015 to $63,190 in 2025, up 22% in nominal dollars. After inflation, the 2015 median is worth $70,131 in May 2025 dollars, so real pay fell 10% over the period.

BLS OEWS, May 2025 and earlier May releases; inflation from the CPI-U, US city average, May of each year.

What electricians do

An electrician installs, maintains and repairs the wiring and electrical equipment that powers buildings: service panels, circuits, outlets, lighting, motors and control systems. On a new building the work starts from blueprints, bending and mounting conduit, pulling wire through it and making connections at breakers, switches and transformers. In existing buildings much of the job is troubleshooting, using a multimeter or thermal camera to find why a circuit trips or a motor will not start.

About three in four electricians in our data work for building equipment contractors, the electrical contracting firms that wire houses, offices, warehouses and factories. Others work in plant maintenance at manufacturers, for utilities, for local governments and through staffing agencies, and 7.1% are self-employed. An apprentice electrician works under licensed electricians; in states that license masters, a master electrician can typically supervise others and pull permits. Expect ladders, crawl spaces, attics, weather on outdoor sites and a lot of kneeling, with work checked against the National Electrical Code and local inspectors.

A typical day

Read blueprints and wiring diagrams to plan where boxes, panels and conduit runs go
Bend, cut and fasten conduit, then pull wire through it and terminate it at devices and breakers
Hook up panels, transformers, lighting, motors and control equipment
Track down faults with meters, testers and thermal cameras, then repair or replace the bad part
Test finished circuits and walk through inspections against the electrical code
Lay out work for apprentices and helpers on larger jobs
Keep the license current with code-update and safety classes

Also called: journeyman electrician, master electrician, apprentice electrician, control electrician, electrical journey person, electrical troubleshooter, housing maintenance electrician, industrial electrician.

How to become an electrician

Full guide

To become an electrician, you finish high school, complete a 4- to 5-year paid apprenticeship (typically about 2,000 hours on the job each year, plus classroom training), and pass your state's journeyman license exam. Most people are licensed about 4 to 5 years after starting.

Typical time: 4-5 years; Fastest: About 4 years
Minimum education: High school diploma or GED, then a registered apprenticeship
License: Required in most states; some states leave licensing to cities or counties
Typical training cost: $0–$8.6K; See the guide for what it includes

Read the step-by-step guide to becoming an electrician: each step with its time and cost, education options, exams, licensing and advancement.

Is it worth it? Training cost against pay

Compare careers

Training time: 4-5 years; Typical path in our guide
Training cost: $0–$8.6K; Tuition and exam fees, before aid
Median pay: $63,190; $12,210 above the all-jobs median ($50,980)
Cost vs. one year's pay: 0–14%; Training cost as a share of a year at the median

Once qualified, the pay difference over the typical US job at the median ($12,210 a year before tax) would repay the training cost in less than a year after training ends (4-5 years in our guide). This is a rough guide: it ignores taxes, financial aid, interest, earnings given up while training and how pay changes over a career. How we calculate ROI.

Job outlook for electricians

BLS Employment Projections 2025–35

Projected growth: +9.2%; All occupations +3.5%
Jobs in 2025: 821,000; 896,900 projected for 2035
Openings each year: 72,700; New jobs plus replacements
Self-employed: 7.1%; Not in the pay figures above

BLS projects electrician jobs to grow 9.2% from 2025 to 2035, from 821,000 to 896,900. That is well above the 3.5% expected for all occupations. About 72,700 openings a year are expected, most of them created when electricians retire or leave the trade rather than by new jobs. BLS ties the growth to wiring new buildings, connecting solar and wind generation to homes and the grid, and the power demand of data centers built for artificial intelligence, which will require grid upgrades and new electrical infrastructure. Construction work rises and falls with the economy, so local demand can swing from year to year.

Related careers and their pay

Plumber$63,800
Lineman$95,320
Carpenter$60,580
Lighting Technicians$68,060
Helpers--Electricians$42,670

Related occupations from O*NET 31.0; median annual pay from BLS OEWS, May 2025.

Electrician salary FAQ

How much do electricians make an hour?

The median hourly wage for electricians was $30.38 in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $20.50 an hour and the highest-paid 10% more than $52.17. Hourly figures are BLS estimates for all workers in the occupation, full-time and part-time.

Which state pays electricians the most?

Oregon has the highest median pay for electricians, $101,310 a year, followed by Illinois ($99,560) and Hawaii ($96,460). After adjusting for each state's price level, Illinois comes out ahead at about $99,602 in national-average dollars.

Do electricians make six figures?

Some do: based on the BLS percentiles, between 10% and 25% of electricians earn more than $100,000 a year. The median is $63,190, and the top 10% earn more than $108,510. Pay generally rises with experience, specialization and location.

What is the difference between a journeyman and a master electrician?

A journeyman electrician has finished an apprenticeship or the equivalent hours and passed a licensing exam, so they can do electrical work without direct supervision. A master electrician has more years of experience and has passed a further exam. In states that license at both levels, masters can usually plan jobs, pull permits and supervise others, and an electrical contracting business often needs a master on staff. The required hours differ from state to state.

Do electricians have to join a union?

No. Union apprenticeships run by local IBEW and NECA training centers are one route. Merit-shop programs from groups such as Independent Electrical Contractors and contractor-run training are another, and both lead to the same state license exams. Our official pay data does not separate union and non-union electricians, so we cannot give a figure for the difference. Compare the posted wage scale, benefits and pension before choosing a program.

Is being an electrician dangerous?

It carries real risks. BLS lists shocks, burns and falls as the common injuries, and contact with live circuits can be fatal. Electricians reduce the risk by shutting off and locking out power before work, testing that circuits are dead, and wearing insulated gloves, safety glasses and hearing protection in loud plants. The work also involves ladders, heights, cramped spaces and long hours of standing and kneeling, which wear on the body over a career.

Sources

Data updated October 28, 2026 · Text checked against its sources October 28, 2026

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, released April 30, 2026, SOC 47-2111
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035, released September 2026
O*NET 31.0 Database (47-2111.00), U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0; tasks rewritten by Careers and Salaries
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by state and metro area, 2024
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), US city average, May values
U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard field-of-study and institution data, most recent cohorts, released 2026-10-15
Electricians, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · checked October 28, 2026
Apprenticeship Training, Electrical Training Alliance (IBEW-NECA) · checked October 28, 2026
Electrical Apprenticeships Near You, Independent Electrical Contractors · checked October 28, 2026
Career Seekers, Apprenticeship.gov, U.S. Department of Labor · checked October 28, 2026
Apply for a New Journeyman Electrician License, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · checked October 28, 2026
NABCEP Fees, North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners · checked October 28, 2026
License Finder, CareerOneStop, U.S. Department of Labor · checked October 28, 2026
NFPA 70, National Electrical Code (NEC) (2026), National Fire Protection Association · checked October 28, 2026
Apply for a New Master Electrician License, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation · checked October 28, 2026

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