Electrician Salary: What to Expect by Experience and State

National Average Salary

The headline figure is the national median wage for electricians in the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), reported as an annual figure and as the equivalent hourly rate. Median means half of electricians earned more and half earned less. It is not a first-year apprentice's rate, and it is not what a master electrician running crews makes.

For the spread, O*NET OnLine publishes the 10th and 90th percentile wages for electricians from BLS wage data (2025), both annual and hourly. The 10th percentile is roughly where unlicensed workers with little time on the tools sit; the 90th reflects licensed, often supervisory or union-covered work in high-wage states.

For the mean (average) rather than the median, and for the full 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile set, use the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release for occupation code 47-2111. The May 2023 OEWS release reports national employment and mean annual wage alongside those percentiles. BLS also publishes the national count of electrician jobs, projected growth for 2025-35, and average annual openings over the decade (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Check bls.gov for the current release before treating any figure as today's rate.

Salary by Experience Level

Electrician pay moves in defined steps rather than gradually, because the trade is licensed and apprentice wages are usually set as a percentage of the local journeyman rate.

Treat the percentile bands as shape, not guarantee: a fifth-year apprentice in a high-wage metro can out-earn a licensed journeyman in a low-wage state.

Salary by State or Metro

State is one of the largest single levers on electrician pay. BLS publishes state-level wages in the same OEWS release as the national figures, and aggregators repackage it by state median.

Two cautions. Aggregator pages restate BLS data but may lag a release, so confirm against the BLS state table for 47-2111. And a higher state median is not always more money in hand: licensing rules differ by state, and some accept another state's journeyman licence while others make you re-test.

What Affects Pay

• Union coverage. Industry sources reporting union and non-union hourly wage ranges show a gap between the two (buildforce.com and skillit.com, 2026), with union work also carrying negotiated pension and health contributions that never appear in a wage figure. Ask for the local wage sheet.
• Employer type. BLS reports a mean annual wage for electricians in building equipment contractors, the largest employing industry, and a separate mean for local government excluding schools and hospitals (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2023). Compare the two directly.
• Licence level. Moving from journeyman to master shifts you into a different reported range (stealthagents.com citing ZipRecruiter and Salary.com, 2026). Master requirements, including journeyman hours, are set state by state.
• Supervisory step-up. Foreman and general foreman roles carry a defined premium over the journeyman rate on most wage schedules (buildforce.com, 2026), usually as a percentage uplift that compounds with the base rate.
• Apprentice year. Each step on the IBEW scale from Year 1 to Year 5 raises your share of the journeyman rate, so a scheduled rise arrives each completed year.
• Overtime and shift work. Most electricians are hourly and overtime-eligible, so overtime, double-time, night differentials and per-diem on travel jobs can move annual earnings without changing the base rate. These sit in the contract, not in BLS averages.
• State. The gap between the highest and lowest state median (nuecareer.com presentation of BLS OEWS data, May 2025) is wider than most other factors here.

How to Increase Your Earnings

1. Get into a registered apprenticeship rather than helper work. Apprentice pay follows a published scale — the IBEW progression runs Year 1 through Year 5 as a rising share of the journeyman rate — while unlicensed helper work tends to sit near the 10th percentile (BLS percentile estimates, May 2023).
2. Finish the hours and pass the journeyman exam. The licensed journeyman rate is what the national median reflects (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), and most wage schedules will not pay above apprentice steps without it. Exam requirements differ by state and sometimes by city.
3. Compare a union signatory contractor against non-union work locally. Industry reporting shows distinct hourly ranges for each (buildforce.com and skillit.com, 2026). Ask for the wage sheet and the benefit contribution rates before deciding.
4. Weigh employer type deliberately. Check both the building equipment contractors mean and the local government mean for your state in the BLS OEWS industry table (May 2023) rather than assuming one sector pays better.
5. Take the foreman step when it is offered. Foreman and general foreman work pays a stated premium above journeyman (buildforce.com, 2026), and as a percentage uplift it carries over if you change employers.
6. Pursue the master licence. Master electricians are reported in a higher range than journeymen (stealthagents.com citing ZipRecruiter and Salary.com, 2026), and in many states the master licence is what lets you pull permits or run your own contracting business.