Electricians earned a national median wage of $63,190 per year, or $30.38 per hour, in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s a useful starting point, but your earnings depend on where you work, your qualifications, the job’s pay structure, and how many paid hours you get.
An apprentice comparing first job offers needs different information from a licensed journeyman considering a move. And a headline about a $100,000 electrician salary means little until you know whether it includes overtime or employer-paid benefits.
Here is how to read electrician pay figures, estimate your own earnings, and compare opportunities fairly.
Electrician Pay at a Glance
The latest BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook figures available when this guide was reviewed in September 2026 describe May 2025 wages.
National electrician pay measure | May 2025 figure |
|---|---|
Median hourly wage | $30.38 |
Median annual wage | $63,190 |
Lowest 10 percent | Less than $42,640 annually |
Highest 10 percent | More than $108,510 annually |
Source: BLS electrician pay data. These figures cover the electrician occupation as a whole. BLS doesn’t publish separate national figures for journeyman or master license holders. The median is the midpoint: half earn more and half earn less. It’s different from the mean, which is the arithmetic average.
Use this table as a benchmark for the trade. For a specific offer, look for data that matches your local market, work classification, and experience.
How Much Do Electricians Make an Hour and a Year
An hourly rate tells you what a paid hour is worth. Annual earnings also depend on the number of paid hours and any additional compensation.
For a simple estimate, multiply your hourly wage by your expected straight-time paid hours. A schedule of 40 hours a week for 52 weeks equals 2,080 hours.
Example hourly wage | Gross annual pay at 2,080 hours |
|---|---|
$20 | $41,600 |
$30 | $62,400 |
$40 | $83,200 |
$50 | $104,000 |
$60 | $124,800 |
These are calculated examples. For real pay ranges, go to employers and current wage schedules. They exclude overtime, bonuses, and employer-paid benefits, and assume every week is paid.
The difference matters when comparing jobs. At $40 an hour, 2,080 paid hours produce $83,200. If you instead receive 1,800 paid hours at that rate, gross wages are $72,000. A higher hourly offer can still produce a lower annual total if it comes with long gaps between assignments.
BLS explains its wage methodology: annual estimates generally use 2,080 hours, and the wage measures exclude items such as overtime pay and employer benefit costs. They also exclude self-employed workers. A published annual wage therefore should not be treated as a record of what every worker actually received over a calendar year.
Electrician Pay by Experience Level
Apprentice Electrician Pay
An apprenticeship is paid employment combined with training. Registered Apprenticeship programs include progressive wage increases as apprentices develop their skills.
Ask the program sponsor for its current wage schedule. You need the starting rate, the requirements for each increase, and the rate at completion. Also ask whether classroom time is paid and what you’ll spend on tuition, books, tools, and travel.
Some programs express apprentice wages as a percentage of the journey-level rate. For illustration, a 50 percent starting step against a $40 journey-level rate would pay $20 an hour. That’s just the calculation. Starting percentages vary by program.
Don’t assume the bottom of a national wage distribution is an official apprentice wage. Use the actual program’s schedule to plan your first year. Our guide to becoming an electrician explains how training and qualifying work experience fit together.
Journeyman Electrician Pay
For journeyman pay, begin with local employers and current collective bargaining wage schedules for the work you intend to do. A national occupation-wide figure can’t tell you exactly what a licensed journeyman in your city should earn.
Check the classification carefully. Residential, commercial, industrial, and limited-energy roles may have different rates, even within the same organization. Ask whether the advertised figure is a minimum scale, a negotiable range, or a total package that includes benefits.
Your qualifications also need to match the job. Review our electrical license requirements by state before assuming that completing a certain number of years automatically qualifies you for journey-level work.
Master Electrician and Foreman Pay
A master credential, a foreman assignment, and business ownership describe different things. Licensing concerns qualifications and legal authority; a foreman role concerns job responsibilities; ownership concerns running a business.
When comparing higher-level opportunities, ask what responsibility the additional pay covers. Will you supervise a crew, coordinate schedules, estimate projects, or serve as a qualifying individual? Request the applicable wage rate or premium in writing.
A credential alone doesn’t establish a nationwide salary. Compare jobs with similar duties and licensing requirements instead of relying on a single “master electrician salary” number.
How Location Changes Electrician Pay
Research the city or commuting area where you expect to work. A statewide figure can hide substantial differences between local markets, and a national figure is broader still.
Use the BLS state and metropolitan wage tables, selecting Electricians, occupation code 47-2111. Compare the same measure and year across locations. Comparing one state’s mean with another state’s median doesn’t give you a consistent ranking.
Then test those statistics against real opportunities. Gather several current offers or wage schedules and compare:
- Gross hourly wages for the same work classification.
- Expected paid hours and likely time between projects.
- Health coverage, retirement contributions, and paid time off.
- Housing, commuting, parking, and travel expenses.
- Licensing requirements and the cost of qualifying to work there.
For example, an extra $5 an hour is worth $10,400 before deductions over 2,080 hours. That gives you a concrete amount to compare with the additional costs of a move.
If relocation is part of your plan, check our electrical license reciprocity guide and confirm eligibility with the destination licensing authority before accepting work.
Union Electrician Pay and the Value of Benefits
A union wage sheet can provide a clear local benchmark, but read each component separately. Gross wages, employer contributions, and deductions are different amounts.
For a current example, IBEW Local 48’s 2026 commercial and industrial journey-level wage information lists $65.50 per hour in gross wages and $33.24 in employer-paid fringe benefits. Its published package after $2.95 in dues is $95.79 per hour. That’s one local classification in one market, and union rates elsewhere differ.
The $95.79 package includes benefits, so it’s bigger than the hourly cash you’ll see. Taxes and other applicable deductions reduce what you actually receive. The local’s detailed wage sheet explains the separate contributions and deductions.
For any union or nonunion offer, compare cash wages with cash wages and benefits with benefits. Ask about coverage eligibility, employee premiums, retirement vesting, and what happens during a layoff. A benefits figure has practical value only when you understand what it provides and when you qualify.
A single local union rate can’t establish a nationwide union pay advantage. A fair comparison needs similar locations, classifications, experience levels, and hours.
Compare Union Electrician Pay
Does the Type of Electrical Work Affect Pay
The industry employing you can make a difference. BLS reported these May 2025 median annual wages for electricians:
Industry | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
Government excluding state and local education and hospitals | $79,820 |
Manufacturing | $74,550 |
Electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors | $61,570 |
Employment services | $57,760 |
Source: BLS pay by industry. These are industry medians. They won’t predict a specific employer’s offer, and they don’t line up with residential, commercial, or industrial license categories.
Use them to broaden your job search. If a plant maintenance position interests you, ask which troubleshooting, controls, or equipment skills the employer requires. Before paying for specialized training, find out whether local employers request that skill and whether it changes the work or pay available to you.
Prevailing Wage Projects
Covered public construction work may use a prevailing wage determination. Under federal Davis-Bacon rules, the applicable requirement combines a basic hourly wage and fringe benefits for the classification. The Department of Labor’s prevailing wage guidance explains how cash wages and qualifying benefits meet that obligation.
If an offer mentions prevailing wages, ask for the determination and classification that apply to the assignment. Don’t assume the project rate applies to every future job with that contractor or that the full wage-and-fringe amount will arrive as cash.
Can Electricians Make Six Figures
Yes. At $50 an hour, 2,080 straight-time paid hours equal $104,000 in gross wages. That arithmetic shows how six figures can be possible without overtime, although it doesn’t show how common that rate or schedule is in your market.
Overtime can also raise earnings. The Department of Labor states that covered, nonexempt employees generally must receive at least one and one-half times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Applicable state rules or agreements may provide additional entitlements.
Here is an illustrative calculation assuming a $40 regular hourly rate and time-and-a-half overtime:
- 40 straight-time hours produce $1,600.
- 10 overtime hours at $60 produce $600.
- Total weekly gross pay is $2,200.
- Working that schedule for 48 weeks produces $105,600.
That example requires 50-hour weeks for 48 weeks. It excludes other pay and benefits, and assumes no additional amounts change the regular-rate calculation. Treat it as a scenario, since how much overtime is available varies from job to job.
Before building a household budget around overtime, ask how consistently it is offered and whether it is optional. Compare what the job pays on its ordinary schedule first.
What About Self-Employed Electricians
An electrical contractor’s customer billing rate is not the owner’s personal hourly wage. Revenue must cover expenses such as materials, employee compensation, vehicles, insurance, tools, office work, and time spent estimating jobs that don’t sell.
Compare an employee wage with the compensation you could realistically pay yourself after business expenses. Don’t compare it directly with gross sales or the hourly labor amount on an invoice.
Business ownership also creates licensing and management responsibilities. If that is your goal, investigate the contractor requirements in your jurisdiction and build a business budget separately from your personal income target.
How to Evaluate Your Earning Potential
Start with a local pay target and work backward to the qualifications employers actually request. Ask what separates the entry rate from the next pay level and how advancement is assessed.
Before accepting a position, get clear answers to these questions:
- What is my gross hourly rate, and when can it increase?
- How many hours should I realistically expect?
- Which benefits does the employer fund, and what comes out of my pay?
- What work, travel, on-call, or supervisory duties are required?
- Will my training and documented experience count toward the credential I need?
If you’re entering the trade, start with our electrician career guide. If you’re approaching a licensing exam, use our free journeyman electrician practice test to identify topics to review.
The most useful pay figure is the one tied to work you qualify for, in a place you can realistically work, under a schedule you can sustain.
