Electrician salary in 2026: what electricians earn and how owners should pay

The median electrician in the U.S. earned $63,190 in May 2025, or $30.38 an hour. The top 10 percent earned more than $108,510, and in Oregon the median electrician cleared $101,000. Electricians are also the biggest of the service trades by far: 757,220 employed in the OEWS count, nearly as many as plumbers and HVAC techs combined.

Everything here comes from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data pulled in October 2026: the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) estimates for May 2025, the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) and the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey. The occupation is "Electricians," code 47-2111. It lumps residential service electricians together with commercial, industrial and utility-side electricians, which matters when you read the top of the range.

Electrician pay by percentile

The full May 2025 distribution¹:

BLS doesn't publish pay by license or role, so the right-hand column is our reading of where people tend to land. Notes on the data:

• Use the median. The mean is $8,300 above it, the same kind of long top end you see in plumbing.
• Overtime isn't in these numbers. OEWS includes base pay, commissions and production bonuses, but not overtime premiums. BLS says overtime is common for electricians during scheduled maintenance and on construction sites², so many W-2s land above the table.
• Employees only. The OOH counts 821,000 electrician jobs in 2025, more than the 757,220 in OEWS, because it includes the self-employed².

Electricians vs. plumbers vs. HVAC techs

Same survey, same month¹³:

Electricians and plumbers are nearly identical at the median and the 90th percentile. The big difference is volume: BLS expects 72,700 electrician openings a year, mostly from retirements and people changing fields. For a residential service owner, that means you're competing for electricians with commercial contractors, industrial plants and staffing agencies, not just other service shops.

Where electricians earn the most

By median, the top ten were Oregon ($101,310), Illinois ($99,560), Hawaii ($96,460), Washington ($95,220), Alaska ($89,440), Massachusetts ($79,420), the District of Columbia ($78,970), New York ($78,750), Minnesota ($78,160) and Connecticut ($77,540)¹. Notice the drop after Alaska: the top five states have medians near or above $90,000, then the list falls by $10,000. In those five, the typical electrician, not just the top earner, is well paid.

The lowest medians were in Georgia ($58,320), Florida ($57,250), North Carolina ($56,800), Alabama ($55,690) and Arkansas ($49,070). The Oregon median is more than double Arkansas's.

Metro areas. The highest metro means were San Francisco ($103,690), Mount Vernon-Anacortes, Washington ($103,040), Portland ($103,030), Albany, Oregon ($100,180) and Seattle ($99,720)¹. By median, Kankakee, Illinois ($105,500), Portland and Chicago are all above $102,000. Look up your own area in the OEWS profile tool.

Industry. The OOH lists medians for the industries that employ the most electricians: government (excluding education and hospitals) $79,820, manufacturing $74,550, electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors $61,570, and employment services $57,760². The contractor median, where most residential and light commercial electricians work, sits slightly below the overall median. The $18,000 gap to government jobs is a real retention risk for small shops.

From apprentice to master

BLS lays out the usual path²:

1. Years 1 to 4 or 5

   Apprentice

   About 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training a year plus technical instruction in electrical theory, blueprint reading, code and safety. Sponsored by unions, contractor associations and some employers. Pay rises as apprentices learn.

2. After the apprenticeship

   Journey worker

   Can work on their own, subject to state or local licensing. Most states require electricians to pass a test and be licensed; tests cover the National Electrical Code and state and local codes.

3. Ongoing

   Continuing education

   Many states require continuing education to keep a license, usually on safety, code changes and manufacturer training.

4. Additional requirements

   Master electrician

   After meeting more requirements and working as a qualified electrician, journey workers may advance to master. Masters often pull permits and supervise.

Two reference points from BLS: electrician helpers (47-3013, a separate occupation from apprentices) had a median of $20.51 an hour⁴, and the median electrician earned $30.38, about 1.5 times as much. BLS also notes that workers with military or construction electrical experience may qualify for a shortened apprenticeship², which is a recruiting angle many shops ignore. Union apprentice pay steps are set by each local; check the local's wage sheet.

What an electrician costs the employer

For private-industry construction and extraction workers, BLS put total compensation at $46.65 per hour worked in June 2026, with $32.17 in wages and $14.47 in benefits including paid leave, insurance, retirement and legally required payroll taxes⁵.

That's per paid hour. Divide by billable hours to see what you need to recover on the invoice: at 1,300 billable hours a year, wages and benefits alone are about $70 per billable hour, before the van, tools, office, insurance and profit. Your workers' comp class code and benefits will move this, so swap in your own payroll.

What else moves electrician pay

License level. The cleanest lever. Masters can usually pull permits and run jobs, and many states require a licensed electrician on every job.

Type of work. Residential new construction tends to pay least. Service, commercial and industrial pay more, and plant or utility work pays most, often with overtime.

Specialty certifications. BLS notes electricians may earn certifications in areas like solar photovoltaic, electrical generating or lighting systems². Generator, EV charger and service-upgrade work is high-ticket in residential service, which is where commission and flat-rate pay come in.

Overtime. BLS says almost all electricians work full time and overtime is common². It isn't in the OEWS wage.

Region. The Oregon-to-Arkansas gap in medians is $52,240.

Four ways to pay a service electrician

These examples are hypothetical, on the same imaginary week: a residential service electrician works 45 hours (40 regular, 5 overtime). Commissions, flat task pay and nondiscretionary bonuses go into the regular rate⁶, and the overtime premium is half the regular rate for each hour over 40 when the base already covered every hour⁷⁸.

The commission row, worked out:

Straight hourly is the norm in commercial and union work and on most crews. It's simple and it doesn't punish an electrician for a slow inspection or a supply-house wait.

Commission makes sense on high-ticket residential work: panel upgrades, generators, EV chargers, rewires. Pay on gross profit so discounts are shared, and write down whether it's earned at sale, at completion or when the customer pays.

Spiffs should reward a result you'd want even without the spiff, such as a surge protector on a home that needs one, and should be few at a time.

Flat pay per task pays a set amount for each completed task in the price book. It rewards efficient electricians and lines up with flat-rate pricing, but you still owe overtime on it, and total pay divided by hours must clear minimum wage. Performance pay with an hourly floor is the safer version.

Building an electrician pay plan

1. 1

   Benchmark your metro and the contractor median

   Look up 47-2111 for your metro in the OEWS profile tool, then compare against the electrical contractor median of $61,570. Plant and utility pay inflates the overall top end.

2. 2

   Tie raises to licenses

   Written steps for each apprentice year, journeyman and master, plus specialty work you want more of, such as generators or EV charging.

3. 3

   Know your loaded cost per billable hour

   Wage times about 1.45, divided by billable hours, plus overhead and profit. If the result is above what your market pays, look at productivity and pricing first.

4. 4

   Keep variable pay checkable

   An electrician should be able to work out yesterday's pay from yesterday's job list.

5. 5

   Recruit from the side doors

   Veterans and construction workers with electrical experience may qualify for shortened apprenticeships. Helpers who show up are worth sponsoring.

6. 6

   Review before your busy season

   Pay, hours, average ticket and callback rate per electrician, twice a year.

Whatever the plan, electricians should be able to see it working. In TradesWork, My pay in the field app shows today, this week and the pay period, with lines like "5% of $4,200 = $210", and an electrician can tap a line to ask a question that lands as a task for the office. Commission, spiff, flat-per-task and period bonus rules can all be combined, with an optional hourly floor.

Bottom line

The median electrician earned about $63,000 in May 2025, and the top 10 percent earned more than $108,000. Licensing, the type of work, overtime and region explain most of the gap, and in Oregon, Illinois, Hawaii and Washington the typical electrician earns around $95,000 or more. For owners: benchmark against your metro and the contractor median, pay clear steps for each license, know your loaded cost per billable hour, include commissions in overtime, and show electricians what they've earned. With 72,700 openings a year projected through 2035, the competition for good electricians isn't easing.