Electrician Salary in 2026: National, by State, City, Specialty & Real Value

An electrician in the United States earns a median of $63,190 a year, about $30.38 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). Pay runs from roughly $42,640 at the 10th percentile to $108,510 at the 90th, and it swings further once you account for state, metro, setting, specialty, cost of living, and tax. About 757,220 electricians work nationwide. This guide is the complete picture: national and percentile pay, all 50 states ranked by real (cost-adjusted) value, top metros, settings, specialties, take-home after tax, the path in, the return on the degree, and answers to the questions people ask most.

National pay overview

The national median for electricians is $63,190 a year ($30.38 an hour), with a mean of $71,490. The full wage curve, from entry to senior:

Percentile	Annual	Hourly
10th (entry)	$42,640	$20.50
25th	$49,430	$23.76
50th (median)	$63,190	$30.38
75th	$83,940	$40.36
90th (senior)	$108,510	$52.17

The gap from the 10th to the 90th percentile is about $65,870. A single national number hides that range, which is why the rest of this guide breaks pay down by every factor that moves it, and then translates the headline into cost-adjusted, after-tax dollars.

The mean of $71,490 sits above the median, which tells you the top of the field pulls the average up: a meaningful share of electricians earn well into the upper percentiles through specialty, setting, geography, and seniority. The practical question is what you can earn given where you work, what you specialize in, and how you structure your hours, which matters far more than the field-wide average. Each section below answers one piece of that.

Pay by experience

BLS does not publish pay by years of experience, but the percentiles map closely to a career arc:

Stage	Typical percentile	Annual
New graduate	10th to 25th	$42,640 to $49,430
Mid-career	~50th	around $63,190
Experienced	~75th	around $83,940
Senior / specialized / lead	90th+	$108,510 and up

The climb from new graduate to senior is roughly $65,870. Early raises tend to come fastest as you move off new-grad pay; by mid-career the curve flattens, and the people who keep climbing usually do so by specializing, switching to a higher-paying setting or state, taking on lead and management duties, or adding hours through overtime and extra work. Geography and setting can outweigh experience entirely: an experienced electrician in a low-paying state can earn less than a new graduate in a top-paying one.

Salary by state: all 50 states ranked by real value

This is the table most electrician salary pages leave out. Below are every state and Washington, D.C., ranked by real value (the median adjusted for that state’s cost of living (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024)) rather than by sticker pay. A high-paying state with high costs can leave you worse off than a moderate-paying, low-cost one. Tap a linked state for the full local breakdown.

#	State	Median (nominal)	Cost level (US=100)	Real value	Employed
1	Illinois	$99,560	100.0	$99,602	23,120
2	Oregon	$101,310	103.4	$98,016	10,590
3	Washington	$95,220	107.0	$88,980	19,380
4	Hawaii	$96,460	110.0	$87,730	3,070
5	Alaska	$89,440	102.4	$87,379	1,870
6	Wyoming	$76,120	92.7	$82,122	2,960
7	Wisconsin	$76,540	94.1	$81,343	14,310
8	Montana	$76,760	94.6	$81,103	2,750
9	Michigan	$76,270	96.2	$79,269	23,530
10	Minnesota	$78,160	98.6	$79,253	14,350
11	Maine	$75,380	97.0	$77,671	3,780
12	Massachusetts	$79,420	105.8	$75,097	17,810
13	Connecticut	$77,540	103.6	$74,838	7,710
14	North Dakota	$65,710	89.0	$73,865	3,570
15	Nevada	$73,570	100.0	$73,585	8,350
16	Indiana	$68,490	93.3	$73,386	19,020
17	Kansas	$65,860	90.1	$73,123	6,350
18	New York	$78,750	107.9	$72,970	40,130
19	Rhode Island	$74,090	102.3	$72,438	2,420
20	West Virginia	$64,810	89.5	$72,416	4,290
21	Missouri	$65,410	90.8	$72,024	12,780
22	District of Columbia	$78,970	109.9	$71,856	2,440
23	New Jersey	$77,250	108.8	$70,999	13,520
24	Maryland	$73,490	105.0	$70,018	13,690
25	Mississippi	$60,860	87.0	$69,992	6,610
26	Louisiana	$61,540	88.2	$69,768	10,550
27	Ohio	$64,700	92.8	$69,739	28,950
28	Oklahoma	$61,010	87.8	$69,453	8,500
29	Iowa	$60,860	87.8	$69,347	10,310
30	South Dakota	$61,390	88.6	$69,300	2,980
31	Pennsylvania	$67,600	97.6	$69,282	22,730
32	California	$76,160	110.7	$68,786	73,310
33	Nebraska	$60,820	90.1	$67,501	6,440
34	Tennessee	$61,090	91.9	$66,496	17,070
35	Kentucky	$59,720	90.2	$66,239	11,030
36	Idaho	$63,000	95.5	$65,973	5,690
37	Vermont	$63,430	98.0	$64,752	1,270
38	Delaware	$63,700	99.8	$63,823	2,260
39	New Mexico	$58,390	92.2	$63,321	5,020
40	Utah	$62,000	98.9	$62,712	11,450
41	Alabama	$55,690	88.8	$62,698	10,900
42	South Carolina	$58,740	93.7	$62,657	8,010
43	Virginia	$62,900	101.1	$62,213	23,630
44	Arizona	$61,060	100.7	$60,649	21,140
45	Georgia	$58,320	96.3	$60,565	21,650
46	Colorado	$62,230	103.1	$60,387	17,010
47	Texas	$58,570	97.1	$60,346	76,770
48	New Hampshire	$62,840	104.2	$60,327	3,330
49	North Carolina	$56,800	94.3	$60,217	21,640
50	Arkansas	$49,070	86.9	$56,443	7,500
51	Florida	$57,250	103.4	$55,360	49,700

On real, cost-adjusted value, Illinois leads at $99,602, while Florida trails at $55,360. By raw sticker pay the order is different: Oregon ($101,310), Illinois ($99,560), and Hawaii ($96,460) pay the most nominally, but several of them slide down the list once high housing and prices are counted. That reordering is the single most useful thing this page does, and it is why national averages and sticker rankings can steer you wrong.

Concrete example of the flip: California ranks #15 by sticker pay ($76,160) but only #32 once its cost level of 111 is applied, because high prices eat the higher salary. Meanwhile Mississippi looks middling on sticker (#40) yet climbs to #25 on real value, since a 60,860-dollar median goes much further at a cost level of 87. If you are willing to relocate, the real-value column, not the sticker column, is the one that should guide the decision.

The geographic pattern: the highest sticker pay clusters on the West Coast and in the Northeast, while the best real value often shows up in lower-cost states in the South, Midwest, and Mountain West where a strong salary meets cheap housing. There is no single best state, only the best fit for where you want to live and what your money will buy there.

Highest-paying metros

Within states, metros drive pay further. The largest electrician job markets by employment, with median pay:

Metro	Median	Employed
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY	$79,020	36,550
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$59,010	20,930
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$73,810	20,610
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$59,180	19,730
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL	$102,350	17,720
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$61,210	17,240
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC	$75,930	16,580
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$58,650	13,430
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA	$79,910	13,410
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$58,630	12,990

The same cost-of-living rule applies inside a state: a higher-paying big metro can lose to a cheaper mid-size city once housing is counted. Big metros also hold the deepest job markets, so they pair the most pay with the most openings, while rural and smaller markets sometimes pay premiums to attract candidates. The state pages work the metro and cost math out city by city.

Salary by work setting

Where electricians work changes pay as much as geography. National medians by employer type:

Setting	Employed (U.S.)	Median
Building Equipment Contractors	560,290	$61,640
Employment Services	20,510	$57,760
Local Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals (OEWS Designation)	15,330	$82,120
Nonresidential Building Construction	14,670	$64,010
Utility System Construction	13,080	$73,310
Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution	7,950	$106,640
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing	5,470	$92,250

The gap between the highest- and lowest-paying settings is real money over a career, and it usually comes with trade-offs in pace, caseload, autonomy, and schedule rather than in difficulty alone. The largest employer is not always the best payer, so it is worth weighing where the volume of jobs is against where the pay is when you choose a setting.

How it compares to related careers

It helps to see an electrician beside the roles people weigh against it, with pay set next to the education each requires:

Role	National median	Education
Construction Laborer	$47,120	No formal credential
Electrician (this role)	$63,190	Apprenticeship
First-Line Supervisor	$79,920	Experience + license
Construction Manager	$114,990	Bachelor’s or experience

Against construction laborer at $47,120, this role pays about $16,070 more for the added schooling. The higher-paid first-line supervisor ($79,920) sits $16,730 above, but on a longer or different training path. The right comparison is always pay set against the time, cost, and debt of the credential, not pay alone.

Scope of practice and licensing

Electricians install and maintain electrical systems in homes, businesses, and industry, and almost every state licenses the trade. Pay tracks the license level: apprentices earn a percentage of journeyman scale while they learn, journeymen earn the standard rate, and master electricians and licensed electrical contractors earn the most and can pull permits and run their own crews. Union (IBEW) and non-union pay structures differ, and specialization in industrial, line, or low-voltage work shifts pay too.

Licensing is not just a hurdle, it shapes pay. Where a role can practice more independently or bill for more services, it tends to command more, and license portability between states affects how easily you can chase a higher-paying market. Always confirm the current rules with the relevant state board, since scope and requirements change and vary widely.

Specialties and where the pay is

The highest-paying electrician work tends to be industrial and commercial rather than residential, with line work, controls and automation, and solar and battery installation commanding premiums. The biggest ceiling-raiser is licensing up to master and then becoming an electrical contractor or business owner, where income is no longer capped by an hourly wage. Travel and shutdown or outage work pay well for those willing to take it.

The practical takeaway: within electricians, specialty and setting usually move pay more than another year of general experience. The top earners are rarely just the most tenured, they are the ones in the higher-paying focus areas, settings, or leadership and ownership roles.

If you are early in the field, the decisions with the biggest long-run payoff are which specialty to pursue and which setting to enter, because both compound over a career and are easier to choose early than to switch later. A credential that takes a year to earn can pay for itself many times over through higher pay and more job options, which is the same logic the ROI section applies to the degree itself.

What moves the pay

• State and metro, and crucially the cost of living that goes with them, which the real-value table reorders.
• Experience, which lifts pay steadily and then plateaus without a specialty or a step up.
• Work setting and employer, since some settings and employers pay well above others, as the settings table shows.
• Specialty and board certification, a clear premium in most of these fields.
• Hours and structure, since overtime, extra shifts, and contract or travel work can push total pay well above base.

Salary, hourly, and total compensation

The $63,190 median is base pay. Real total compensation often runs higher: at an hourly equivalent of $30.38, overtime runs about $45.57, so one extra eight-hour shift a week adds on the order of $18,957 a year in gross. Contract and travel roles trade benefits for higher hourly rates, and many employers add signing bonuses, productivity bonuses, and strong benefits. When comparing offers, weigh the whole package: base, bonus structure, shift and call differentials, retirement match, paid time off, and continuing-education support. Two offers with the same base can differ by thousands once the rest is counted.

Take-home pay after tax

Two electricians on the same $63,190 salary keep very different amounts depending on the state. Worked examples on the national median, single filer, 2026 federal plus FICA plus state:

State	Gross	Est. take-home	Effective rate
Texas (no state income tax)	$63,190	$52,812	16.4%
New York	$63,190	$49,941	21.0%
California	$63,190	$50,739	19.7%

That is roughly $2,073 a year more in take-home in no-tax Texas than in California on an identical salary, before cost of living is even counted. Nine states levy no income tax.

Take-home also scales with where you sit on the pay curve. In Texas, an entry-level electrician earning $49,430 nets about $41,756, while a senior one at $108,510 keeps about $84,723, since higher pay pushes more income into higher federal brackets. The effective rate climbs with income, so a raise is worth somewhat less on take-home than on the headline. Every state page includes a full breakdown and a paycheck calculator to run your own number.

How to maximize earnings

• Target a high-real-value state or metro using the table above, not the highest sticker.
• Move into the higher-paying setting and specialty for your field.
• Add board certification or a specialty credential, which pays a clear premium.
• Use overtime, contract, or travel work to lift total pay, and negotiate the full package.
• Consider leadership or ownership for the higher ceiling.

How pay is changing

Wages for electricians have broadly risen with demand and inflation, but the real story is in the mix: pay grows fastest where labor is scarce and where the role takes on more responsibility. Watch three things if you are planning a career here, the spread between settings (which keeps widening as specialized and higher-skill roles pull ahead), the value of cost-of-living arbitrage (a strong salary in a cheap state has rarely been worth more relative to expensive coastal markets), and the premium on specialty credentials. The figures on this page are the May 2025 BLS estimates, the most recent national data, and the state pages carry the same detail locally.

Job outlook

Employment of electricians is projected to grow about 9% from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the average for all occupations, with roughly 81,000 openings a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Demand is unusually strong right now: the build-out of data centers, EV charging, solar and other renewables, and grid upgrades all need electricians, and a wave of retirements is tightening supply. It is one of the most secure trades in the country.

For context, the average growth rate across all U.S. occupations through 2034 is about 3%. A large share of yearly openings also comes from replacing workers who retire or move on, so real hiring tends to run ahead of the net-growth figure, and shortage and rural areas often pay the most to attract candidates.

How to become an electrician

Electrical work is a debt-free, earn-while-you-learn path with a high ceiling:

1. Finish high school or equivalent; strong math helps.
2. Enter a paid apprenticeship (typically four to five years) through a union (IBEW/NECA) or a non-union program, earning while you learn.
3. Get your journeyman license by passing the state or local exam after the required hours.
4. Advance to master electrician and, if you choose, an electrical contractor license to run your own business.

Is it worth it? The return on the degree

The return is among the best of any career, because the training is a paid apprenticeship rather than a tuition bill: you earn while you learn and finish debt-free at a median near $63,190. The real upside comes later, from licensing up to master electrician and owning a contracting business, where earnings can run well into six figures, far above the employee median. Weigh program cost, your starting state and setting, and the specialties you can reach against the debt. The pay tables above, set next to the education column in the comparison section, are the honest way to run that math before committing.

Two levers change the answer most: the price of the program you choose, since cost varies enormously between public and private schools, and the state and setting you start in, since the same degree pays very differently across the by-state and settings tables above. A graduate who controls program cost and starts in a high-real-value state can clear the debt years faster than one who does neither, on the identical credential.

Frequently asked questions

State guides and tools

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 and Occupational Outlook Handbook (SOC 47-2111 and related codes); national, state, and metro estimates. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024. Take-home figures are 2026 estimates (federal, FICA, and state) for a single filer and will vary with deductions and filing status. See our methodology.