Electrician License Requirements by State

There is no national electrician license. Each state decides who may do electrical work and what the credential is called — and in 37 of the 51 US jurisdictions in this atlas the state licenses the individual electrician, while 9 license only the electrical contractor (the business and its qualifying individual) and 5 leave electrician licensing entirely to cities or counties. Which of those three applies to you decides everything else on this page — including whether the license you are searching for is one your state issues to a person at all.

Every figure below comes from that jurisdiction’s own board or statute, is dated on its state page, and is re-checked automatically — see what changed and our corrections .

Who the license is actually issued to

• The individual worker — 37 jurisdictions: Alabama , Alaska , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , District of Columbia , Hawaii , Idaho , Iowa , Kentucky , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Montana , Nebraska , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , North Dakota , Oklahoma , Oregon , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Vermont , Virginia , Washington , West Virginia , Wisconsin , Wyoming .

• The contractor, not the worker — 9 jurisdictions: Arizona , Florida , Georgia , Louisiana , Mississippi , Missouri , Nevada , North Carolina , Ohio . In these states the state credential belongs to the business and its qualifying individual; employees generally work under it rather than holding their own state license.

• No state license — city or county rules — 5: Illinois , Indiana , Kansas , New York , Pennsylvania . There is no statewide credential to apply for; the page for each of these names the local authorities that do license, and what they require.

What the credential takes where a state issues one

Experience is counted in on-the-job hours. Of the 27 jurisdictions whose journeyman tier publishes an hours figure, 22 set it at 8,000 hours — four years at a 2,000-hour work year — and the rest of that group runs from 4,000 to 16,000. The other 19 of the 46 with a state credential state the requirement in another form: years of experience, an apprenticeship, a degree, or a combination. Each state page carries its board’s own wording, because the difference between “hours” and “years” is usually where an application fails.

The exam is usually run by a third-party vendor, not by the board. Where a record names exactly one vendor — 28 of the 46 jurisdictions with a state credential — it is PSI in 21, Prov in 5, Pearson VUE in 2. The other 18 name more than one approved vendor, administer the exam themselves, or attach no exam to the mandatory credential; a page saying “See page” in the table below means the record does not reduce to one vendor, never that there is no exam.

Fees, renewal periods and continuing-education hours are not summarised here on purpose. Boards publish fee schedules (application, exam, license, reinstatement) rather than a single price, and renewal is written per credential tier. Each state page lists what its board publishes, with the date it was last verified — the averages you find elsewhere are the thing this atlas exists to replace.

How getting licensed works

The order is close to identical wherever a state issues its own credential; what varies is who qualifies and how much of it is required. Each state page sets out the steps in the board’s own words.

1. Confirm which credential your state issues — to the individual, to the contractor, or only locally. Every state page below states which, with the board’s own wording.
2. Accumulate and document the experience the board recognises — supervised on-the-job hours, years in the trade, an approved apprenticeship or a degree, depending on the state, and evidenced the way that board asks for it.
3. Apply to the board and be approved to sit the exam — the application, its evidence of experience, and its fee generally come before exam scheduling.
4. Pass the exam, where the credential has one, through whichever vendor or in-house process that board uses.
5. Hold the license current — renewal on the board’s cycle, plus any continuing education, and any separate registration a city or county requires before you work there.

Every jurisdiction compared

“Set locally” marks a jurisdiction with no statewide credential — its page names the local authorities instead. “See page” means the record does not reduce to one value (several approved exam vendors, or a requirement stated in another form), not that there is no requirement.

Full detail — board, license tiers, fees, renewal, continuing education, reciprocity, exemptions and the statute behind each — is on the state page. Open yours below.