A journeyman electrician is a licensed electrician who has completed a four- to five-year apprenticeship, usually 8,000 or more hours on the job, and can do electrical work without direct supervision. Journeyman is the middle of three license tiers: apprentice, journeyman, master. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calls this tier journey worker (SOC 47-2111).
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With the construction industry experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, electricians have been in high demand. This is great news for electrical professionals, who benefit from a lucrative career with many future opportunities. Becoming an electrician requires no formal college education and they’ll always be a crucial part of the industry, which equates to a steady and consistent stream of work.
But what exactly is a journeyman electrician? Here’s what you need to know about their level of responsibility, their salary range, and how to become one.
What is a journeyman electrician?
To be a journeyman electrician means to be on the second level of seniority in a three-phase electrical career. The stages are as follows: apprentice, journeyman, and master electrician. While some journeymen work for electrical companies, others are self-employed.
In any licensed trade, a journeyman is a worker who has finished an apprenticeship and is licensed to work without direct supervision. An apprentice electrician works only under a licensed journeyman or master. A journeyman electrician does the work on their own. A master electrician can supervise journeymen and apprentices and sign for a contracting company, which a journeyman cannot do. Each state licensing board sets exactly what each tier may do, and the state comparison further down shows how much that varies.
Journeymen may work on residential, commercial, or industrial properties, each of which comes with its own set of responsibilities.
Those who work on residential buildings operate indoors and outdoors as independent contractors or as part of a company, working on apartments, houses, and cottages to install and maintain electrical systems.
Meanwhile, journeymen on commercial properties are usually hired to work on construction job sites or in a company’s department on an as-needed basis for offices and retail spaces. Commercial work can include both repairs and installations, with a variety of responsibilities.
Industrial work for journeymen takes place in factories, mines, and power plants, involving installing and maintaining electrical equipment and infrastructure.
What is an electrical journeyman responsible for?
The exact responsibilities of a journeyman can vary depending on their location. Regardless, all electricians are expected to carry out the best practices for electrical safety and adhere to the National Electrical Code (NEC), published by the NFPA as NFPA 70 and enforced in all 50 states. The current edition is the 2026 NEC, with the next edition due in 2029.
Most of a journeyman’s work involves installing, connecting, inspecting, repairing, and maintaining electrical systems and components, including wiring, outlets, appliances, electrical switches, circuit breakers, security systems, and lights.
Some more specific responsibilities include:
- Diagnosing and communicating issues with electrical systems
- Reading and implementing blueprint plans
- Upkeeping power lines and poles
- Maintaining records of labor and materials
- Monitoring inventory, including equipment
- Training, mentoring, and providing support to apprentice electricians
- Sending customers quotes for electrical work
How to become a journeyman electrician
Thinking about becoming a journeyman electrician? Here’s what you’ll need.
Hours and licensing requirements to become a journeyman electrician
All journeyman and master electricians must be licensed to legally work. Some attend technical school, while others are trained through an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships usually last four to five years and are offered by various organizations, local unions, or licensed electricians willing to mentor and have someone work under them.
Apprentices track their hours as they go. The Bureau of Labor Statistics describes a typical apprenticeship as 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training a year over four or five years, and the state boards that count hours, Texas and Colorado among them, set 8,000 hours before you can be licensed as a journeyman. Moving up to master takes more time working as a licensed journeyman, and there is no single national number: Colorado asks for 10,000 total hours across at least five years, while Minnesota counts months rather than hours, 48 for a journeyworker and 60 for a master. Requirements are compared state by state further down the page.
Skills and traits needed
Besides technical skills (i.e., being familiar with electrical codes/systems and practical things like wiring, power tools, and safety procedures), journeymen should also possess a few traits to ensure that they’re successful and can carry out their day-to-day tasks. Here are a few of them.
- Physical strength and endurance – Electrical work requires a lot of standing and physical exertion, including operating in small spaces and carrying heavy equipment, so it’s important for journeymen to remain physically fit to reduce strain.
- Attention to detail and problem-solving abilities – Troubleshooting and repair are a large part of the job. For this, journeymen should have an eye for detail while being able to solve complex problems as they arise.
- Organization – Maintaining records and having a filing system for things like inventory lists and job logs is crucial, making organization another important aspect of the job.
- Communication skills – While some projects allow electricians to work alone, many require correspondence with customers, supervisors, and apprentices, so a journeyman should know how to work and collaborate with others.
- The ability to mentor – Although it’s not required, at some point or another, you may find yourself with an apprentice working under you, so it helps if you’re someone who’s willing to train, teach, and offer advice to less experienced workers.
How much does an electrical journeyman make?
Electrician pay runs on a ladder, and where a journeyman sits on it matters more than the middle number. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts every electrician in one occupation, apprentices included, and for May 2025 reports a median of $63,190 a year ($30.38 an hour). The lowest 10% earned under $42,640, the 25th percentile was $49,430, the mean was $71,490, the 75th percentile was $83,940, and the top 10% earned over $108,510. A licensed journeyman is past the bottom of that ladder by definition, so the upper half is the range to read. Job-posting data points the same way: Indeed puts the average advertised base salary for a journeyperson electrician at $82,279 as of September 2026, within 2% of the BLS 75th percentile.
Pay can also vary depending on the industry. For example, journeymen can work in construction, power generation, telecommunications, and manufacturing. Here are the industries with the highest-paying rates:
- Governments – Government electrical jobs involve working with public power structures.
- Construction – Construction jobs see electricians implementing plans from blueprints for new buildings. Government construction jobs pay especially well due to adherence to prevailing wage laws.
- Energy – Working in the energy industry as an electrician means working with wind turbines and power lines.
- Automobile – Electricians in the automobile industry work primarily with auto electrical systems.
- Technology – Electricians in technology work with robotics and other innovative machines.
Journeymen working for an electrical company also benefit from generous overtime pay, paid holidays and vacations, and medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, making this trade quite attractive for its benefits.
Journeyman electrician pay by state and metro area
What an electrician earns depends less on the job than on the state line. Against a national median of $63,190, Oregon’s median is $101,310 and Arkansas’s is $49,070: the same license, the same code, and more than double the pay. The divide is not coast versus interior. Weighting each state’s median hourly wage by how many electricians it employs (our calculation from BLS state estimates, May 2025), the Northeast ($36.29), the West ($36.15) and the Midwest ($35.34) sit within 3% of each other, while the South comes in at $28.66, 19 to 21% below all three. The South also employs 39% of the country’s electricians.
Metro areas tell the same story. Among metro areas with 5,000 or more electricians, Portland, Oregon leads the country at a median of $105,090, and Chicago ($102,350) pays 30% more than New York ($79,020) and 10% more than San Francisco ($92,830). Seattle ($101,780), Detroit ($81,990) and Minneapolis ($81,890) all sit above New York as well.
Where the jobs are and where the money is have different answers. Texas employs more electricians than any other state (76,770), followed by California (73,310), Florida (49,700), New York (40,130) and Ohio (28,950), and both Texas ($58,570) and Florida ($57,250) pay below the national median. Local labor agreements are part of why the spread between states is this wide, but BLS does not break wages out by union status, so there is no reliable number to put on that.
| State | Median annual wage | Median hourly wage | Electricians employed |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $63,190 | $30.38 | 757,220 |
| Oregon | $101,310 | $48.71 | 10,590 |
| Illinois | $99,560 | $47.87 | 23,120 |
| Hawaii | $96,460 | $46.38 | 3,070 |
| Washington | $95,220 | $45.78 | 19,380 |
| Alaska | $89,440 | $43.00 | 1,870 |
| Massachusetts | $79,420 | $38.18 | 17,810 |
| District of Columbia | $78,970 | $37.97 | 2,440 |
| New York | $78,750 | $37.86 | 40,130 |
| Minnesota | $78,160 | $37.58 | 14,350 |
| Connecticut | $77,540 | $37.28 | 7,710 |
Journeyman electrician license requirements by state
Most states license electricians, and where they do, the requirements differ in structure, not just in the numbers. Texas requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed master electrician for a journeyman license, and lets you sit the exam at 7,000. Colorado requires 8,000 hours earned in no less than four years, 2,000 of them in commercial or industrial work, plus 288 hours of classroom education, and a master license there takes 10,000 hours in no less than five years. Minnesota counts months rather than hours: a Class A journeyworker needs a minimum of 48 months and a Class A master 60. Maryland states the supervision rule most plainly: all electrical work must be performed by a licensed master, journeyperson or apprentice electrician, and apprentices must be supervised at all times and may not perform work independently.
The tier goes by different names on different license cards. Texas calls it journeyman, Minnesota journeyworker, Maryland journeyperson, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics writes journey worker; on site you will hear JW or journey level. They all mean the same license.
Colorado also spells out a limit worth knowing: journeyman electricians cannot be a signatory authority for a company. That is the line between doing the work and being responsible for the contracting business, and it is why license tiers matter on the other side of the hiring desk. Where a general contractor staffs a project name by name, electrical contractors plan crews as units, a rough-in crew, a service crew, and the mix of masters, journeymen and apprentices inside a crew decides which scopes it can legally take and who on it can work unsupervised. A crew short one journeyman is not a smaller crew; it is a crew that cannot be sent to that job.
Journeyman electrician FAQ
Are electricians paid well in the US?
Electricians in the US are generally well-paid, yes. The Bureau of Labor Statistics median for all electricians was $63,190 in May 2025, with the 75th percentile at $83,940 and the top 10% above $108,510. Job-posting averages for journeyman-titled roles land near that 75th percentile, and location moves pay more than anything else.
How can an electrician make 6 figures?
If you want to earn 6 figures as an electrician you should focus on gaining specialized skills, earning advanced or niche certifications, and taking on larger, more complex projects. Your earning potential as an electrician also increases if you run your own business.
Who makes the most money: electricians or plumbers?
Electricians may have slightly higher average wages depending on the location, specialization, and experience. However, both electricians and plumbers have comparable salaries, even if electricians sometimes have a higher wage.
What states need electricians the most?
By headcount, Texas employs the most electricians (76,770), followed by California (73,310), Florida (49,700), New York (40,130) and Ohio (28,950), per BLS state estimates for May 2025. Pay is a different list: Texas and Florida both sit below the national median of $63,190, while Oregon, Illinois, Hawaii and Washington pay the highest medians in the country.
What is the highest salary for an industrial electrician?
The highest salary for an industrial electrician can exceed $100,000 per year. The top 10% of all US electricians earned more than $108,510 in May 2025 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the figure climbs with experience, specialized skills, and high-demand industries and metro areas.
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