Executive Summary
Electricians are one of the largest skilled-trades occupations in the United States and remain central to construction, maintenance, industrial operations, grid modernization, building electrification, renewable-energy interconnection, and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure. The occupation is also unusually licensing-sensitive: training choices matter because most students must eventually satisfy state or local experience, classroom, supervision, and exam requirements.
In the May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics detail row for electricians, BLS estimated 757,220 wage-and-salary electrician jobs nationally. The national median wage was $63,190 per year, or $30.38 per hour. The annual mean wage was $71,490, and the 90th percentile wage reached $108,510.1
The recent OEWS trend is positive. National wage-and-salary electrician employment rose from 656,510 in 2020 to 757,220 in 2025, a gain of 100,710 jobs, or about 15.3%. Over the same period, the annual median wage increased from $56,900 to $63,190, a gain of about 11.1%; the annual mean wage increased about 16.1%.2
The longer-term outlook is also favorable. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projects electrician employment to grow 9 percent from 2024 to 2034, with about 81,000 openings per year, on average, over the decade. BLS attributes demand to the continuing need to install, maintain, and replace electrical systems, including systems tied to alternative power generation.3
State outcomes vary sharply. In May 2025, the highest state median annual wage was $101,310 in Oregon, while the lowest was $49,070 in Arkansas, a spread of $52,240. Oregon was about 60.3% above the national median, while Arkansas was about 22.3% below it. These figures are not cost-of-living adjusted, so they should be read as labor-market wages, not purchasing-power rankings.
What Electricians Do
BLS defines electricians as workers who install, maintain, and repair electrical power, communications, lighting, and control systems. In practical labor-market terms, the occupation spans residential construction and service, commercial wiring, industrial maintenance, controls, low-voltage systems, power distribution inside facilities, generator and backup-power work, renewable-energy interconnection, EV charging infrastructure, and troubleshooting existing systems.
O*NET adds the task-level detail behind those wage figures. Its electrician profile for 47-2111.00 lists the occupation as “Bright Outlook” and describes electricians as workers who install, maintain, and repair wiring, equipment, and fixtures while ensuring work complies with relevant codes. O*NET’s detailed task data gives high importance scores to following blueprints or sketches and to placing conduit, pipes, or tubing and pulling insulated wires or cables through them. Its work-context data also shows how physical and safety-sensitive the occupation is: respondents reported continual or near-continual use of hands to handle tools or controls, and daily use of common protective or safety equipment. O*NET education responses are consistent with the training-heavy nature of the trade: 62% of respondents said a postsecondary certificate was required for new hires, while 31% selected a high school diploma or equivalent.6
This report uses only the detailed electrician occupation row, SOC 47-2111 Electricians. It does not combine electricians with electrician helpers, first-line supervisors, electrical power-line installers, telecommunications installers, electrical and electronics repairers, solar photovoltaic installers, or broader construction-trades groups.
National Employment and Wage Trend
The national OEWS data show a trade that contracted slightly from 2020 to 2021, then expanded each year from 2022 through 2025. The 2025 estimate of 757,220 wage-and-salary electricians is the highest point in the six-year BLS OEWS national series reviewed for this report.
| Year | Employment | Hourly Median | Annual Median | Annual Mean | 10th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 656,510 | $27.36 | $56,900 | $61,550 | $33,810 | $98,720 |
| 2021 | 650,580 | $28.87 | $60,040 | $63,310 | $37,020 | $99,800 |
| 2022 | 690,050 | $28.96 | $60,240 | $65,280 | $37,440 | $102,300 |
| 2023 | 712,580 | $29.61 | $61,590 | $67,810 | $38,470 | $104,180 |
| 2024 | 742,580 | $29.98 | $62,350 | $69,630 | $39,430 | $106,030 |
| 2025 | 757,220 | $30.38 | $63,190 | $71,490 | $42,640 | $108,510 |
The wage distribution is broad. A national median of $63,190 describes the midpoint, but the 90th percentile of $108,510 shows that experienced electricians in stronger labor markets, specialized settings, public-sector roles, industrial maintenance, or unionized environments can reach six-figure wage levels before benefits.
| Measure | May 2025 National Value | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $42,640 | Entry-level and lower-paid wage-and-salary electricians; not a floor for apprentices. |
| 25th percentile | $49,430 | Early-career or lower-paying local markets and employers. |
| Median | $63,190 | The midpoint of national electrician wages in the May 2025 OEWS detail row. |
| Mean | $71,490 | Average pay; pulled upward by high-wage states, industrial roles, public-sector work, and overtime-heavy labor markets. |
| 75th percentile | $83,940 | Experienced electricians and stronger-paying employers or local labor markets. |
| 90th percentile | $108,510 | High-end wage-and-salary electricians before benefits and excluding overtime premiums. |
Click/Tap to see how much electricians made in each stateInteractive Electrician Labor-Market Data
National Employment, 2020-2025
National Wage Trend, 2020-2025
State Median Wage Map, May 2025
State Wage and Employment Markets
State wage differences are large enough to affect program choice, apprenticeship strategy, and relocation decisions. High nominal wages cluster in parts of the Pacific Northwest, West Coast, Northeast, Alaska, Hawaii, and several union-dense or infrastructure-heavy markets. Large employment counts cluster in population-heavy construction and service markets such as Texas, California, Florida, and New York.
Highest and Lowest State Median Wages
| Rank | Highest-Pay State | Annual Median | Hourly Median | Lowest-Pay State | Annual Median | Hourly Median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon (OR) | $101,310 | $48.71 | Arkansas (AR) | $49,070 | $23.59 |
| 2 | Illinois (IL) | $99,560 | $47.87 | Alabama (AL) | $55,690 | $26.78 |
| 3 | Hawaii (HI) | $96,460 | $46.38 | North Carolina (NC) | $56,800 | $27.31 |
| 4 | Washington (WA) | $95,220 | $45.78 | Florida (FL) | $57,250 | $27.52 |
| 5 | Alaska (AK) | $89,440 | $43.00 | Georgia (GA) | $58,320 | $28.04 |
| 6 | Massachusetts (MA) | $79,420 | $38.18 | New Mexico (NM) | $58,390 | $28.07 |
| 7 | District of Columbia (DC) | $78,970 | $37.97 | Texas (TX) | $58,570 | $28.16 |
| 8 | New York (NY) | $78,750 | $37.86 | South Carolina (SC) | $58,740 | $28.24 |
| 9 | Minnesota (MN) | $78,160 | $37.58 | Kentucky (KY) | $59,720 | $28.71 |
| 10 | Connecticut (CT) | $77,540 | $37.28 | Nebraska (NE) | $60,820 | $29.24 |
Largest State Electrician Workforces
Employment counts identify where the largest number of wage-and-salary electrician jobs are located. They do not necessarily identify the easiest market for an apprentice, because licensing rules, union/nonunion balance, construction cycles, and local program capacity also matter.
| State | Employment | Annual Median | Hourly Median | Jobs per 1,000 Jobs | Location Quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas (TX) | 76,770 | $58,570 | $28.16 | 5.456 | 1.12 |
| California (CA) | 73,310 | $76,160 | $36.62 | 4.025 | 0.83 |
| Florida (FL) | 49,700 | $57,250 | $27.52 | 5.005 | 1.03 |
| New York (NY) | 40,130 | $78,750 | $37.86 | 4.142 | 0.85 |
| Ohio (OH) | 28,950 | $64,700 | $31.11 | 5.216 | 1.07 |
| Virginia (VA) | 23,630 | $62,900 | $30.24 | 5.751 | 1.18 |
| Michigan (MI) | 23,530 | $76,270 | $36.67 | 5.343 | 1.10 |
| Illinois (IL) | 23,120 | $99,560 | $47.87 | 3.792 | 0.78 |
| Pennsylvania (PA) | 22,730 | $67,600 | $32.50 | 3.748 | 0.77 |
| Georgia (GA) | 21,650 | $58,320 | $28.04 | 4.428 | 0.91 |
Highest Electrician Concentration
Location quotient compares the occupation’s local share of employment with its national share. A location quotient above 1.00 means electricians represent a larger share of that state’s employment than they do nationally.
| State | Location Quotient | Jobs per 1,000 Jobs | Employment | Annual Median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyoming (WY) | 2.16 | 10.537 | 2,960 | $76,120 |
| North Dakota (ND) | 1.71 | 8.306 | 3,570 | $65,710 |
| Idaho (ID) | 1.36 | 6.641 | 5,690 | $63,000 |
| Iowa (IA) | 1.36 | 6.612 | 10,310 | $60,860 |
| Utah (UT) | 1.36 | 6.599 | 11,450 | $62,000 |
| Arizona (AZ) | 1.34 | 6.526 | 21,140 | $61,060 |
| South Dakota (SD) | 1.34 | 6.510 | 2,980 | $61,390 |
| Nebraska (NE) | 1.29 | 6.286 | 6,440 | $60,820 |
| West Virginia (WV) | 1.25 | 6.110 | 4,290 | $64,810 |
| Colorado (CO) | 1.22 | 5.920 | 17,010 | $62,230 |
Complete State Data Table
| State | Abbr. | Employment | Hourly Median | Annual Median | Annual Mean | 10th Percentile | 90th Percentile | Location Quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | AL | 10,900 | $26.78 | $55,690 | $57,510 | $37,640 | $78,230 | 1.06 |
| Alaska | AK | 1,870 | $43.00 | $89,440 | $90,040 | $58,420 | $123,200 | 1.18 |
| Arizona | AZ | 21,140 | $29.36 | $61,060 | $64,220 | $45,540 | $89,600 | 1.34 |
| Arkansas | AR | 7,500 | $23.59 | $49,070 | $53,470 | $34,910 | $74,460 | 1.18 |
| California | CA | 73,310 | $36.62 | $76,160 | $85,860 | $46,800 | $140,340 | 0.83 |
| Colorado | CO | 17,010 | $29.92 | $62,230 | $66,310 | $45,520 | $94,160 | 1.22 |
| Connecticut | CT | 7,710 | $37.28 | $77,540 | $77,390 | $47,680 | $104,280 | 0.93 |
| Delaware | DE | 2,260 | $30.63 | $63,700 | $70,750 | $38,280 | $105,340 | 0.96 |
| District of Columbia | DC | 2,440 | $37.97 | $78,970 | $88,860 | $51,950 | $125,790 | 0.71 |
| Florida | FL | 49,700 | $27.52 | $57,250 | $57,660 | $38,190 | $77,180 | 1.03 |
| Georgia | GA | 21,650 | $28.04 | $58,320 | $61,090 | $37,180 | $84,000 | 0.91 |
| Hawaii | HI | 3,070 | $46.38 | $96,460 | $92,870 | $45,730 | $124,590 | 1.01 |
| Idaho | ID | 5,690 | $30.29 | $63,000 | $66,600 | $38,830 | $95,470 | 1.36 |
| Illinois | IL | 23,120 | $47.87 | $99,560 | $92,230 | $49,240 | $123,660 | 0.78 |
| Indiana | IN | 19,020 | $32.93 | $68,490 | $70,820 | $43,190 | $99,310 | 1.22 |
| Iowa | IA | 10,310 | $29.26 | $60,860 | $63,190 | $39,770 | $89,480 | 1.36 |
| Kansas | KS | 6,350 | $31.66 | $65,860 | $69,200 | $42,660 | $96,830 | 0.91 |
| Kentucky | KY | 11,030 | $28.71 | $59,720 | $61,410 | $37,110 | $85,260 | 1.13 |
| Louisiana | LA | 10,550 | $29.59 | $61,540 | $62,350 | $38,750 | $81,810 | 1.12 |
| Maine | ME | 3,780 | $36.24 | $75,380 | $77,250 | $54,180 | $115,720 | 1.21 |
| Maryland | MD | 13,690 | $35.33 | $73,490 | $75,450 | $46,450 | $118,370 | 1.02 |
| Massachusetts | MA | 17,810 | $38.18 | $79,420 | $81,560 | $46,990 | $128,210 | 1.01 |
| Michigan | MI | 23,530 | $36.67 | $76,270 | $73,840 | $42,980 | $103,120 | 1.10 |
| Minnesota | MN | 14,350 | $37.58 | $78,160 | $80,830 | $47,480 | $118,820 | 1.00 |
| Mississippi | MS | 6,610 | $29.26 | $60,860 | $58,000 | $38,200 | $76,540 | 1.17 |
| Missouri | MO | 12,780 | $31.45 | $65,410 | $72,310 | $43,860 | $104,060 | 0.89 |
| Montana | MT | 2,750 | $36.90 | $76,760 | $71,930 | $49,130 | $89,510 | 1.10 |
| Nebraska | NE | 6,440 | $29.24 | $60,820 | $63,960 | $40,400 | $94,040 | 1.29 |
| Nevada | NV | 8,350 | $35.37 | $73,570 | $75,710 | $46,110 | $121,200 | 1.11 |
| New Hampshire | NH | 3,330 | $30.21 | $62,840 | $65,780 | $43,190 | $91,850 | 1.00 |
| New Jersey | NJ | 13,520 | $37.14 | $77,250 | $86,700 | $48,570 | $130,860 | 0.65 |
| New Mexico | NM | 5,020 | $28.07 | $58,390 | $59,620 | $36,650 | $86,830 | 1.18 |
| New York | NY | 40,130 | $37.86 | $78,750 | $84,860 | $45,740 | $131,640 | 0.85 |
| North Carolina | NC | 21,640 | $27.31 | $56,800 | $56,850 | $40,130 | $75,060 | 0.90 |
| North Dakota | ND | 3,570 | $31.59 | $65,710 | $70,460 | $46,440 | $101,020 | 1.71 |
| Ohio | OH | 28,950 | $31.11 | $64,700 | $68,840 | $40,750 | $99,280 | 1.07 |
| Oklahoma | OK | 8,500 | $29.33 | $61,010 | $63,410 | $37,900 | $92,740 | 1.02 |
| Oregon | OR | 10,590 | $48.71 | $101,310 | $99,750 | $59,550 | $131,530 | 1.11 |
| Pennsylvania | PA | 22,730 | $32.50 | $67,600 | $75,770 | $45,600 | $122,620 | 0.77 |
| Rhode Island | RI | 2,420 | $35.62 | $74,090 | $74,150 | $42,990 | $102,840 | 0.99 |
| South Carolina | SC | 8,010 | $28.24 | $58,740 | $59,030 | $44,330 | $77,800 | 0.71 |
| South Dakota | SD | 2,980 | $29.51 | $61,390 | $61,980 | $44,320 | $80,060 | 1.34 |
| Tennessee | TN | 17,070 | $29.37 | $61,090 | $63,540 | $39,600 | $92,160 | 1.07 |
| Texas | TX | 76,770 | $28.16 | $58,570 | $59,280 | $37,920 | $80,300 | 1.12 |
| Utah | UT | 11,450 | $29.81 | $62,000 | $65,290 | $39,940 | $89,110 | 1.36 |
| Vermont | VT | 1,270 | $30.49 | $63,430 | $73,360 | $47,470 | $132,080 | 0.86 |
| Virginia | VA | 23,630 | $30.24 | $62,900 | $67,850 | $40,780 | $105,720 | 1.18 |
| Washington | WA | 19,380 | $45.78 | $95,220 | $94,470 | $52,170 | $133,950 | 1.12 |
| West Virginia | WV | 4,290 | $31.16 | $64,810 | $67,840 | $43,620 | $95,140 | 1.25 |
| Wisconsin | WI | 14,310 | $36.80 | $76,540 | $73,810 | $44,830 | $101,770 | 1.00 |
| Wyoming | WY | 2,960 | $36.59 | $76,120 | $74,860 | $48,240 | $104,000 | 2.16 |
Evidence Beyond BLS
BLS is still the backbone for this report’s wage, employment, and projection tables because OEWS and the Occupational Outlook Handbook are built for labor-market measurement. The other sources answer different questions. O*NET explains the work content behind SOC 47-2111;6 Apprenticeship.gov explains the structure of registered apprenticeship;7 CareerOneStop explains why licensing must be checked state by state;8 NCES and College Scorecard help readers separate labor-market demand from school-level program evaluation;10 NCCER, the electrical training ALLIANCE, IBEW, and NECA describe trade-specific training and contractor pathways;911 NFPA 70 anchors the code environment;12 and ESFI adds electrical-safety data that wage tables do not capture.13
The practical conclusion is that an electrician report should not be read as a wage ranking alone. A high median wage is valuable, but the strongest pathway analysis also asks whether the local market has supervised work, whether the training sequence maps to the state or local licensing authority, whether the curriculum covers current National Electrical Code practice, whether the program has apprenticeship or contractor relationships, and whether the student understands the safety risks of energized work.
Where Electricians Work
Electrician demand is anchored in construction and wiring contractors, but the labor market is not limited to new construction. Maintenance, manufacturing, public infrastructure, facilities operations, industrial controls, service work, and emergency repairs all help support year-round demand. BLS lists electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors as the dominant employer category, followed by self-employment, manufacturing, employment services, and government.4
| Employer Category | Share of Electrician Jobs in BLS OOH | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors | 65% | Core construction, service, retrofit, and maintenance labor market. |
| Self-employed workers | 8% | Important for the trade, but self-employment is not included in OEWS wage-and-salary estimates. |
| Manufacturing | 6% | Plant maintenance, controls, machinery, and production-system support. |
| Employment services | 3% | Staffing and contract labor arrangements, often tied to project cycles. |
| Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals | 3% | Public facilities, infrastructure, maintenance, and code-sensitive electrical systems. |
Industry sources help explain why the contractor category matters so much. NECA describes electrical construction as a $270 billion industry and says its national office and 118 local chapters support the industry through advocacy, education, research, and standards development. Its career material distinguishes several pathways that can sit inside or adjacent to the electrician labor market, including inside wireman, outside lineman, installer technician, and residential inside wireman. IBEW’s Construction and Maintenance Department says it represents more than 400,000 electricians in North America and, with NECA, administers the Electrical Training Alliance, which it describes as the largest training and apprenticeship program in the electrical industry.9
For students, this means the best training choice depends on the target work setting. Residential service demands customer-facing troubleshooting, code compliance, panel and branch-circuit work, and scheduling discipline. Commercial and industrial pathways may place more weight on conduit, motors, controls, PLC exposure, safety procedures, documentation, and the ability to work inside active facilities.
Training, Apprenticeship, and Licensing Implications
Electrician training is not a simple school-to-job pipeline. A classroom program can be valuable, but most jurisdictions require supervised work experience and a licensing exam before someone can work independently as a journeyman electrician. Apprenticeship.gov describes Registered Apprenticeship as an employer-driven pathway that combines paid work experience with a mentor, progressive wage increases, classroom instruction, and a portable nationally recognized credential. The site also says the core building blocks of a Registered Apprenticeship program are industry leadership, a paid job, structured on-the-job learning and mentorship, supplemental education, and credentials; it reports that 90% of apprentices continue employment after completing an apprenticeship.7
Licensing is the main reason students should not treat all electrician programs as interchangeable. CareerOneStop’s License Finder, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, says occupational-license requirements vary by state and that its records include license names, descriptions, issuing-agency contact information, authorizing organizations, descriptions, and O*NET codes. It also warns that not all states submit license information and that there is no guarantee each state collects all license information for its state. In practice, that means a student should use CareerOneStop to identify the likely licensing agency, then confirm hours, exams, reciprocity, renewals, and specialty rules directly with the state or local authority having jurisdiction.8
| Pathway | What It Provides | How to Evaluate It |
|---|---|---|
| Registered apprenticeship | Paid supervised work plus related instruction, commonly over four to five years. | Often the strongest route to journeyman eligibility because it combines classroom hours, documented work hours, and wage progression. |
| Technical school or community college | Pre-apprenticeship, diploma, certificate, or associate-level coursework. | Can build wiring, safety, blueprint, code, conduit, motor-control, and troubleshooting foundations, but usually does not replace required supervised work hours. |
| Electrical trainee/helper employment | Entry-level work under licensed supervision. | Useful where state rules allow trainee registration or helper roles; students should verify how hours count toward licensing. |
| Journeyman licensing | State or local exam and documented experience requirement. | Licensing rules vary widely; mobility depends on reciprocity, local authority, and the type of electrical work. |
| Master electrician/contractor licensing | Advanced credential for supervision, permitting, contracting, and business operation. | Often requires additional years of journeyman-level experience, insurance/bonding, and business-law compliance. |
For school-based programs, NCES/IPEDS classifies CIP 46.0302 Electrician as a program that prepares students to install, operate, maintain, and repair electrical apparatus and systems, including residential, commercial, and industrial electric-power wiring, DC and AC motors, controls, and electrical distribution panels. The CIP definition also includes electronics and electrical systems, wiring, power transmission, safety, industrial and household appliances, job estimation, electrical testing and inspection, and applicable codes and standards. That definition is a useful baseline: if a program marketed as electrician training does not cover these areas, readers should treat it as a narrower pre-apprenticeship or electrical-helper program. College Scorecard can then add the school-level layer by providing downloadable data on completion, debt, repayment, earnings, and field-of-study outcomes where available.10
Electrician-specific curriculum sources make the evaluation more concrete. NCCER says its four-level Electrical curriculum emphasizes safe work practices, applied electrical theory, residential, commercial, and industrial electrical knowledge and skills, and integrated National Electrical Code coverage. NCCER’s current 12th edition aligns with the 2026 National Electrical Code; Levels 1 through 3 list 227.5, 150, and 147.5 recommended hours respectively, while its 11th edition lists 672.5 hours for Levels 1 through 4. NCCER also identifies modules in safety for electricians, electrical test equipment, construction documents, NEC navigation, wireways and raceways, conduit bending, grounding and bonding, motors, transformers, motor and process controls, hazardous locations, alternative energy, and energy storage systems.11
Students should ask whether a program leads to apprentice registration, whether classroom hours count toward state or local requirements, whether the program has employer, contractor, union, or joint-apprenticeship relationships, whether graduates receive help finding supervised work, and whether the curriculum covers the National Electrical Code edition used in that jurisdiction. They should also ask whether the program teaches test instruments, lockout/tagout, PPE, arc-flash awareness, blueprint reading, load calculations, grounding and bonding, motor controls, conduit bending, and troubleshooting, because those are closer to electrician work than generic construction exposure.
Industry Outlook
The electrician outlook is stronger than the outlook for many occupations because electrical systems are embedded in nearly every residential, commercial, industrial, and public facility. New construction creates demand, but so do replacement work, facility maintenance, remodeling, code upgrades, power-quality improvements, backup-power systems, low-voltage integration, and service calls.
Several structural trends support demand: electrification of buildings and transportation, EV charging, solar and storage interconnection, factory automation, data-center expansion, grid resilience work, heat-pump adoption, and increased electrical loads from modern equipment. These trends do not remove the need for licensing discipline; if anything, they increase the value of workers who can apply code, safety, troubleshooting, and documentation skills across more complex systems.
Code literacy is not optional in that environment. NFPA 70 is the National Electrical Code publication used for electrical-installation requirements, and the current NFPA LiNK listing for this report points readers to the 2026 edition. State and local adoption can lag or include amendments, so the enforceable code is still the edition adopted by the authority having jurisdiction where the work is performed.12
The safety data reinforces the same point. ESFI’s 2011-2024 workplace electrical injury and fatality statistics, compiled from BLS and OSHA data, report 2,070 occupational fatalities due to contact with electricity over that period. ESFI reports that wage-and-salary workers accounted for 80% of workplace electrical fatalities, that construction had the highest number of electrical fatalities among industries, and that overhead power-line contact was the leading fatality cause. ESFI also reports 5,180 nonfatal electrical injuries involving days away from work in 2023-2024, a 59% increase from the previous two-year period. For prospective students, the takeaway is straightforward: strong electrician training should treat safety, testing, de-energization, grounding, PPE, and code compliance as core occupational skills, not add-ons.13
The main risks are cyclical rather than occupational. Residential construction slowdowns, interest-rate-sensitive building activity, regional project cancellations, and public incentive changes can affect hiring. Students should therefore evaluate both wage levels and the reliability of local apprenticeship or employer pipelines.
For Further Research
A future version of this report should add a separate school-outcomes table using College Scorecard’s field-of-study files and a separate workforce-demographics table using Census ACS Public Use Microdata Sample files. College Scorecard publishes downloadable field-of-study, completion, debt, repayment, and earnings data, but those figures need institution-level filtering before they can responsibly be attached to electrician programs. ACS PUMS files allow custom estimates that are not available in pretabulated ACS products and identify geographies down to Public Use Microdata Areas, but electrician-specific estimates would require a separate occupation-code analysis with margins of error. For that reason, ACS/PUMS is identified here as a future research path rather than blended into the OEWS employer-survey wage tables.14
Methodology and Data Notes
- Occupation filter: All OEWS tables in this report use only the detailed row for SOC 47-2111 Electricians.
- National trend: The six-year national trend uses BLS OEWS national downloadable data for May 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, filtered to the detailed occupation row for SOC 47-2111 Electricians.
- State data: The map and state tables use BLS OEWS May 2025 state downloadable data, filtered to SOC 47-2111 Electricians.
- Map coverage: The interactive map includes the 50 states and District of Columbia. The BLS May 2025 state downloadable data also includes Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, shown below for transparency but excluded from the U.S. state map.
- OEWS scope: OEWS is an employer survey of wage-and-salary workers in nonfarm establishments. It excludes self-employed workers, owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, and unpaid family workers. Wages are straight-time gross pay and exclude premium pay such as overtime.5
- Not cost-of-living adjusted: State wage comparisons are nominal wages. A high-wage state may also have higher housing, commuting, union dues, tax, licensing, or tool costs.
- Supporting sources: Non-BLS sources are cited for occupational tasks, apprenticeship structure, licensing, education-program classification, code, safety, contractor context, and interpretation. They are not blended into the OEWS wage tables. College Scorecard and Census ACS/PUMS are flagged for future custom data builds where the report would need institution-level filtering, occupation-code handling, and margins of error.
| Territory | Abbr. | Employment | Hourly Median | Annual Median | Annual Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guam | GU | 890 | $20.68 | $43,020 | $44,440 |
| Puerto Rico | PR | 1,740 | $18.00 | $37,440 | $39,910 |
| Virgin Islands | VI | 140 | $24.90 | $51,790 | $56,830 |
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national and state downloadable data, detailed occupation row 47-2111 Electricians, available from https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. Back
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2020 through May 2025 national downloadable data files, detailed occupation row 47-2111 Electricians, available from https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. Back
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, “Electricians,” accessed August 11, 2026, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electricians.htm. Back
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, “Electricians,” Work Environment and Pay sections, accessed August 11, 2026, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electricians.htm. Back
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Overview, scope and survey coverage, accessed August 11, 2026, https://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_emp.htm. Back
- O*NET OnLine, “Electricians,” O*NET-SOC 47-2111.00, accessed August 12, 2026, https://www.onetonline.org/link/details/47-2111.00 and https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/47-2111.00. Back
- U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship.gov, “Registered Apprenticeship Program” and “Career Seekers,” accessed August 12, 2026, https://www.apprenticeship.gov/employers/registered-apprenticeship-program and https://www.apprenticeship.gov/career-seekers. Back
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