Illinois electrician license: who licenses, local cards, pay

Illinois doesn't issue a statewide journeyman or master electrician license as of 2026. Cities and villages decide, and the biggest program is Chicago's: the Department of Buildings licenses supervising electricians and electrical contractors. Even without a state card, the median Illinois electrician made $47.87 an hour in May 2025, the second highest state median in the BLS OEWS survey.

Local rules change, and most of the suburb and downstate detail below is secondhand. Confirm with the city or village where the job is before you count on anything. To see how Illinois compares with states that license at the state level, start with electrician license requirements by state.

01Illinois at a glance, as of 2026

02So who licenses electricians in Illinois?

The city or village where the work is, if it licenses at all. There's no state electrical licensing board, so there's no state card to test for, renew or carry.

• Chicago licenses supervising electricians and electrical contractors through the Department of Buildings.
• Suburbs. Many only register the electrical contractor, not the individual hand. Some test or register electricians too. [Secondary, confirm with each village.]
• Downstate. Same story: local rules, local code edition, local inspector. [Secondary, confirm locally.]

For most working journeymen in Illinois, the license that matters is your employer's contractor license or registration in that town. Your own proof is your papers. Our guide to states with no statewide journeyman license covers how that works in the other states in the same spot.

03What does Chicago's supervising electrician license take?

You need to be at least 21, have 2 years of experience under a supervising electrician or equivalent, and pass a written exam on the Chicago Electrical Code. That's straight from the city's supervising electrician license page.

• Experience proof. Letters from your supervisors. Nothing else is listed.
• Two license types. General and low voltage. The type matches the exam you passed. Before 2018 the city offered more specialties.
• Applying and testing. Continental Testing Services takes the applications and gives the exams for the city. It posts a study guide.
• If you fail. Wait at least 6 months before you reapply.
• 2026 fees. $150 per exam, $150 for the first license, $150 a year to renew.
• Renewal. The card is good for one year. Let it sit expired 3 years or more and you can't renew it. You start over with a new application.

One more rule worth knowing: a supervising electrician can't be the primary supervising electrician for more than one licensed contractor.

Who can work under a Chicago contractor license

A Chicago electrical contractor license covers the business and its employees working under a licensed supervising electrician. It doesn't cover hands paid as independent contractors. The city says so in plain words. If a shop wants you on a 1099 in Chicago, that's a problem for both of you.

Then there's Class 1 work. That's electrical work in a building over 55 feet tall, in an assembly occupancy with an occupant load of 300 or more, done before a certificate of occupancy is issued or as part of work that needs a new one. Think an arena, or a theater in a tower. On Class 1 work, every person doing electrical work has to be one of three things:

1. A licensed supervising electrician.
2. A graduate of a U.S. Department of Labor recognized electrician apprenticeship of at least 8,000 hours, with the certificate to prove it.
3. Currently enrolled in one.

The contractor keeps those records at the site and for two years after. Say you're a ten-year open-shop journeyman who learned on the job without a registered apprenticeship. You can work Class 2 jobs under the shop's supervising electrician. On a Class 1 job you can't be on the tools unless you hold the supervising card yourself. That's a solid reason to sit for the exam once you clear 2 years.

04What about the suburbs and downstate?

Each city or village sets its own rules, and many only register the contractor. Before you take a job outside Chicago, ask four things:

1. Which towns is the work in, and is the contractor licensed or registered in each one?
2. Does the town require anything of me personally?
3. Which NEC edition does the inspector enforce? Adoption is local.
4. Who's the foreman, and how long does the job run?

Keep your apprenticeship certificate, OSHA cards and a list of past jobs on your phone. With no state card, that's your resume.

One national electrical contractor told us exactly what they want from a journeyman: hand him the prints, "this goes from point A to point B," and he knocks it out. In a state with no card, that's the test you'll really get on day one. Our breakdown of what contractors check before they hire a journeyman goes through the rest.

05Does Illinois experience count in other states?

There's no Illinois state card, so no other state's board can reciprocate one. If you head to a state that licenses, you'll go through that board, usually with documented hours and an exam.

Next door it splits. Indiana's local licensing and Missouri's city cards work a lot like Illinois. Wisconsin licenses journeymen statewide, so plan on its full process. Our electrician license reciprocity guide covers which states trade cards and why a local card rarely makes the list.

06What does an Illinois electrician make?

The median Illinois electrician made $47.87 an hour in May 2025, and the top 10% made $59.45 or more. These are BLS OEWS straight-time wages for all electricians, apprentices included. They leave out overtime, per diem and benefits, and they're market data, not what any one contractor will pay you.

Two things jump out. First, the Illinois median sits above the Illinois mean ($44.34), and the 90th percentile is only $11.58 above the median. The middle of the pack is paid close to the top. Second, Kankakee's median beats Chicago's, but with 140 electricians on payroll, a couple of contractors can move that number.

For context, the medians next door were $32.93 in Indiana, $36.80 in Wisconsin, $31.45 in Missouri and $29.26 in Iowa, same survey. The Illinois median annual wage was $99,560. See how Illinois stacks up nationally in our list of the highest paying states and metros for electricians.

Run your Pay Check to see what electricians with your license make near you. Takes about a minute and your boss never hears about it.

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