Kansas electrician license: who licenses, local cards, pay

Kansas has no state electrician board and no statewide journeyman license as of 2026. Cities and counties license electricians under state law, K.S.A. 12-1525 to 12-1527. A license earned on a standard ICC, IAPMO or Prometric exam is good in every other Kansas city or county that licenses. The median Kansas electrician made $31.66 an hour in May 2025, per BLS.

The statutes are linked below, but the city or county that licenses you sets the fees, the code edition and the paperwork. Confirm with its building department before you apply. For the national picture, see electrician license requirements in all 50 states.

01Kansas licensing in one table

02How does a city license work across Kansas?

If you earned it on a standard exam, it travels. K.S.A. 12-1526 says a certificate from a qualified applicant who passed a designated exam is valid proof of competency in any Kansas county or city that licenses electricians, with no further exam. That city has to issue you its license for a uniform fee.

The fine print:

• The license names the test. New licenses based on a standard exam have to show the testing agency and the specific test, and renewals carry a notation that your CE is done. That's how the next city knows your card counts.
• City-only exams stay home. Under K.S.A. 12-1527, a city or county can use its own exam instead. A license from that test is good only inside that city or county, unless the two places have a reciprocal agreement.
• No piling on. Local exams that use the standard tests have to pass at 75% and can't add questions. A 1999 Attorney General opinion (1999-42), cited with the statute, says cities can't use home rule to add licensing requirements for electricians.

So the decision rule is simple. Before you test, ask which exam the city uses. If it's ICC, IAPMO or Prometric, your card works statewide. If it's the city's own test, your card stops at the city limits.

That's the big difference from states like Illinois or Missouri, where each city's card is its own. Our guide to states with no statewide journeyman license compares how local licensing works in each.

03What does a journeyman certificate take?

At least two years of documented field experience, then a standard exam. The experience has to be under the direct supervision of someone holding a valid journeyman, residential or master certificate. Trade school can count for up to one year, if the program ran at least 930 hours and you have a completion certificate. The same two-year rule covers the residential certificate.

A master certificate takes a valid journeyman certificate held at least two years.

Here's the math from zero. Say you finish a 930-hour electrical program at a technical college. That's your one year of credit. Add one year in the field under a certificate holder and you can sit for journeyman. Hold that card two years and you can test for master. That's four years minimum, school included. Without the school, it's still four: two in the field, two as a journeyman.

If you were licensed before July 1, 1989 on an earlier standard exam, and the local passing score was at least 70%, you don't have to retest to renew.

04CE and renewal

Every locally licensed electrician owes at least 12 hours of CE every two years, or 6 hours a year, with at least half on code. The city or county picks which schedule it uses.

The statute keeps the provider list wide open: local governments, trade associations, community colleges, technical schools and other approved providers, and a city can't cap how many providers it accepts. The local governing body sets the uniform license fee. Ask when your card renews and whether it's on the two-year or one-year schedule, because it varies by city.

05Working across the state line

Kansas portability stops at the Kansas line. A Kansas city card earned on the ICC exam is good in any other Kansas city or county that licenses, but it isn't a state license, so Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma have nothing to reciprocate.

• Missouri doesn't license journeymen statewide either. Its cities issue their own cards, so a job on the Missouri side of Kansas City means that city's rules. See the Missouri electrician license guide.
• Nebraska licenses statewide. The Nebraska electrician license guide covers what its board wants.
• Oklahoma licenses statewide too. The Oklahoma electrician license guide covers its rules.

One national electrical contractor told us they tried hiring out of "all the neighboring states" so hands could reciprocate their licenses. That only works state board to state board. A Kansas local card won't be on another state's list, so if you plan to travel, keep your hours documented and expect to test.

06What does a Kansas electrician make?

The median Kansas electrician made $31.66 an hour in May 2025, and the top 10% made $46.55 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.

The Kansas City metro median ran $5.38 above Wichita's. Over 2,080 straight-time hours, that's $11,190 a year. The Kansas City number covers both sides of the state line, so it isn't a Kansas-only rate.

The medians next door were $31.45 in Missouri, $29.24 in Nebraska, $29.33 in Oklahoma and $29.92 in Colorado, same survey. Kansas sits above all four. Our journeyman electrician pay guide covers what moves a rate inside these ranges.

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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