Which states require pay ranges in electrician job ads?

As of October 2026, 11 states and DC make most employers put pay in the job posting itself: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. Headcount cutoffs run from 4 employees (New York) to 50 (Hawaii), and Colorado, Maryland and DC set none. Delaware's law was signed in September 2025 and starts two years later.

That's the short list. Below is what each one asks for, how it hits a journeyman or service ad, and why the same laws hand you free market data. This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm with the state labor department, and run anything odd past your employment lawyer. For the other rules that come with hiring, start with hiring law basics for electrical contractors.

01The states, who's covered and what to post

Every state below wants a good-faith number in the ad, not "DOE." The table is as of October 2026, from each state's statute or labor department page.

Some cities run their own versions on top of the state law. New York's labor department points out that New York City has its own pay transparency law, for example.

States that aren't on the list can still change fast. Delaware's governor signed House Bill 105 on September 26, 2025, and the state says it "will take effect 2 years after" signing (Delaware news release). Check your state before every new posting season.

02What the rules mean for an electrician ad

The laws were written for office jobs, but four details hit electrical shops hardest.

A range has to be a real range

Minnesota says it flat out: "A salary range may not be open ended." So "$35 and up" or "up to $60" fails there. Most of the other states ask for a minimum and a maximum you'd actually pay. "$40 to $80" might be legal in some places, but no journeyman believes it, and you'll be explaining it on every call.

Tie the range to something a hand can check: "$46 to $52 by years and lead work." That's an example, not a market rate. To find where your number should sit, see how to tell if your journeyman pay rate is competitive.

Per diem and OT are "other compensation"

Washington, Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey want a general description of benefits and other pay, not just the hourly rate. For a travel job, that's where per diem, OT and any completion bonus go. Write them the way a hand reads them: "$120 a day per diem, 7 days. 6-10s, OT after 40." "Per diem available" with no number is vague in any state and gets skipped.

Service ads: commission and driving

Two rules matter for residential service shops:

• New York requires you to "clearly state if a position is commission-based." If your service electricians go to commission after a training period, the ad has to say so.
• Washington, since July 27, 2025, bars postings from requiring a valid driver's license "unless driving is an essential job function." On a service van job it usually is. Say why in the ad: "You'll drive a company van to 4 to 6 calls a day."

Third parties count

If a recruiter, staffing agency or job board posts the job for you, most of these laws still apply. California says the employer must give the third party the pay scale and the third party "must include" it. Illinois makes the third party liable unless the employer never gave it the number. Minnesota and Maryland define a posting to include recruiting "indirectly through a third party." A blind ad run by someone else doesn't get you out of it.

03What happens if you get it wrong

Fines are small per posting but add up across a stack of ads, and a complaint is how most of them start.

• Washington: after written notice of a bad posting, you have 5 business days to fix it before L&I can move on penalties.
• Massachusetts: a warning for the first offense, up to $500 for the second, up to $1,000 for the third. All postings for the same employer in a 48-hour window count as one offense.
• New Jersey: up to $300 for the first violation and $600 for each one after. All postings for the same opening count as one.
• Colorado: anyone who saw a bad posting can file a complaint, including anonymously. CDLE counts 3,049 pay transparency complaints filed from January 2021 through its October 7, 2026 update.

The bigger cost is the hand who skips your ad because the number isn't there. That's covered in should your job ad show pay and your company name.

04Multi-state shops: post to the strictest rule

If you post travel work in several states, the simplest move is to write every ad as if the strictest state applies. A tight range, the per diem with its unit, the schedule and benefits in one line covers almost every rule on the table above. Here's a template, with example numbers:

Journeymen, commercial. $46 to $52 an hour by experience. 6-10s, OT after 40. $120 a day per diem, 7 days. Medical day 31. Runs about 9 months.

That one line covers the pay, benefits and other-pay parts of the Minnesota, Washington and New York rules, and it's what a journeyman wants to see anyway. The full ad layout is in how to write a journeyman job ad that gets calls.

05The upside: competitor ads are now free rate data

In these 11 states and DC, your competitors have to show their number too. That turns the job boards into a pay survey you don't have to buy.

One national electrical contractor told us, while trying to set a rate for a new job: "We might have to do a little bit of research, maybe on Indeed or other platforms, just to see what's out there. I know it's a big band." In a pay-range state, that research takes an hour.

Here's a way to run it:

1. Pull 10 live ads for the same license and the same kind of work (commercial journeyman, service electrician) within driving distance of the job.
2. Write down each low and high number. Drop staffing agency ads into their own column, since their posted wage isn't what you'd be billed.
3. Sort the lows and the highs. The middle low is roughly where hands start; the middle high is roughly where a good J-man lands.
4. Check the per diem and schedule lines. A $3 lower rate with 6-10s and 7-day per diem can beat a higher rate on 5-8s.
5. Set your range so the top sits at or above the middle high, if you want the better hands to call.

Say your 10 ads show lows from $38 to $46 and highs from $48 to $58. The middle low is about $42 and the middle high about $52 (example numbers). An ad at "$44 to $54" sits right in the fight. An ad at "$36 to $44" will mostly draw apprentices.

Compare that against the BLS figures for your state. BLS OEWS put the national electrician median at $30.38 an hour in May 2025, but that's straight time and includes apprentices, so live ads for the same license are usually the better read for a journeyman rate.

If you're short-handed now, apply here and we'll see if we can put 5 licensed electricians in front of you in 14 days.

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