South Carolina electrician license: local cards and pay

South Carolina has no state journeyman electrician license. As of 2026, the state licenses the business side: LLR's Contractor's Licensing Board licenses commercial electrical work under the Mechanical Contractor Electrical classification, and the Residential Builders Commission issues a Residential Electrician License. The median South Carolina electrician made $28.24 an hour in May 2025, per BLS.

So a J-man working for a licensed contractor doesn't carry a state card. The license sits with the company's qualifier, or with the person contracting residential work. For the national picture, see our electrician license requirements in every state.

01South Carolina license facts, as of 2026

Rows marked come from Mike Holt Enterprises' state page, an exam-prep company that tracks every board. Confirm them with LLR.

02Who licenses electricians in South Carolina?

The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation does, but only at the contractor level, through two boards:

• The Contractor's Licensing Board (CLB) for commercial work. Electrical is a classification under the Mechanical Contractor license.
• The Residential Builders Commission (RBC) for residential work, through its Residential Electrician License.

That puts South Carolina with the other states that don't license journeymen statewide, along with North Carolina and Tennessee. A city may still have its own rules, so call the building department before you start somewhere new.

03Commercial work: the Mechanical Contractor EL license

The CLB requires a license once the total cost of construction tops $10,000. The license is held by the company, and a qualifying party takes the exams for it.

What the qualifier needs, per the CLB's licensure page:

1. Experience. At least 2 years of work experience within the past 5 years, sworn on a Work Experience Affidavit.
2. The technical exam. Electrical is a mechanical classification with its own trade exam, given by PSI. Mike Holt reports 80 questions in 4 hours.
3. The business exam. Every applicant also passes the SC Business Law and Project Management for Commercial Contractors exam.
4. Money behind it. The company picks a license group by its financial statement or a surety bond. Group 1 caps jobs at $35,000 and needs $7,000 net worth or $3,500 working capital. Group 5 is unlimited and needs $300,000 net worth or $200,000 working capital.

The licensure fee is $350, and Mechanical Contractor licenses expire October 31 of odd-numbered years. Every renewal needs a financial statement or a surety bond.

There's also a route around the trade exam. The CLB accepts a Master Electrician certification issued by exam through the Municipal Association of South Carolina between December 1990 and December 2025. As of January 1, 2026, Carolinas AGC is the certification provider. The NASCLA accredited exam for electrical contractors is another option for contractors licensed in several states.

If a company asks you to be its qualifier, that's your exam and your name on its license. Price it like the job title it is. Our guide on going from journeyman to electrical contractor covers the jump.

04Residential work: the Residential Electrician License

The RBC says residential electrical work over $500 requires a license. Your work experience must be verified and approved before you're cleared for the exam. The exam has a technical part and a Business Management and Law part.

Fees as of 2026 are a $135 application and a $220 license, with $220 renewals and a $50 late fee.

You can skip the technical part if you:

• Hold a North Carolina or Mississippi license obtained by exam and held at least a year, verified directly by that state.
• Passed the NASCLA Residential Electrical Contractors exam within the past 3 years.
• Hold a current Master Electrician or Master Residential Electrician certification from MASC or Carolinas AGC, with date conditions.
• Hold an SC Mechanical Contractor EL license obtained by exam, held at least a year.

The Business Management and Law part still applies either way. Confirm the residential path with the RBC before you file.

05Exam waivers from other states

South Carolina waives the commercial technical exam for licensees from certain states. Mike Holt lists Alabama, Georgia (non-restricted), Mississippi, North Carolina (intermediate or unlimited) and Tennessee. The North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors lists South Carolina among its own reciprocal states.

Per the CLB, the license must be in good standing in a state that gave the reciprocating exam, and that state's board fills out the Examination Waiver form. Copies of your license or exam results aren't accepted. This helps a company's qualifier, not a journeyman. Our North Carolina and Georgia guides cover what the neighbors require.

06How contractors check you without a state card

With no state journeyman card to check, a South Carolina contractor screens you on the work. One national electrical contractor told us agencies kept sending hands who held only apprentice licenses and "just weren't able to do the duties as a journeyman." Contractors who've been burned like that ask hard questions.

Have your answers ready: what kind of buildings, what gear, how many years since you topped out, and whether you've run a crew. An OSHA 30 or NFPA 70E card helps.

South Carolina is mostly open shop. IEC, the open-shop electrical contractors' association, puts the merit shop share of the state's electrical workforce at 97%. If you're weighing a union job against an open-shop one, our breakdown of union vs non-union electrician pay compares the whole package.

07What does a South Carolina electrician make?

The median South Carolina electrician made $28.24 an hour in May 2025, $2.14 below the national median of $30.38, per BLS OEWS. These are 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.

South Carolina's range is tight. The 90th percentile sat $16.10 above the 10th (our math), about half the national spread of $31.67. The bottom pays a little better than the U.S. as a whole, and the top pays a lot less. Across these four South Carolina metros, the medians sit within $1.46 of each other.

The statewide median annual wage was $58,740. Next door, the medians were $27.31 in North Carolina and $28.04 in Georgia, same survey. Our journeyman electrician pay breakdown explains what moves a rate within a range.

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.

FAQFAQs