Texas electrician license: levels, hours, reciprocity, pay

A Texas journeyman electrician license takes 8,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas master electrician, then a two-part PSI exam. You can apply and test once you have 7,000 hours. Every Texas electrician license renews each year with 4 hours of CE. The median Texas electrician made $28.16 an hour in May 2025, per BLS.

Everything below is as of 2026, from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), Electricians. Rules change, so confirm with TDLR before you apply. For how Texas compares with the rest of the country, see electrician license requirements by state.

01Texas license facts at a glance

02Do apprentices need a license in Texas?

Yes, and before the first day on the job. TDLR's FAQ says anyone doing electrical work "must obtain a license prior to performing the work," and there's "no grace period" while you wait. There's no exam and no experience requirement for the apprentice license. The fee is $20, and if you apply online with no criminal convictions, TDLR issues a temporary license automatically.

An apprentice works under the general supervision of a master, journeyman or residential wireman. The license lasts a year, and you renew with 4 hours of CE or proof you're enrolled in a registered apprenticeship course.

Keep a record of your hours from day one. Every journeyman and master application needs a verification form signed by each master who supervised you.

03Texas license levels and hours

TDLR licenses more classes than most states. The ones a working hand runs into, as of 2026:

TDLR also licenses journeyman linemen (7,000 hours in a DOL-approved apprenticeship, or 3.5 years as a lineman in Texas), sign electricians at the apprentice, journeyman and master levels, and residential appliance installers. There's no master industrial license on TDLR's list.

Two traps on that table:

• Journeyman Industrial is a dead end for master. TDLR calls it "a limited license and NOT the equivalent of a Journeyman Electrician license." Its hours don't count toward master, and it doesn't cover residential or commercial work.
• CTE hours stay with the wireman card. Hours earned in a high school or college career and technology program can't be credited toward any other license, and you still take the wireman exam.

Run the math on the journeyman card. At 2,080 hours a year, 8,000 hours is about 3.8 years (our math). Testing at 7,000 means you can sit for the exam about half a year early.

04How the Texas exam works

TDLR tests through PSI at 16 Texas cities, from El Paso to Tyler. You have one year from the day TDLR receives your application to pass.

Since March 11, 2025, the journeyman exam comes in two parts. Per PSI's candidate bulletin:

1. NEC knowledge. 59 items, 130 minutes.
2. Calculations. 26 items, 110 minutes.

You need 70% on each part. The fee is $78 for both parts, and the retake fee is $78. The exam is open book. Bring your own soft-bound NEC; the handbook, spiral-bound copies and homemade tabs aren't allowed. Starting September 1, 2026, the exams reference the 2026 NEC.

Don't walk in cold. In TDLR's fiscal year 2025 numbers, 24.46% passed the journeyman NEC part and 20.56% passed calculations. Masters did worse: 22.21% and 19.08%. Our journeyman electrician exam guide covers how to study.

05Can you get a Texas license by reciprocity?

Yes, for journeyman and master licenses from a short list of states. TDLR's out-of-state page lists:

• Journeyman: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.
• Master: Alabama, Arkansas (master), Iowa (Class A master), Louisiana (state contractor's license), Nebraska, North Carolina (master or unlimited contractor), Ohio and Tennessee (electrical contractor).

For a journeyman card, you must have passed your state's exam, held the license at least a year and logged 8,000 hours under a master. The fee is $30. For a master, it's a year on the reciprocal license, 12,000 hours and 2 years as a journeyman, cut to 1 year for Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee. Louisiana applicants have to be Louisiana residents.

No other license type reciprocates, contractor licenses included. Moving the other way? Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas all list Texas for journeymen. Our Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana guides cover those boards, and the electrician license reciprocity guide has every state's list.

06City cards and the contractor license

A state license beats a city card. Per TDLR's FAQ, a municipal license only works inside that city, while a TDLR license "is valid anywhere in Texas." A city can't make a state license holder take its own exam or pay certain registration fees, though it still charges permit fees.

The electrical contractor license has no exam. The business needs a Texas master as its master electrician of record and liability insurance of at least $300,000 per occurrence and $600,000 aggregate. A master can only be master of record for one contractor unless he owns more than half of it. Our post on going from journeyman to electrical contractor covers whether the jump pays.

07CE, renewal and the code

Every TDLR electrician license, apprentice through master, renews each year with 4 hours of CE from a registered provider, covering the NEC, Texas electrician law and rules, and NFPA 70E. Hold two licenses and you still owe 4 hours. Contractors have no CE.

A journeyman renewal is $30, or $45 to $60 late. A license expired more than 3 years can't be renewed; you start over as a new applicant.

TDLR adopted the 2026 NEC as the state electrical code effective September 1, 2026, with a limited exception for GFCI on certain outdoor outlets. Cities can amend it, so ask the local inspector before you bid a job.

08What does a Texas electrician make?

The median Texas electrician made $28.16 an hour in May 2025, below the $30.38 national median. 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.

Texas had more electricians on payroll than any other state, ahead of California's 73,310, with a $58,570 median annual wage. The top 10% of Texas electricians started at $38.61, $13.56 under the national 90th percentile (our math). Same survey, the medians next door were $29.33 in Oklahoma, $29.59 in Louisiana, $28.07 in New Mexico and $23.59 in Arkansas.

With pay that bunched, hours, overtime, per diem and how long the job runs decide the check. Our journeyman electrician pay breakdown shows 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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