What is your electrician license worth?

Your electrician license is worth what shops near you pay for that card, and you can find it out without your boss hearing a word. Nationally, the median electrician made $30.38 an hour in May 2025 and the top 10% made more than $52.17 (BLS OEWS), but your metro, your card and your kind of work move that a lot. Three public sources get you close: BLS metro percentiles, federal wage determinations, and job ads in states where the pay has to be posted.

01What sets what your license is worth?

Five things move the number more than anything else: where you work, which card you hold, what kind of work you do, what you can run, and whether you'll travel.

Where you work is the biggest. Portland and Chicago medians sit near $50 an hour on BLS data; Phoenix and Atlanta sit in the high $20s (table below). Same card, same code book.

The kind of work matters too. Here are median yearly wages for electricians by industry, May 2025:

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Electricians. Staffing sits at the bottom, which is worth knowing before an agency calls you.

Rate is only part of it. Hours, per diem and how long the work lasts can swing a year by more than the rate does, which is why comparing offers on the whole check matters before any move.

After that it's skills a shop can't find easily, like MV terminations, controls or running a crew, and how far you'll go from home. The deeper breakdown of pay by card and state is in journeyman electrician pay in 2026.

02The spread in your metro

Your first number is where you'd land on your metro's pay spread. BLS publishes it by metro for electricians (occupation 47-2111), free, and nobody knows you looked.

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, hourly, straight time.

Read it with two things in mind. These are straight-time wages, so overtime and meal and lodging payments aren't in them (BLS OEWS FAQ). And apprentices are counted as electricians, which drags the bottom of the spread down. A carded journeyman should measure himself against the median and up, not the low end. If you're below the median, the signs you're underpaid walk through what else to check.

03Two more numbers nobody at your shop sees you pull

The BLS number is a year old by the time it's out. Two other sources show what's being paid now.

Federal wage determinations. Federally funded construction jobs covered by Davis-Bacon have to pay the locally prevailing wage and fringes, and the rates are public on SAM.gov. Pick Public Buildings or Works, then your state and county, and find the electrician line. You'll see a base rate and a fringe rate. In some counties that line is the union rate. For comparison, IBEW Local 340 in the Sacramento area lists a $53.70 journeyman wage plus $15.56 an hour for health and welfare and $14.25 for pension, effective June 1, 2026 (Local 340 wage sheet).

Job ads in pay transparency states. In Washington, employers with 15 or more employees must post a wage scale or salary range plus a summary of benefits (Washington L&I). In New York, it's employers with 4 or more, and the ad needs a minimum and maximum (New York State DOL). As of October 2026, 11 states plus DC have rules like these; the list is in which states require pay ranges in job ads. Pull ten ads for your card in your area, toss the "up to" numbers, and take the middle.

Want the short version? The Pay Check shows what electricians with your license make near you from your card, years and zip.

04What to keep off social media and work devices

The quiet way stays quiet only if you keep it off anything your shop can see.

• No "open to work" posts. Not on Facebook, not on LinkedIn, not in a trade group your foreman reads.
• Never use your work email or a company phone. Company phones and email belong to the company. Use your own cell and a personal email for anything about another job.
• Don't apply from the company truck's tablet or the jobsite Wi-Fi. Same reason.
• Take calls on your own time. Lunch in your truck or after the shift, not in the trailer.
• Don't tell the crew. Nobody has to rat you out. Word travels between jobs fast on its own.

Talking about pay is different. The National Labor Relations Board lists "talking with one or more co-workers about your wages and benefits" as protected concerted activity (NLRB). Asking a buddy what he makes is fine. Telling him you're leaving is a different conversation.

05How to talk to a recruiter without it getting back

A good recruiter keeps your name out of it until you say otherwise. Make that clear on the first call.

1. Ask who pays them. An employer-paid recruiter gets paid by the shop that hires you. A staffing agency bills the contractor for your hours and keeps the difference. You should never pay either one. How electrical recruiters get paid explains the difference.
2. Ask which company the job is with before you send anything. If it's your own shop's biggest competitor, or a GC your boss works with every week, decide if that's a risk you want.
3. Say it out loud: "Don't contact my current employer." And "don't send my name anywhere without asking me first."
4. Give your license number, not a resume full of names. The shop needs to verify your card. It doesn't need your foreman's cell yet.
5. Hold your references until there's an offer. Then give past foremen, not your current one.

If a recruiter blasts your name to ten shops without asking, you'll hear about it. Drop that recruiter.

06How to lower the risk of a move

The pay number tells you if a move is worth looking at. These steps keep a good move from turning into a bad month.

1. Line up two or three references from past jobs. A foreman you worked under two years ago is safer than your current one, and just as good.
2. Time it. Check when your 401k match vests, when any bonus pays out, and where your current job is. Leaving a week before you vest, or in the middle of a phase where you're the lead, costs you money or a bridge.
3. Check the job's length, not just the rate. A better rate on a job that ends in eight weeks isn't better. Comparing two electrician job offers puts rate, hours, per diem and length side by side.
4. Get the offer confirmed first. Rate, per diem with its unit, schedule, start date, and the day insurance starts, in a text or email from the company.
5. Clear the drug test, background and badging before you give notice. A start date that slips two weeks is two weeks with no check.
6. Never give notice before all of that is done. Some shops walk you out the day you give notice. Plan for it.

When you're ready, how to quit an electrical job the right way covers notice, tools, the truck and your last check.

07What if the number says you're paid fine?

Then good. If your rate sits at or above your metro median and close to the ads near you, the reasons to move are hours, job length, the foreman, benefits or travel, not the hourly number. If you'd rather stay and get closer to the top of your spread, take your numbers in and ask for a raise.

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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