- Check the data year and whether the number is a median, mean, percentile, or job-posting estimate.
- Compare state and metro data, then adjust for hours, overtime, benefits, and cost of living.
- Remember that BLS employee wage estimates exclude self-employed workers and are not starting-wage promises.
Search "electrician salary" and you'll find numbers ranging from $45,000 to $130,000, often on the same page. They're not all wrong — they're answering different questions. This article walks through what the Bureau of Labor Statistics data actually says, state by state, and what makes an individual electrician land above or below the line.
Median, not average — and why it matters here
All figures below are median annual wages from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (May 2025 estimates, the latest annual release available at the September 2026 review). The median is the middle electrician — half earn more, half earn less. Averages run higher because a relatively small number of high-earning master electricians and contractors pull the mean up. For deciding whether the career pays enough for your life, the median is the honest number.
One more wrinkle: BLS counts employees. Self-employed electrical contractors — often the highest earners in the trade — aren't in this data at all. So if anything, the ceiling is higher than these tables suggest, while the typical employee experience is exactly what they show.
The current national benchmark
The May 2025 national median for electricians is $63,190. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $42,640 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $108,510. Those are employee wage estimates—not apprentice starting rates, self-employed contractor income, or a promise about a specific market.
Why a state ranking can mislead
State estimates are useful, but a ranking without local costs, union and industry mix, overtime, benefits, and metro-level detail can create false precision. Use the current BLS state table to choose a state, then inspect metro and nonmetropolitan estimates for the labor market where you would actually commute.
What moves an individual electrician's pay
- License tier. The apprentice-to-journeyman jump is the largest raise of your career; the journeyman-to-master jump adds supervisory and permit authority that commands more.
- Union membership. In union-dense metros, the negotiated scale plus benefits typically beats open-shop compensation for the same hours.
- Specialization. Industrial, instrumentation, and high-voltage work pay above residential service work nearly everywhere.
- Overtime structure. Much of the gap between two electricians with the same base rate is overtime availability — common in industrial and data-center construction.
- Going contractor. The earnings ceiling lifts when you run work instead of performing it — along with insurance, bonding, and business risk. Our cost breakdown covers the path.
How to use this data
Begin with the current national benchmark, then use the BLS state and area tools for the place you expect to work. Compare the same occupation code and data year, and treat geography as one part of the decision alongside apprenticeship availability, starting wages, benefits, housing, and commute.
Sources and review notes
Primary references checked September 2, 2026. A link supports the topic shown; it does not make every rule national.
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Electricians
- BLS May 2025 state wage estimates
- BLS OEWS methodology
See the editorial policy and corrections log. Report a conflicting primary source through the contact page.