How to become an electrician in Texas

Texas electrician license steps

Texas licenses electricians through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), and each level has its own experience rule and fee.^{[tdlr_app][tdlr_jour][tdlr_master]}

1. Apprentice electrician license. No experience or exam is required; the fee is $20 and the license is renewed every year.^[tdlr_app]
2. Log on-the-job training under a Texas master electrician. Only supervised hours count toward the journeyman license.^[tdlr_jour]
3. Journeyman electrician license. 8,000 hours of on-the-job training; you may apply and take the exam after at least 7,000 hours. Application fee $30.^[tdlr_jour]
4. Master electrician license. Hold the journeyman license for at least two years and complete 12,000 hours of on-the-job training. Application fee $45.^{[tdlr_master]}

The application fees above add up to $95 from apprentice to master. Exam fees are charged separately by the testing company, PSI, and are listed in TDLR’s Candidate Information Bulletin rather than on its license pages; licenses are valid for one year and must be renewed annually.^{[tdlr_exam][tdlr_jour]} The journeyman lineman rule comes from TDLR’s lineman license page.^[tdlr_line]

How long it takes in Texas

At a full-time pace of 2,000 hours a year, Texas’s 7,000-hour exam point comes after about 3.5 years and the 8,000-hour journeyman requirement after 4 years; the 12,000 hours for master take about 6 years.^{[tdlr_jour][tdlr_master]} Plug in your own logged hours on how long it takes to become an electrician. A registered apprenticeship can supply both the supervised hours and the classroom training; see electrician apprenticeship.

Electrician salary in Texas

Texas electricians earn a median of $58,570 a year ($28.16 an hour), which ranks 45th among the states and is $4,620 below the national median; the range runs from $37,920 at the 10th percentile to $80,300 at the 90th.^[onet_elec] Texas has 76,770 electrician jobs, more than any other state in the BLS estimates, and no state income tax on wages, so a single electrician at the median keeps about $49,241 a year.^{[oews_api][txtax][irs]}

Pay inside Texas varies by $18,160 between Border Region of Texas nonmetropolitan area and Wichita Falls, TX. Compare Texas with other states on the electrician salary page, or look at plumber salary; Texas plumbers have their own board and hour rules, covered on how to become a plumber. Other states are compared on how to become an electrician; master pay is on master electrician salary.