---
title: "Electrician"
description: "Install, maintain, and repair electrical wiring, equipment, and fixtures. Ensure that work is in accordance with relevant codes. May install or service…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrician"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Electrician

**Category:** Construction and Extraction · **SOC code:** 47-2111 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 47-2111.00

Install, maintain, and repair electrical wiring, equipment, and fixtures. Ensure that work is in accordance with relevant codes. May install or service street lights, intercom systems, or electrical control systems.

Also advertised as: Control Electrician; Electrical Journey Person; Electrical Troubleshooter; Electrician; Housing Maintenance Electrician; Industrial Electrician; Inside Wireman; Maintenance Electrician.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $63,190 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $30.38/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $42,640 to $108,510, with the middle half between $49,430 and $83,940
- **Total US employment:** 757,220
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +9.5% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 81,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 72/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 757,220 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $42,640 |
| 25th | $49,430 |
| 50th (median) | $63,190 |
| 75th | $83,940 |
| 90th | $108,510 |
| Mean (average) | $71,490 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| OR | $101,310 | $98,016 | 10,590 |
| IL | $99,560 | $99,602 | 23,120 |
| HI | $96,460 | $87,730 | 3,070 |
| WA | $95,220 | $88,980 | 19,380 |
| AK | $89,440 | $87,379 | 1,870 |
| MA | $79,420 | $75,097 | 17,810 |
| DC | $78,970 | $71,856 | 2,440 |
| NY | $78,750 | $72,970 | 40,130 |
| MN | $78,160 | $79,253 | 14,350 |
| CT | $77,540 | $74,838 | 7,710 |
| NJ | $77,250 | $70,999 | 13,520 |
| MT | $76,760 | $81,103 | 2,750 |
| WI | $76,540 | $81,343 | 14,310 |
| MI | $76,270 | $79,269 | 23,530 |
| CA | $76,160 | $68,786 | 73,310 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrician/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/electrician.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 818,700 in the 2024–2034 base year to 896,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 77,400 jobs, or +9.5%. Much faster than average: 9.5% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 81,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Apprenticeship.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 61.7% |
| High School Diploma | 30.6% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 2.3% |
| Some College Courses | 2.3% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 1.8% |
| First Professional Degree | 1.3% |

## What the work involves

- Prepare sketches or follow blueprints to determine the location of wiring or equipment and to ensure conformance to building and safety codes.
- Place conduit, pipes, or tubing, inside designated partitions, walls, or other concealed areas, and pull insulated wires or cables through the conduit to complete circuits between boxes.
- Work from ladders, scaffolds, or roofs to install, maintain, or repair electrical wiring, equipment, or fixtures.
- Use a variety of tools or equipment, such as power construction equipment, measuring devices, power tools, and testing equipment, such as oscilloscopes, ammeters, or test lamps.
- Assemble, install, test, or maintain electrical or electronic wiring, equipment, appliances, apparatus, or fixtures, using hand tools or power tools.
- Test electrical systems or continuity of circuits in electrical wiring, equipment, or fixtures, using testing devices, such as ohmmeters, voltmeters, or oscilloscopes, to ensure compatibility and safety of system.
- Repair or replace wiring, equipment, or fixtures, using hand tools or power tools.
- Plan layout and installation of electrical wiring, equipment, or fixtures, based on job specifications and local codes.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Troubleshooting — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Installation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Building and Construction — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 4.09 |
| I — Investigative | 2.70 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.81 |
| S — Social | 1.32 |
| A — Artistic | 1.24 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 89.5 |
| ISTP | 78.1 |
| ESTJ | 73.4 |
| ISFJ | 72.4 |
| INTJ | 67.2 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Lighting Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/lighting-technician) — median $68,060
- [Helpers--Electrician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-electrician) — median $42,670
- [Plumber](https://nuecareer.com/careers/plumber) — median $63,800
- [Electrical Power-Line Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-power-line-installer-and-repairer) — median $95,320
- [Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electric-motor-power-tool-and-related-repairer) — median $56,210
- [Electrical and Electronics Installer and Repairer, Transportation Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-installer-and-repairer-transportation-equipment) — median $84,890
- [Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronic-equipment-assembler) — median $45,930
- [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-powerhouse-substation-and-relay) — median $103,020
- [Boilermaker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/boilermaker) — median $76,410
- [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Commercial and Industrial Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-commercial-and-industrial-equipment) — median $74,090

### Electrician compared with

- [Electrician vs Plumber](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrician-vs-plumber) — side by side on BLS wage percentiles, projected growth, openings and entry requirements

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/electrician