How much do electrical inspectors make in 2026?
Electrical inspectors are counted in the BLS construction and building inspectors series: OEWS May 2025 gives the SOC 47-4011 national median as $74,690 a year ($35.91 an hour), with the bottom 10% near $47,140 and the top 10% at $114,200. Electrical inspection tends to sit at or above that pooled median for a specific reason: the entry requirement is normally a journeyman or master electrician licence plus years of field experience, so the candidate pool is drawn from an already well-paid trade and jurisdictions must match it. The work is applied National Electrical Code — verifying grounding and bonding, conductor sizing and overcurrent protection, service and feeder installations, arc-fault and ground-fault protection, and increasingly solar photovoltaic, battery storage and electric vehicle supply equipment, which are the fastest-changing parts of the code. Pay rises with commercial and industrial scope, with plan review capability, and with holding additional ICC disciplines. Above the field level sit electrical plans examiners and chief electrical inspectors, who make jurisdiction-wide code interpretations. Employment is projected to change by -0.8% through 2034 with roughly 14,800 openings a year. → Full electrical inspector career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $74,690 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Electrical Inspectors earn a national median $74,690/yr ($35.91/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-4011); the P10 to P90 range is $47,140 to $114,200.
- Electrical inspection sits at or above the $74,690 pooled median for building inspectors, inside a $47,140 to $114,200 band, because entry normally requires a journeyman or master electrician licence.
- The discipline is applied National Electrical Code work, and the fastest-changing areas — photovoltaic, battery storage and electric vehicle supply equipment — are where current interpretation skill is most valuable.
- Electrical plans examiner and chief electrical inspector roles carry jurisdiction-wide interpretation authority and sit near the top of the band.
US Electrical Inspector Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do electrical inspectors earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 47-4011; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-4011, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does an electrical inspector earn at each career stage?
Electrical inspection pay follows scope — residential, then commercial and industrial, then plan review and interpretation authority. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 47-4011.
By State
Which states pay electrical inspectors the most in 2026?
State figures are modeled estimates — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers salary-calculator state wage index — not BLS state observations. Electrical inspection geography follows two things: which National Electrical Code edition and amendments a state has adopted, and how the state licenses electricians, since the inspector pool is drawn from licence holders and their field wages set the salary an authority must beat.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($85,890), the highest-paying state shown. See all 51 state salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay electrical inspectors the most?
Metro figures are modeled — national median times state wage index times published metro index — not BLS MSA observations. Large metro authorities pay more because their permit volume supports dedicated electrical inspectors and plan reviewers, while smaller jurisdictions expect one combination inspector to cover electrical alongside every other discipline.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise an electrical inspector’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does electrical inspector pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Electrical Inspectors sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify electrical inspector wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does an electrical inspector actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Electrical Inspector Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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