Electrician Salary in Wisconsin 2026,
$76,540 Median | BLS Data by City

Wisconsin electricians earn a median $76,540 a year, $36.80 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $55,820 and $93,780 and a full range of $44,830 to $101,770. That is 21.1% above the $63,190 national median, one of the stronger electrical markets in the country.

Through the Department of Safety and Professional Services. Wisconsin licenses at journeyman and master level on documented apprenticeship hours and a trade examination covering the state electrical code, and electrical contractor registration is required to contract for work in your own right. The licence is statewide, which makes it portable across Wisconsin's many separate metropolitan markets.

Racine-Mount Pleasant at $82,510, then Janesville-Beloit at $82,170, Sheboygan at $78,880, La Crosse-Onalaska at $78,760 and Wausau at $78,680 — all above the statewide $76,540, and all industrial or manufacturing markets rather than the state's largest cities.

Substantially, and it is the defining feature of the trade here. Wisconsin has one of the highest manufacturing employment shares in the country, and plant maintenance electricians work with drives, controls, instrumentation and medium-voltage distribution in facilities where downtime is expensive. That work, along with organised commercial construction, is what produces a $93,780 seventy-fifth percentile against a $55,820 twenty-fifth.

Wisconsin uses a graduated income tax topping out at 7.65%, with no municipal income tax. Because the rate climbs, heavy overtime can move earnings into a higher bracket — less favourable than a flat-rate state. On organised work, pension and health contributions add to a package the wage figure never shows.

Because Wisconsin's electrical money is in plants, not in downtown construction. Racine, Janesville, Sheboygan and Wausau anchor manufacturing, food processing and heavy industrial employment, and the electricians who keep those facilities running work with control systems, drives, robotics and medium-voltage distribution under conditions where an hour of downtime is costly. That work is skilled, organised in many cases, and paid accordingly. Milwaukee and Madison have broader construction markets with more residential and light commercial work and a deeper supply of tradesmen.

It is a wage figure rather than a compensation figure. On organised Wisconsin work, pension and health and welfare contributions add substantially to what the survey records, and prevailing wage applies to public projects — so the union and public-works side of this trade is understated. Industrial plant maintenance also runs shift work and call-outs, so annual earnings in the upper half of the band reflect hours and disruption as well as rate. Self-employed licensed contractors are largely outside the payroll survey entirely.

Sector first, then licence. The gap between the $55,820 twenty-fifth percentile and the $93,780 seventy-fifth is essentially residential service work against industrial plant maintenance and organised commercial construction. Getting the state journeyman licence opens that door; the master licence and contractor registration open the top. Controls, instrumentation, drives and medium-voltage competence carry specific premiums on Wisconsin plant work, and foreman responsibility adds another step.