How much do residential electricians make in 2026?
Residential electricians are paid from the BLS electricians series: OEWS May 2025 puts the SOC 47-2111 national median at $63,190 a year ($30.38 an hour), with the bottom 10% near $42,640 and the top 10% at $108,510. BLS does not separate residential from commercial or industrial electrical work, and the distinction matters because residential generally sits in the lower half of that band. The reasons are structural: house wiring is repetitive and priced competitively, homeowners are price-sensitive in a way that general contractors on commercial projects are not, and there is no prevailing-wage floor on private residential work. What residential offers instead is business access — service and repair work, panel upgrades, generator and electric vehicle charger installations can be run from a van by a licensed electrician, and the electricians in the top decile of this series are usually owners rather than employees. Employment is projected to grow 9.5% through 2034 with roughly 81,000 openings a year. → Full residential electrician career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $63,190 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Residential Electricians earn a national median $63,190/yr ($30.38/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-2111); the P10 to P90 range is $42,640 to $108,510.
- BLS publishes one electrician wage, so residential work has to be read as the lower half of the $42,640 to $108,510 electricians range rather than as a separate figure.
- Residential rates are held down by competitive pricing and the absence of a prevailing-wage floor on private work, not by the difficulty of the trade.
- The upper decile of this series is dominated by owners: service, repair, panel and charger work is the easiest electrical niche to run as your own business.
US Residential Electrician Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do residential electricians 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 47-2111; 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 47-2111, 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 a residential electrician earn at each career stage?
Residential pay follows licence tier and whether you are billing your own work. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS electricians distribution (SOC 47-2111).
By State
Which states pay residential electricians the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the BLS national electrician median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. Residential pay is shaped locally by two things: how the state licenses electricians — some issue a separate residential licence with a shorter route, others require the full journeyman path — and how permits and inspections are handled, since jurisdictions with strict inspection regimes make licensed work harder to undercut.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($72,670), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay residential electricians the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national electrician median scaled by the state wage index and then by that state's published metro index. They estimate local wage levels and are not BLS metropolitan-area observations.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a residential electrician’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 residential electrician pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Residential Electricians 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 residential electrician wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a residential electrician 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
Residential Electrician Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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