How Much Are Electrician Rates?

The rate that Electricians charge per hour of work can often seem very high but it’s important to remember that when to comes to hiring contractors you often get what you pay for. It’s often a good idea to hire a more expensive and experienced contractor than to pay the cheapest electrician you can find. Often times people end up having to hire an experienced contractor afterwards, to fix all of the mistakes of a cheap rate but subpar electrician. You don’t want that to happen so get your electrical job done right, the first time. Electrician rates can vary from around $40 to $60 per hour for apprentice-level help to $100 to $150 per hour for master electricians, with most licensed electricians billing $50 to $130 per hour as of 2026. Master electricians are usually the ones getting higher rates. It helps to understand why the billed rate is so much higher than what an electrician personally earns. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median electrician wage at $63,190 per year (May 2025) — roughly $30 an hour. The rest of what you are billed covers licensing, liability insurance, bonding, workers’ compensation, a stocked service vehicle, fuel, tools, permit fees, and unbilled time spent traveling between jobs. It is not extra pay going into the electrician’s pocket. If you’re looking to hire an electrician it’s a good idea to get estimates from a number of different contractors to ensure that you get a quality contractor at a reasonable rate. Free estimates are common in this business so use that to your advantage. If you get a high estimate you can cross check it against other rates and proposals. Just don’t forget to factor in experience level and professionalism since those aspects do affect rates charged. Don’t simply base estimates based someone’s rate or total price alone. If you are here asking about electrician rates because you plan to start a career in this field you are in luck. There is a lot of electrician information available to you here. Start out by learning how to become an electrician and then read about salaries.

Sources & method: The wage figure above comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for Electricians, SOC 47-2111, May 2025 release. The hourly billing rates on this page are not a BLS statistic — BLS reports what electricians are paid, not what contractors charge, and no government agency publishes national billing rates. Those ranges are our own estimates drawn from published contractor rate cards and current market pricing; they vary widely by region and by job. Always get written estimates from licensed electricians in your area rather than relying on a national range.

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