Commercial Electrician Salary Guide: 20 U.S. Markets Compared

Short answer: The national median annual wage for electricians was $63,190 in May 2025, with the lowest 10 percent below $42,640 and the highest 10 percent above $108,510. Commercial employers should treat that as a baseline, not an offer. Licensing, union conditions, industrial/controls experience, overtime, project backlog and local competition can move the actual hiring range substantially.

Key takeaways

• The median is a midpoint, not a recommendation. $63,190 covers a huge population of electricians, most of whom aren't the commercial profile you're hiring.
• The spread is wide. From under $42,640 at the 10th percentile to over $108,510 at the 90th, level and specialty decide where your hire sits.
• Demand is steady. BLS projects 9% employment growth from 2025 to 2035 and about 72,700 openings a year.
• Compare markets on the same six variables. Wage data, license portability, union share, backlog, overtime/travel and total package.
• Separate the tiers. Journeyman, master, foreman, service and controls electricians are different markets.

How to read this guide

This guide uses three kinds of evidence, and it keeps them apart. The national wage and jobs figures are federal BLS data. The placement figures are My Trade Talent's own published facts. The 20-market framework is recruiting analysis. None of it is a metro-by-metro wage survey, so use it to find where your electrician search is likely to be constrained and which assumptions to test locally before the vacancy gets expensive.

The national anchor

BLS reports 821,000 electrician jobs in 2025 and projects 9% employment growth from 2025 to 2035, with about 72,700 openings a year on average. Most states require electricians to be licensed, which makes local credentialing part of the labor-market equation, not a paperwork detail.

For a commercial employer, the openings number matters more than the growth rate. Openings include replacement demand, so even a steady market keeps producing vacancies you'll be competing to fill.

The 20-market comparison framework

For Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Charlotte, Nashville, Tampa, Orlando, St. Louis, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Cincinnati, Austin, San Antonio, Jacksonville and Las Vegas, compare the same six variables:

• Metro wage data: Your local wage picture is the starting point, but it's a directional check, not the answer. Our salary calculator is a quick way to run it.
• License portability: A license earned in one state may not carry over to the next, which shapes whether you can recruit across state lines at all.
• Union share: Union conditions in a market change the pay structure and benefits a candidate compares you against.
• Commercial backlog: A metro with heavy commercial work puts more employers on the same small pool of licensed journeymen and foremen.
• Overtime/travel expectations: Two jobs with the same base can be worth very different amounts once overtime and travel are counted.
• Total package: Vehicle, per diem, tools, PTO and benefits are part of the number the candidate is actually weighing.

Every local page on our site, like Dallas–Fort Worth, Phoenix, Atlanta and Chicago, is a starting point for that comparison in a specific metro.

Four rules for comparing electrician pay across markets

• Don't compare posted base salary alone. Without vehicle and overtime context, two offers can look alike and be far apart.
• Separate journeyman, master, foreman and service roles. Each has its own pay band and its own pool.
• Treat industrial controls and mission-critical experience as a separate talent tier. Those candidates are priced differently from general commercial electricians.
• Check local licensing before sourcing across state lines. A great candidate who can't work under your license on day one is a longer hire than it looks.

What employers should pay attention to

The biggest mistake is assuming the national median is a recommended offer. It's a midpoint across a huge occupational population. A licensed commercial journeyman with strong controls experience and a clean record can occupy a very different market from an entry-level electrician. A foreman who can lead crews, coordinate with a GC and protect the schedule is different again.

The same logic applies to management seats. We walked through it for mechanical in what a commercial HVAC project manager makes: define the job before you benchmark the pay.

Why we see this search differently

Commercial electrical is one of the 20 commercial trades My Trade Talent actively recruits, and our 597+ completed direct-hire placements since 2022 span 240 distinct position titles. That's why we price a controls-heavy journeyman, a service electrician and a foreman as separate searches instead of running all three off the $63,190 median. We work on a flat monthly model, not a percentage-of-salary fee, so our advice on your range isn't tied to the size of the offer.

Bottom line

Use the national data to understand the floor and shape of the market, then price the exact license, experience and commercial scope you need in your metro. For the full picture, see our commercial electrical salary guide and our guide to hiring commercial electricians. Once you've made the hire, keeping your journeymen is the next job. If you're not sure your range is competitive, schedule a discovery call and we'll help you check it against real candidates.

About the author

Michael Carter is President of My Trade Talent. He has been building outbound hiring programs since 2014, and commercial-trades talent pipelines since 2021. His work focuses on helping commercial-trades employers build repeatable direct-hire pipelines for hard-to-reach talent.