LED & Solar recruiters serving St. Louis.
BLS counts 230 business locations of nonresidential electrical contractors across the metro. We recruit LED & Solar talent in St. Louis from a standing, credential-verified pipeline. Below: local pay for every role we staff, the state licensing rules that apply and the nearby markets competing for the same people.
Positions we recruit for in St. Louis.
BLS counts about 6,120 people working in the occupations behind these roles across the St. Louis metro, the largest group being electricians (about 5,920). Local headcount and pay for each role are below; role descriptions are on the LED & Solar hub.
Solar PV Installer
St. Louis: BLS does not publish a local figure for this occupation.
NABCEP-Certified Solar Technician
Commercial LED Retrofit Electrician
St. Louis: 5,920 employed · $77,170 median, 20th-highest of 112 metros
Solar Electrician
Solar Project Manager
O*NET 47-1011.03 - Solar Energy Installation Managers, a Bright Outlook occupation; wage data rolls up to the parent 47-1011 group
Solar Estimator/Designer
St. Louis: 3,170 employed · $78,730 median, 49th-highest of 111 metros
Energy Auditor/Efficiency Consultant
O*NET 47-4011.01 - Energy Auditors; building energy assessments that often lead into LED retrofit and solar scoping
Solar O&M Technician
Electrical Foreman (LED/Solar specialty)
St. Louis: 6,680 employed · $96,620 median, 14th-highest of 112 metros
Low-Voltage/Controls Technician
St. Louis: 200 employed · $53,310 median, 105th-highest of 107 metros
What LED & Solar roles earn in St. Louis.
BLS publishes no St. Louis pay for solar photovoltaic installers; nationally the median is $53,140. Electricians in St. Louis earn a median $77,170, 22% over the $63,190 national figure, and 20th of 112 metros. Pay runs $46,890 at the tenth percentile to $104,800 at the ninetieth. The best-paid role below is electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment, at $53,310 against $74,090 nationally. BLS withholds St. Louis pay for one occupation in the table.
| Role | St. Louis median | Typical range | National median | vs. national | Employed locally |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar PV Installer · NABCEP-Certified Solar Technician · Energy Auditor/Efficiency Consultant O*NET 47-4011.01 - Energy Auditors; building energy assessments that often lead into LED retrofit and solar scoping Solar O&M TechnicianSolar Photovoltaic Installers (47-2231) | – | – | $53,140 | – | – |
| Commercial LED Retrofit Electrician · Solar ElectricianElectricians (47-2111) | $77,170 | $46,890–$104,800 | $63,190 | +22% | 5,920 |
| Solar Project Manager O*NET 47-1011.03 - Solar Energy Installation Managers, a Bright Outlook occupation; wage data rolls up to the parent 47-1011 group Solar Estimator/DesignerCost Estimators (13-1051) | $78,730 | $44,990–$130,680 | $78,740 | 0% | 3,170 |
| Electrical Foreman (LED/Solar specialty)First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (47-1011) | $96,620 | $61,710–$120,700 | $79,920 | +21% | 6,680 |
| Low-Voltage/Controls TechnicianElectrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment (49-2094) | $53,310 | $40,200–$101,840 | $74,090 | −28% | 200 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, St. Louis metro. Range is 10th to 90th percentile; management and office roles are metro-wide. A metro ranking counts only the metros where BLS publishes that occupation.
How St. Louis's LED & solar market has changed since 2018.
St. Louis lost nonresidential electrical contractors between 2018 and 2023, from 233 business locations to 230 (down 1%), behind the 6% growth nationally. Headcount at those firms went up 21%, to about 6,421 people, so fewer firms are employing more people each. Average annual pay there went from $70,858 to $89,677 (+27%), faster than the 21% national increase, a sign employers here have had to bid up.
| Measure | 2018 | 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonresidential electrical contractors: business locations | 233 | 230 | −1% |
| Nonresidential electrical contractors: employment | 5,318 | 6,421 | +21% |
| Nonresidential electrical contractors: average annual pay | $70,858 | $89,677 | +27% |
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private employers, annual averages. A dash means BLS did not publish the figure.
Free LED & Solar hiring resources.
Definitive Guide to LED & Solar · 2026 LED & Solar Salary Guide · 3-Step Interview Guide for LED & Solar
How St. Louis's LED and solar market compares
| Metro | Median pay | Commercial employers |
|---|---|---|
| St. Louis | – | 230 |
| Kansas City | $49,990 | 241 |
BLS OEWS occupation figures and QCEW business-location counts; a dash means not published.
What this means for hiring:Local LED and solar employers in St. Louis are adding headcount, which means more employers competing for the same people.
Sources: BLS QCEW 2023 annual averages and BLS OEWS May 2025, St. Louis metro. Employers are counted by business location.
LED & Solar licensing in Missouri.
Missouri licenses electrical contractors at state level. The Office of Statewide Electrical Contractors issues a statewide electrical contractor license under RSMo 324.900 to 324.945, and under RSMo 324.925 political subdivisions must recognise that license in place of their own local contractor license without requiring a local trade exam. The state does not license individual journeyman electricians, and there is no separate state solar contractor or PV installer license, so commercial solar and lighting retrofit work is treated as electrical work. Verify the statewide license through the Division's licensee search, and confirm the employer is also set up for permits and inspections with the local jurisdiction, since Kansas City, the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County still run their own electrical programs. The same state rules apply in Kansas City, so candidates licensed there can work in St. Louis without re-qualifying. The St. Louis metro crosses a state line, so check the rules in the neighboring state too for crews that work on both sides.
Licensing authority: Missouri Division of Professional Registration, Office of Statewide Electrical Contractors; local programs in Kansas City, the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Confirm current rules with the agency.
We have not closed an LED & solar search in St. Louis yet. Here is what we have closed.
These are other trades in the same market. We would rather show you the searches we have actually run in St. Louis than imply a record in this trade that we do not have yet.
- Senior Freight DispatcherA decade of carrier relationships and margin management, placed on a freight desk in three weeks.
- Local CDL Class A DriverScreened, offered, onboarded and driving the same day - two weeks end to end.
- Sprinkler Layout TechnicianNICET Level II and eight years of fire protection design - a specialist, not a generalist.
Nearby markets competing for St. Louis talent.
The closest metro we cover is Indianapolis, about 230 miles away, with roughly 240 solar photovoltaic installers. BLS does not publish St. Louis figures for this occupation, so the nearby markets are the best guide: Indianapolis has the largest pool within reach, about 240, and Kansas City pays the most, a $49,990 median.
| Metro | Distance | Employed | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis | – | – | – |
| Indianapolis | 230 mi | 240 | $39,690 |
| Kansas City | 238 mi | – | $49,990 |
| Memphis | 240 mi | – | – |
| Louisville | 242 mi | – | – |
| Nashville | 253 mi | – | – |
BLS OEWS, May 2025; straight-line miles.
What else is competing for St. Louis crews.
Not LED & solar work. These are the capital projects big enough to pull the same crews into St. Louis in the months you are trying to fill a seat, each with the status its own market page reports.
- Ameren grid & generation infrastructureMulti-year capital programRolling
Utility-scale transmission, substation, and generation work keeping high-voltage electricians, linemen-adjacent trades, and industrial pipefitters in steady demand region-wide.
- BJC HealthCare / WashU Medicine campus renewal + SSM HealthMulti-billion combinedRolling through 2028
Healthcare is the steadiest demand engine in the metro. Medical-gas plumbers, isolation-room HVAC, and hospital-grade electrical crews in the tightest supply.
- NGA West campus (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency)$1.7BMain building opened September 26, 2025; staff move-in ongoing
The single largest federal investment in north St. Louis in a generation. Secure-facility construction drove years of specialty MEP, controls, and finish work - and the surrounding redevelopment keeps commercial trades demand elevated past the main building's completion.
Showing 3 of 6 projects tracked in this metro. The St. Louis market page lists them all.
What credentials matter for LED & solar, and what kills offers in St. Louis.
The 4 credentials that gate the work and the 4 things that most often end an LED & solar offer are the same in every market, kept in one place: LED & Solar credentials and offer risks, each linked to the body that issues it. What is local is the licensing rule above and the pay further up this page.
Frequently asked - LED & Solar hiring in St. Louis.
Which LED & solar roles pay the most in St. Louis?
Of the roles we recruit for, Electrical Foreman (LED/Solar specialty) pays the most in St. Louis, a $96,620 median (BLS measures that occupation across all industries in the metro). Among field roles the top earner is Commercial LED Retrofit Electrician at $77,170, 20% below it. Low-Voltage/Controls Technician is the lowest-paid field role at $53,310. Relative to national pay, Commercial LED Retrofit Electrician is the strongest-paying role here (22% above). Low-Voltage/Controls Technician trails national pay the most (28% below).
How many nonresidential electrical contractors operate in St. Louis?
BLS counted 230 nonresidential electrical contractors in St. Louis in 2023, employing about 6,421 people between them. That is roughly where the count stood in 2018 (233). That averages 28 people per location. They pay an average of $89,677, 6% above the $84,633 national average for the same kind of employer. BLS counts commercial solar and LED retrofit firms under nonresidential electrical contractors.
Which nearby metros compete with St. Louis for solar photovoltaic installers?
The closest metros we cover with published figures are Indianapolis (230 miles, about 240, $39,690 median) and Kansas City (238 miles, $49,990 median).
Every hire from zero is a tax on your team.
230 nonresidential electrical contractors in St. Louis are hiring from the same local pool. Let's get your next hire lined up first.
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