How Much Does a Journeyman Electrician Make an Hour
Electricians nationally earned a median hourly wage of $30.38 and a mean of $34.37 as of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release, published May 15, 2026. BLS doesn’t break journeymen out separately from the broader electrician category, but journeymen with a few years of experience typically land between the median and mean, with union scale and overtime pushing many well above it.
That hourly figure is straight-time gross pay only. It excludes overtime, shift differentials, bonuses, and union benefit contributions entirely, which is why a journeyman’s actual per-hour take, once overtime and benefits are counted, often runs meaningfully higher than the BLS number by itself suggests.
What’s the full hourly pay range for electricians?
| Percentile | Hourly wage |
|---|---|
| 10th | $20.50 |
| 25th | $23.77 |
| 50th (median) | $30.38 |
| Mean (average) | $34.37 |
| 75th | $40.36 |
| 90th | $52.17 |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release, covering 757,220 US electricians.
The bottom of that range is mostly apprentices close to finishing their hours and electricians in lower-cost, non-union markets. The top of the range is almost always union journeymen or masters in high-cost metros, or electricians logging heavy overtime.
How much more does overtime add to hourly pay?
Overtime is where the BLS straight-time figure and a real journeyman’s paycheck diverge most. A journeyman earning $32 an hour who picks up 10 hours of weekly overtime at time-and-a-half effectively earns close to $38 an hour averaged across a 50-hour week, and adds roughly $16,600 a year on top of straight-time pay. Overtime access varies heavily by employer and sector: commercial and industrial contractors generally offer more of it than residential service shops.
How much more do union journeymen earn per hour?
Meaningfully more, once total compensation is counted rather than just the gross wage. IBEW Local 48, covering the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington market, lists a 2026 gross wage of $44.07 an hour for a residential journey-level electrician and $65.50 an hour for a commercial-industrial journey-level electrician, per the union’s published 2026 wage schedule. Add employer-paid pension, health insurance, and annuity contributions, and the total hourly package for the commercial-industrial rate reaches $95.79.
That’s one local; rates differ by city and contract. The pattern holds broadly, though: union scale runs above the BLS national mean once benefits are included, even after dues come out of the check.
Does the type of work change the hourly rate?
Yes, and it’s one of the bigger levers a journeyman controls directly, independent of location. Industrial maintenance, high-voltage transmission work, and data center construction routinely pay above standard commercial hourly rates, since the work carries more risk and requires more specialized training. Residential service work tends to sit at the lower end of the journeyman hourly range in most markets, though it often comes with more predictable daytime hours and less travel.
How does hourly pay convert to an annual number?
At a straight 40-hour week with no overtime, the BLS median hourly wage of $30.38 works out to $63,190 a year, which is the same figure BLS reports directly for annual median pay. The two numbers are two views of the same dataset, not separate calculations, so an hourly rate near the median with regular overtime is how many journeymen end up earning well above the published annual median without changing employers or location.
FAQ
How much does a journeyman electrician make an hour starting out? New journeymen, freshly licensed with minimal experience, tend to land closer to the 25th percentile, around $23.77 an hour nationally, per BLS OEWS data. Pay typically climbs toward the median and mean over the first several years on the job.
Does BLS hourly wage data include tips, bonuses, or per diem? No. BLS OEWS reports straight-time gross wages only. Bonuses, per diem for travel work, and any profit-sharing are excluded, so total compensation for journeymen who receive those extras runs higher than the published figure.
Is $52 an hour a realistic ceiling for a journeyman electrician? It’s roughly the 90th percentile nationally per BLS data, not a hard ceiling. Union journeymen in high-cost metros with heavy overtime, or those who’ve moved into foreman roles while still holding journeyman status, can exceed it.
How much do journeyman electricians make per hour in the union versus non-union? Non-union journeymen in the same market typically earn less per hour in direct wages than union scale, but keep more of that hourly rate as take-home pay rather than fund contributions. Total compensation, wages plus benefits, tends to favor union shops once pension and health contributions are counted.