An electrician apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. Arizona has 47 registered electrician apprenticeship programs, with 3,946 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
About $700 a week at 40 hours. The middle half of starting wages is $15.15 to $20.11 an hour.
Median pay at the end
$30.00 an hour
About $1,200 a week at 40 hours.
From 3,942 recent starting wages in 39 programs, and 1,433 people who finished recently in 24 programs. The 2 figures come from different groups of apprentices, not the same people followed from start to finish.
How to get in
Pick 2 or 3 programs near you
Use the list below. Search each program's name with its city to find it.
Each program takes applications in its own way. Ask each program how and when it takes applications.
The Phoenix Electrical JATC is taking applications for the class that starts in July 2027, and the round closes on March 15, 2027, at 4 pm. The Tucson Electrical JATC takes applications until March 1, 2027, for classes that start in September 2027. The yearly deadline at IEC of Southern Arizona in Tucson is July 23.
No program matches. Pick another area or check the spelling.
Also trains other trades: these 7 sponsors train more than one trade, so their count includes apprentices in their other trades.A count of 0 means the federal data recorded no apprentices in training, and it doesn't always mean the program has closed.Maintenance: the federal data marks these programs as training maintenance electricians.
How one program works: Phoenix Electrical JATC
Each program runs in its own way. This is how one of them takes apprentices and trains them, as its own pages describe it.
Phoenix Electrical JATC
Phoenix · Phoenix & the Valley · 1,236 apprentices
1
Apply online
Create an online account with the Phoenix Electrical JATC and pay the $40 fee, which isn't refunded. You have 30 days to finish your application. Upload a state photo ID, your diploma or GED, and transcripts that show your algebra credit or your Tech Math course.
2
Take the GAN aptitude test
The test is held on Saturdays, and you must attend on your scheduled date. The test has no minimum score, and the committee holds no interview. Instead, you complete a written Personal Experience Form, which the committee evaluates with your score.
3
Wait for the committee's answer
The committee usually answers within 4 weeks, and it receives thousands of applications for a limited number of places each year. If the committee selects you, it assigns you to one of its contractors. Your first 2,000 hours or 1 year, whichever is shorter, is a probationary period.
4
Work and attend classes
In year 1, you attend class 1 day every other week. In later years, you attend evening classes.
The Phoenix Electrical JATC is the largest union program in Arizona. First-year apprentices start at $23.18 an hour and get raises at 1,000, 2,000, 3,500, 5,000 and 6,500 hours of work. The steps go from 55% of the journeyman rate to 90%.
An hour, the journeyman rate at the Tucson Electrical JATC
$34.16
Apprentices at the Tucson Electrical JATC start at 55% of the $34.16 journeyman rate and reach 80% in year 4, and the program charges no tuition. IEC of Southern Arizona in Tucson uses a $29.00 journeyman rate and starts apprentices at $17.40 an hour. The same percentage gives a different dollar amount at each program, because each program uses its own journeyman rate.
Your apprenticeship sponsor registers you as an apprentice. You don't file that paperwork yourself.
To apply to the Phoenix Electrical JATC, you must be 18 years old by the time classes start. You need a diploma or GED and 2 semesters of high school algebra with a grade of C or better. The committee accepts an online Tech Math course in place of the algebra.
If you have 2,000 documented hours of electrical work, you don't need to meet the schooling requirements. If you're a veteran with 3 years of active duty and an honorable discharge, you also don't need to meet them, and you upload your DD-214.
The Phoenix Electrical JATC program takes 4 years. You need 8,000 hours on the job and at least 900 hours of classroom and lab work over 8 semesters. Tuition is $187 a month for the whole program, and you must pass a comprehensive final exam to finish.
The GAN aptitude test at the Phoenix Electrical JATC has 5 parts. The committee doesn't provide study materials for the test.
reading
numerical computation
numerical reasoning
paper folding
mechanical reasoning
At an Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) chapter, you work for a member contractor for 4 years and attend evening classes. IEC of Southern Arizona in Tucson takes applications online, helps place applicants with member contractors, and charges $1,900 a year in tuition. Some employers pay the tuition or deduct it from your pay.
IEC of Arizona in Tempe hands out applications in person only. The chapter hands them out during limited hours on Mondays and Wednesdays, and it doesn't answer application questions by phone.
You don't need a state license to start in Arizona
Arizona doesn't issue a state license to an individual electrician, and state law exempts anyone who works for wages. The Arizona Registrar of Contractors licenses contracting businesses. The City of Phoenix doesn't issue journeyman or apprentice electrician licenses.
U.S. Department of Labor national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026: the programs, the apprentice counts, the 2 median wages and the range of starting wages
City of Phoenix journeyman and apprentice licensing page and brochure: the City of Phoenix license rules
The U.S. Department of Labor data has 4 Arizona filings whose registration numbers name a different state. No figure counts those filings. Every bar uses the same scale.
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