ARIZONA · ELECTRICIAN · UPDATED FROM FEDERAL RECORDS
How to become an electrician in Arizona: get paid to train.
You don't need experience to start this trade, and at the largest program you don't need to find an employer either. The Phoenix union committee assigns every accepted apprentice to a contractor. Arizona has 47 registered electrician apprenticeships, with 3,946 people in training at the latest federal count. This page shows you how applying works and where every program is.
01 THE PAY
How much do electrician apprentices make in Arizona?
The median starting wage was $17.50 an hour across 3,942 recent starting records: half were above it and half were below. Separately, recent completers had a median recorded wage of $30.00 an hour. These are different groups of apprentices, not the same people tracked from start to finish. The middle half of starting wages fell between $15.15 and $20.11 an hour.
The median across 3,942 recent starting records from 39 programs. The middle half earned between $15.15 and $20.11 an hour. At 40 hours a week, $17.50 works out to about $700 before taxes.
The Phoenix electrical committee publishes its starting wage in dollars. First-year apprentices currently start at $23.18 an hour, with raises at 1,000, 2,000, 3,500, 5,000, and 6,500 hours of work. The steps run from 55% of the journeyman rate at the start to 90% at the top. The committee does not publish the journeyman rate itself in dollars.
The Tucson electrical committee publishes its apprentice wage steps as percentages of a $34.16 journeyman rate. Apprentices start at 55% of that rate and reach 80% in the fourth year, with no tuition charged by the program. The contractor association's program in the same city uses a $29.00 journeyman rate and starts apprentices at $17.40 an hour. The percentages may look similar, but the dollar amount depends on the journeyman rate each program uses.
02 HOW TO APPLY
How to apply, and how long it takes
No experience needed. At the Phoenix committee, the state's largest union program, the application runs online. You create an account, pay a $40 non-refundable fee, and get 30 days to finish. You need to be 18 by the time classes start, with a diploma or GED and two semesters of high school algebra at a C or better. The committee accepts an online Tech Math course in place of the algebra credit, and 2,000 documented hours of electrical work waive the schooling requirements entirely.
The contractor associations offer another route. At the two Independent Electrical Contractors chapters, you work for a member contractor for four years while attending evening classes through the chapter's training program. The Tucson chapter accepts applications online, helps place applicants with member contractors, and charges $1,900 a year in tuition. Some employers cover that cost or deduct it through payroll. The Tempe chapter distributes applications in person only, during limited Monday and Wednesday hours, and does not take application questions by phone.
You do not need an individual electrician license to start. Arizona licenses electrical contractors, not the electricians they employ. State law exempts people working for wages from the contractor licensing requirements, and the state contractor registrar does not run the apprenticeship system. Phoenix, the state's largest city, also does not issue journeyman or apprentice electrician licenses. Your apprenticeship sponsor handles the required apprentice registration with the state workforce agency, so you do not file that paperwork yourself. Pick two or three programs near you, search each program's name with its city, and check how and when they accept applications.
The Phoenix committee is taking applications now. The round closes September 15, 2026, and the class it feeds starts in January 2027. The Tucson committee takes applications until March 1, 2027, for classes starting that September. The Tucson contractors' chapter posts July 23 as its yearly deadline, and the Tempe chapter posts no dates at all and hands out applications in person. If a date above has passed when you read this, each program posts its next dates on its own site.
The Phoenix committee takes applications through an online account. The $40 fee is due before you start, and once started you have 30 days to finish. You upload a state photo ID, your diploma or GED, and transcripts showing the algebra credit, or the online Tech Math course completion in its place. Veterans with three years of active duty and an honorable discharge skip the schooling requirements with a DD-214.
Every applicant takes the GAN aptitude test, five parts covering reading, numerical computation, numerical reasoning, paper folding, and mechanical reasoning. Tests are held on Saturdays, you must attend your scheduled date to stay in the running, and no official study materials are provided. There is no minimum score, and there is no interview. In place of one you complete a written Personal Experience Form, which is mandatory and is evaluated alongside your score.
Responses usually take up to four weeks, depending on the number of applicants. The committee says it receives thousands of applications for a limited number of spots each year, so a submitted application is an entry into a competition rather than a signup. If you are selected, the committee assigns you to work for one of its signatory contractors. The first 2,000 hours or one year, whichever is shorter, is your probationary period.
The program runs 8,000 hours of on-the-job training plus at least 900 hours of classroom and lab work, delivered across eight semesters over four years. First-year apprentices attend class one day every other week, and later years move to evening classes. Tuition is a subscription of $187 a month for the whole program, and finishing requires passing a comprehensive final exam.
03 THE PROGRAMS
Every registered electrician apprenticeship in Arizona
All 47 programs, ranked by each sponsor's total apprentices at the latest federal count. The bar shows that total. For the 7 sponsors that train more than one trade, the count includes apprentices in their other trades as well. Ranks cover all 47 programs. A zero means no apprentices were recorded in training in this dataset; it does not necessarily mean the program has closed.
The biggest programs
Smaller and single-company programs
SHOW ALL 28 SMALLER PROGRAMS
04 LICENSING
Arizona licenses the business, not the electrician
There is no state license for an individual electrician in Arizona, and no state card to earn before you start. State law licenses contracting businesses and exempts anyone working for wages. The contractor license, held by a business through a qualifying party with four years of trade experience, is what you would need years from now to take work in your own name. The licensing page lays out how that works, with a source for each claim.
How electrician licensing works in Arizona05 SOURCES
- U.S. Department of Labor national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026. Every program, every count, the two state medians and the starting-wage band on this page.
- Phoenix Electrical JATC application and FAQ pages and its posted committee policy document, pejatc.org, accessed 2026-09-04. The $40 fee, the GAN test, the Personal Experience Form, the $23.18 starting wage, the wage steps, the $187 monthly tuition, the hours, and the September and January dates on this page.
- Tucson Electrical JATC program and wage pages, tucsonjatc.org, accessed 2026-09-04. The $34.16 journeyman rate, the 55% to 80% pay steps, the no-tuition rule, and the March 2027 deadline on this page.
- IEC of Southern Arizona apprenticeship program page, iecsaz.org, accessed 2026-09-04. The $17.40 starting wage, the $29.00 journeyman rate, the $1,900 tuition, and the July deadline on this page.
- IEC of Arizona apprenticeship page, iecaz.org, accessed 2026-09-04. The in-person application rule on this page.
- Arizona Revised Statutes sections 32-1101, 32-1121, 32-1122, and 32-1129, azleg.gov, and the Registrar of Contractors' apprenticeship and licensing pages, roc.az.gov, accessed 2026-09-04. The licensing facts on this page. The registrar's role in apprenticeship is limited to storing completion certificates, and filing one there is voluntary under section 32-1129.
- City of Phoenix journeyman and apprentice licensing page and brochure, phoenix.gov, accessed 2026-09-04. The city's no-electrical-license line on this page.
- 4 Arizona filings in the source data name a different state inside their own registration numbers. They are under review, and no figure on this page counts them.
EVERY FIGURE ON THIS PAGE IS FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP DATA, EXTRACT OF AUGUST 17, 2026, EXCEPT THE SOURCE-MARKED RATES IN THE MONEY SECTION.