To work as an electrician for an employer in Florida, you don't need a state license. Instead, the city or county where you work decides whether you need a journeyman electrician license.
Starting Nov 2026.
To work as an electrician, Miami-Dade County issues a Journeyman Electrician license.
Once a city or county issues your journeyman electrician license, every other city and county in Florida must recognize it.
Go to Miami-Dade CountyNot every city or county requires a journeyman electrician license. Ask the city or county where you will work whether you need one and how many years of experience it requires.
To run a business, you need a contractor license from the state board, ECLB. What the business needs
Dates are estimates. Each city or county sets its own rules, and not every one requires a journeyman license.
A city or county licenses the electrician, and the state licenses the business.
Find a job as an apprentice or a helper with an electrical contractor. You can also start in a registered apprenticeship (a paid job with training).
You can compare 24 registered electrician apprenticeship programs in Florida by what they pay. Pay on day one runs from $10.00 to $23.30 an hour, and pay at completion runs from $20.01 to $48.40 an hour.
The lowest listed pay on day one is lower than Florida's minimum wage. Your employer must pay you at least the minimum wage.
The programs that pay the most at completion
Ask the city or county where you work whether you need a journeyman electrician license and how many years of experience you need. Each city or county sets its own requirements.
Not every city or county requires a journeyman electrician license.
Work in the trade until you have the experience that your city or county requires. For example, Miami-Dade County requires 3 years of experience for its journeyman electrician license.
Once you have the experience, apply to the city or county where you work. If your city or county gives a journeyman exam, you must pass it.
The journeyman electrician license from Miami-Dade County is one example.
Miami-Dade County
Once a city or county issues your journeyman electrician license, every other city and county in Florida must recognize it.
ECLB issues certified licenses and registered licenses.
With a certified license, you can work anywhere in Florida. With a registered license, you can work only in the cities and counties that issued your certificate of competency.
If your city or county gives no exam, you need at least 3 years of technical experience in the trade. You also need a score of at least 75% on an exam that is equivalent to the ECLB certification exam.
It covers every kind of alarm system, including fire alarm systems.
It covers every kind of alarm system except fire alarm systems.
Apply to ECLB and pay the application fee. The application fee for the certified electrical contractor license is $196.
For a certified license, book your exam with Pearson VUE (the company that gives the exam). ECLB charges $67.25 for each attempt, and Pearson VUE charges its own fee.
You renew a contractor license every 2 years, and you need continuing education (classes you take to keep your license) to renew. The classes must be courses the board approves. Find an approved course in the board’s course search.
Pearson VUE gives the exams for the certified licenses. ECLB charges $67.25 for each attempt, and Pearson VUE charges its own fee.
The registered electrical contractor license has no state exam. If your city or county gives an exam for its certificate of competency, you take that exam.
Miami-Dade County requires its own exam for its journeyman electrician license.
Use the official name of your exam when you book with Pearson VUE.
| License | Official exam name |
|---|---|
| Certified Electrical Contractor | Unlimited Electrical Contractor |
| Certified Alarm System Contractor I | Alarm Systems Contractor I |
| Certified Alarm System Contractor II | Alarm Systems Contractor II |
| Residential Electrical Contractor | Residential Electrical Contractor |
$27.52an hour
$57,250 a year, full time
Half of the electricians on a payroll in Florida earn more than $27.52 an hour, and half earn less. The middle half earn $22.91 to $29.76. The lowest-paid 10% earn $18.36 or less, and the highest-paid 10% earn $37.10 or more.
These figures cover everyone on a payroll as an electrician in Florida, from apprentices to people with decades in the trade, so they aren't a starting wage. The survey counts 49,700 jobs and doesn't include self-employed electricians. The yearly figure is for full-time work all year, which is 2,080 hours.
If you hold a contractor license from another state, check whether ECLB accepts the exam you passed there. If your state isn't listed, contact ECLB and ask whether it can accept your license.
For a journeyman electrician license, ask the city or county where you will work.
North Carolina recognizes the certified electrical contractor license. If you move to any other state, ask the office that issues electrician licenses in that state whether it recognizes your Florida license.
| Florida license | ECLB accepts exams from |
|---|---|
| Certified Electrical Contractor | California, Georgia and North Carolina |
| Residential Electrical Contractor | Georgia and North Carolina |
It depends on the city or county where you work. For example, Miami-Dade County requires 3 years of experience for its journeyman electrician license.
Yes. You can start as an apprentice or a helper, and you learn the trade on the job.
The journeyman electrician license from Miami-Dade County costs $240. For the certified electrical contractor license, the application fee is $196, the license costs $291 and ECLB charges $67.25 for each exam attempt.
The dates in Your license are worked out from the years of experience the county requires. Apprenticeship pay comes from the Florida Department of Education annual apprenticeship report.
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Alerts for: Electrician in Florida
