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Electrician/Florida/Licensing

How to become an electrician in Florida

$48.40Journey rate, per hour · the top of 24 registered apprenticeships on the state's registry

Florida has no statewide license for electricians who work for someone else. Your city or county decides what license you need, and the state licenses the business you work for.

If you're starting with no experience, the usual path is getting hired. You don't need a state license to start. You get hired as an apprentice or helper, get paid while you learn, and build the years your city or county's license requires.

Your city or county's license is called a journeyman license. It goes to an electrician who has put in the years the city or county requires. The state's license is called a contractor license. It matters later, if you ever run your own electrical contracting business.

Where are you today?

Pick where you are to see your first steps. The full details follow.

1

Get hired

Get hired as an apprentice or helper, or compare the 24 registered apprenticeships that pay you from day one. Starting pay runs $10.00 to $23.30 an hour.

2

Put in your years

A journeyman license is earned with time in the trade, and your city or county sets the bar. Miami-Dade requires 3 years of proven experience for its journeyman license.

3

Take the exam where you work

Once you have the required experience, you apply in the city or county where you work and take its journeyman exam, if it requires one.

01

At a glance

Entry jobApprentice or helper (you get hired first, then build years)
Registered apprenticeships24, paying $10.00 to $23.30 an hour to start
Journeyman licenseFrom your city or county. Miami-Dade's costs $240 to apply.
Contractor exam$67.25 to the state per attempt, plus Pearson VUE's own charge
Contractor application$196 for the certified classes
RenewalEvery 2 years, with continuing education
02

The licenses, in detail

Not every city or county requires a journeyman license. Miami-Dade's is the example, alongside the state's five contractor licenses.

Florida counts experience in years, not hours.

Journeyman Electrician

Held by the worker · issued by Miami-Dade County

This is Miami-Dade County's journeyman license. The county requires 3 years of proven experience in the trade, then its journeyman exam. Education the county counts as equivalent can stand in for up to half of those years. Applying costs $240. Once the county issues it, every other Florida city and county must recognize it.

Miami-Dade doesn't publish renewal terms. What it publishes is the experience requirement and the application fee.

CERTIFIED VS. REGISTERED

Florida uses two categories for contractor licenses, and the difference determines where you can work. A certified contractor can work anywhere in the state.

A registered contractor can work only in the cities and counties that issued their certificate of competency. The exams, fees, and renewal requirements differ between the two categories.

If you want to run an electrical business

Certified Electrical Contractor

Held by the business · issued by the state

The statewide contractor license. The state requires 3 years of proven management experience in the trade, or one of four other routes. Applying costs $196 and the license itself is $291.

Worth knowingFive routes lead in. Any one is enough.

3 years of proven management experience in the trade, in the 6 years before you apply. Up to half of it can be education.

4 years as a supervisor or contractor in the trade, in the 8 years before you apply.

6 years of training, technical education or supervisory experience in an electrical contracting business, in the 12 years before you apply.

3 years as a licensed professional engineer in electrical engineering, in the 12 years before you apply.

Any mix of the first three adding up to 6 years.

Renewing: every 2 years, for $291, with 11 hours of approved continuing education.

Registered Electrical Contractor

Held by the business · issued by the state

The local contractor license. It requires a current certificate of competency from a Florida city or county for the work you'll register. If your city or county has no exam of its own, you need at least 3 years of technical experience in the trade. You also need a score of at least 75% on an exam essentially the same as the state's certification exam. Applying costs $146.

Renewing: every 2 years, for $116, with 11 hours of approved continuing education.

The state doesn't list a license fee for this one. What it publishes is the application fee, the renewal terms, and the certificate-of-competency requirement.

Certified Alarm System Contractor I

Held by the business · issued by the state

The alarm class that covers every alarm system, fire included. The experience routes are the same five as the certified electrical license. For this class, at least 40% of your experience must be with the fire alarm systems used in commercial settings. Applying costs $196 and the license is $291.

Renewing: every 2 years, for $291, with 7 hours of approved continuing education.

Certified Alarm System Contractor II

Held by the business · issued by the state

The alarm class for every alarm system except fire. Applying costs $196 and the license is $291.

Renewing: every 2 years, for $291, with 7 hours of approved continuing education.

Residential Electrical Contractor

Held by the business · issued by the state

The residential specialty. It requires 6 years of comprehensive training or experience. Applying costs $196.

Renewing: every 2 years, with 7 hours of approved continuing education.

03

What it pays

In a registered apprenticeship

Florida's registry lists 24 electrician apprenticeships, with published starting rates of $10.00 to $23.30 an hour.

Some of these programs' registered standards list a starting rate below Florida's minimum wage. Pay on the job has to meet the minimum wage in force.

24 registered electrician apprenticeships pay you from day one. Pay by program completion runs $20.01 to $48.40 an hour.

See all 24 programs and what they pay →

Across the whole trade

Among the electricians on a payroll in Florida, half earn more than $27.52 an hour and half earn less. The federal wage survey puts the annual figure at $57,250. Apprentices and people decades into the trade are both in those numbers. Neither is a starting wage.

  1. $18.36The bottom tenth earn this or less
  2. $22.91The bottom quarter earn this or less
  3. $29.76The top quarter earn this or more
  4. $37.10The top tenth earn this or more
04

The exam

Pearson VUE, the state's testing company, gives every certified contractor exam. Each attempt costs $67.25 to the state, and Pearson VUE bills its own charge on top, which the state doesn't publish. The registered contractor license has no state exam. If your city or county gives an exam for its certificate of competency, you take that one. Miami-Dade runs its own journeyman exam, so its dates and fees are the county's.

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
05

Moving states

Moving to Florida? Florida publishes a list of out-of-state licenses it recognizes for its contractor exams. If your state is not on the list, contact the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and ask whether your license can be accepted. For a journeyman license, ask the city or county where you plan to work. Leaving Florida? North Carolina recognizes the certified electrical contractor license. Anywhere else, ask the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work.

Moving inside Florida? Once a city or county issues your journeyman license, every other city and county in the state must recognize it.

Certified Electrical Contractor: Florida accepts a license toward it from California, Georgia and North Carolina

Residential Electrical Contractor: Florida accepts a license toward it from Georgia and North Carolina

Certified Electrical Contractor: accepted the other way by North Carolina

06

The licensing office

Two offices matter. In Miami-Dade County, the journeyman license comes from the Construction Trades Qualifying Board, the office we use as the example. Elsewhere, start from the office in the city or county where you plan to work. The contractor licenses come from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board.

Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board

Licenses the business, statewide.

https://www.myfloridalicense.com/intentions2.asp?chBoard=true&boardid=08&SID=

Miami-Dade County Construction Trades Qualifying Board

Licenses the worker, in Miami-Dade County.

https://www.miamidade.gov/global/license.page?Mduid_license=lic1562621623017479

07

Questions people ask

Do you need a license to be an electrician in Florida?

If you work for someone else, Florida does not require a state license, but your city or county may require its own journeyman license. The business you work for holds the state contractor license. Once you have the years your city or county requires, check the rules where you work.

How long does it take to become an electrician in Florida?

Miami-Dade's journeyman license takes 3 years of proven experience. The state's certified contractor routes run 3 to 6 years, depending on the route.

How much does it cost?

Miami-Dade's journeyman license costs $240 to apply. The state's certified contractor licenses cost $196 to apply, $67.25 per exam attempt, and $291 for the license itself. Renewals come every 2 years.

08

Sources

Checked against these documents through 2026-08-29.

Your next step is a job, not a form.

24 registered apprenticeships in Florida pay you from day one, and the years a journeyman license requires start counting with your first job. Start there.