01
Requirements and steps
We use the licensing authority's published requirements throughout this page. If the licensing authority doesn't publish a requirement, we don't guess.
1Figure out which license you need
Start from where you will actually be working rather than from where you live. Every license below is issued by a city or a county, and the office across the line can require something different. Then read the classes for that place: some are held by the worker and some by the business.
2Choose the license class you're working toward
Each license class below has its own fees and exam rules. Start with the class you're working toward: everything below depends on it. We use the licensing authority's official license names, so you'll see the same terms on its forms.
3Build the required experience
The experience requirements for each license are quoted below exactly as the licensing authority publishes them. The licensing authority decides whether your experience qualifies, so keep your own record from day one and make sure your employer can verify your hours.
4Take the exam
If your license requires an exam, the exam name and its fee are listed under that license class. The licensing authority and the testing company are often different organizations, so the exam fee is often paid to the testing company. That's why the exam fee may appear in the candidate bulletin instead of the fee schedule.
5Apply, pay, and keep it current
Each license class below lists the fees the licensing authority publishes for it. Renewal varies by class too, so check the renewal period and fee for the class you are working toward rather than for the trade as a whole.
02
If you want to do the work
Two of New York's licenses are held by the worker. Each is a separate license with its own fees and exam rules. These are city and county licenses, and on this page they come from New York City and Buffalo. Each holds where it is issued and nowhere else in the state, so the one that matters to you is the one where the job is.
Not published for any class here: job hours or classroom hours. New York does not publish a reciprocity list for these licenses.
Special Electrician (New York City)3
Held by the worker · issued by New York City
$310 for the license itself.3 $1,115 to take the exam.4 You renew this every year, for $60. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.3
Worth knowingThat $1,115 is two exams added together: $585 for the written and $530 for the practical. You take both. An older city fee chart still shows lower figures, and the license page is the current one.
Special Electrician (New York City)
Has at least seven (7) years of experience within ten (10) years prior to application working with their tools on the installation, alteration, and repair of wiring and appliances for light, heat, and power in or on buildings or comparable facilities under the direct and continuing supervision of a licensed master or special electrician in the United States, at least two (2) years must have been obtained in New York City4
The body that issues this class of license1New York City Department of Buildings Where that body publishes this class of license3https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/industry/master-electricians-special-electricians.page New York City doesn't list who runs it or an application fee.
Journeyman Electrician License (City of Buffalo)5
Held by the worker · issued by Buffalo
$126 for the license itself.7 International Code Council (ICC), or the City of Buffalo administers the exam.6 You renew this every two years, for $94. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.7
Journeyman Electrician License (City of Buffalo)
Minimum Qualifications: 5 Years Working Under a Licensed Master Electrician (As an employee of a licensed Master Electrician, not working for yourself)6
The body that issues this class of license6City of Buffalo Department of Permit & Inspection Services, Electrical Department (Examining Board of Electricians) Where that body publishes this class of license5https://www.buffalony.gov/499/Electrical Buffalo doesn't list an exam fee.
03
Apprenticeship and hours
Nothing on this page counts your time in hours. Where a board states the requirement in years instead, the years are in its own wording with each class, and turning them into hours would need a working week no board here publishes.
04
What it pays
Among the electricians on a payroll in New York, half earn more than $37.86 an hour and half earn less. The federal wage survey puts the annual figure at $78,750.2
- $21.99The bottom tenth earn this or less2
- $63.29The top tenth earn this or more2
These figures cover every experience level, from first-year apprentices to workers with decades on the job, so this is not what an apprentice earns. The survey counts 40,130 of these jobs. Self-employed workers are not included in the survey.2
The yearly figure assumes 2,080 paid hours, which is full time with no long gaps. Actual earnings can be lower where work is interrupted or seasonal.
Figures from the federal wage survey for May 2025, read 2026-08-16. The survey’s state file is a spreadsheet in a zip, not a web page.
05
If you want to run an electrical business
These credentials apply if you plan to take work in your own name. Each is issued to the business itself rather than to any one person.
Master Electrician (New York City)3
Held by the business · issued by New York City
$310 for the license itself.3 $1,115 to take the exam.4 You renew this every year, for $60. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.3
Worth knowingThat $1,115 is two exams added together: $585 for the written and $530 for the practical. You take both. An older city fee chart still shows lower figures, and the license page is the current one.
Master Electrician (New York City)
Has at least seven (7) years of experience within ten (10) years prior to application working with their tools on the installation, alteration, and repair of wiring and appliances for light, heat, and power in or on buildings or comparable facilities under the direct and continuing supervision of a licensed master or special electrician in the United States, at least two (2) years must have been obtained in New York City4
The body that issues this class of license1New York City Department of Buildings Where that body publishes this class of license3https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/industry/master-electricians-special-electricians.page New York City doesn't list who runs it or an application fee.
Master Electrician License (City of Buffalo)8
Held by the business · issued by Buffalo
$100 to apply.8 $220 for the license itself.7 International Code Council (ICC) administers the exam.8 You renew this every two years. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.7
Worth knowingIf your application comes back incomplete, each new submission costs another $100.
Master Electrician License (City of Buffalo)
Ten (10) years of experience in the electrical field8
The body that issues this class of license8City of Buffalo Department of Permit & Inspection Services, Electrical Department (Examining Board of Electricians) Where that body publishes this class of license5https://www.buffalony.gov/499/Electrical Buffalo doesn't list an exam fee.
06
The examination
International Code Council (ICC), or the City of Buffalo and International Code Council (ICC) administer the exams on this page between them. The exam provider sets the exam content, publishes the study material and sets retake fees. Use the official exam names below when you look for study material, application instructions or retake information. Exam fees are listed with each class above.
- Master Electrician (New York City)
- Master/Special Electrician written examination and practical examination4
- Special Electrician (New York City)
- Master/Special Electrician written examination and practical examination4
- Journeyman Electrician License (City of Buffalo)
- ICC (International Code Council) journeyman electrician examination, or an examination administered by the City of Buffalo6
- Master Electrician License (City of Buffalo)
- ICC Master Electrician Exam (R16)8
07
The licensing office, and how to reach it
Two different offices issue the licenses on this page, so check the class you are after for the office to contact.
The licensing authority doesn't list who certifies the worker, where that sits, who licenses the business, where that sits, the agency behind this trade or a page for that agency.
08
Bringing a license in, and taking one out
Reciprocity is an agreement between states, and every license on this page belongs to a city or a county. New York City and Buffalo do not speak for each other or for anywhere outside the state. Moving to New York? Ask the office where the job is whether it will recognize your current license. Leaving? Contact the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work.
09
Questions people ask
Do you need a license to be an electrician in New York?
We read New York's licensing pages and what they publish does not settle whether individual electricians need a license. That is not the same as no license being required, and it is not a question nobody has looked at. The place it gets answered is the city or county where you will actually be working.
How long does it take to become an electrician in NY?
Not as a number: New York doesn't publish an hours figure for any license on this page. Several states on these pages state the requirement in years instead, and turning years into hours needs a working week nobody publishes. So this page prints what was published. The experience wording with each class is where the answer is.
How much do electricians in NY make?
The middle half of the electricians on a payroll in New York earn between $29.08 and $51.16 an hour, and half of all of them earn more than $37.86. These are straight-time figures, before any overtime, at every experience level, counted by the federal wage survey in May 2025. Self-employed workers are not included in them.2
How to make $100,000 a year as an electrician?
The top tenth of electricians on a payroll in New York earn above $63.29 an hour, which over a 2,080-hour year comes to more than $131,640. Those are straight-time figures: overtime pay is outside them, and so are self-employed workers. The federal wage survey counts what the top tenth earn above, not how many reach any figure past it.2
How much does an electrician license cost in New York?
The licensing authority publishes these: $100 to apply for Master Electrician License (City of Buffalo), $310 to be issued Master Electrician (New York City), $310 to be issued Special Electrician (New York City), $126 to be issued Journeyman Electrician License (City of Buffalo) and $220 to be issued Master Electrician License (City of Buffalo). Each is per class, not per trade. None of them is the exam: where a vendor administers the exam, that fee is the vendor's and lives in its own bulletin.
Can I use an electrician license from another state in New York?
Not as a published rule: New York publishes no list of the states it recognizes. Bringing a license in and taking one out are two separate agreements, signed and published separately. Contact the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work and ask what it will recognize.
How long does it take to become an electrician?
There is no national answer. Any page that gives you one is averaging states whose requirements differ by thousands of hours. Licensing is set state by state, and in some states city by city, so the honest version of this question has a place in it. What is the same everywhere is the shape: you learn on the job, the hours that count are the ones somebody signs for, and the clock starts the day the work does.
Can you become an electrician with no experience?
Yes, and that is the ordinary way in. These trades are learned at work rather than before it, which is why boards mostly require time on the job. What you cannot skip is the paperwork: the hours that count are the ones somebody signs for, so the question to ask an employer is who signs, not whether they will train you.
Is 30 too late to become an electrician?
No. Boards set a minimum age, not a maximum. No board on these pages sets an upper limit, and where age shows up at all it is a floor. The real question at 30 is money: an apprenticeship pays you while you learn and school charges you while you learn. That difference usually decides it.
How hard is the electrician licensing exam?
None of the boards on these pages publishes a pass rate. The useful question is who administers the exam: that organization sells the reference material for it and sets what a retake costs.