An electrician apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. North Carolina has 87 registered electrician apprenticeship programs, with 3,032 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
About $600 a week at 40 hours. The middle half of starting wages is $14.00 to $18.44 an hour.
Median pay at the end
$24.00 an hour
About $960 a week at 40 hours.
From 1,964 recent starting wages in 63 programs, and 949 people who finished recently in 41 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 Charlotte Electrical JATC accepts applications all year. The deadline for the August 2027 class is March 31, 2027, and an application that arrives after the deadline moves to the next school year. To enroll with ABC of the Carolinas, you need a job with a member contractor first, so check abccarolinas.org for its 2027 enrollment dates.
Each of these programs carries the name of a contractor association: Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) or Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).
No program matches. Pick another area or check the spelling.
Also trains other trades: these 13 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.
How one program works: Charlotte 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.
Charlotte Electrical JATC
Charlotte · Charlotte area · 348 apprentices
1
Mail your application
The Charlotte Electrical JATC application is a printed form. Mail the original with your official transcripts or GED scores, because the committee doesn't accept photocopies and doesn't process an application without its documents.
2
Take the NJATC aptitude test
Every applicant takes the NJATC aptitude test. The committee's site lists prep courses for the test.
3
Interview with the committee
The committee interviews qualified applicants in the order they completed their applications, so complete yours early. Before you sign, the committee may require a physical exam, a drug test or a background check.
4
Work and attend classes
The committee places you with its contractors for your hours on the job, and your employer pays health and pension contributions after a probationary period. You're paid for the days you work, so holidays aren't paid. To finish, you must pass the industry's craft certification exam.
The Charlotte Electrical JATC is the largest program open to outside applicants. A first-step apprentice earns 60% of the $33.83 journeyman rate, which is $20.30 an hour, and the steps rise to 85%. These are the latest rates published by the committee.
An hour to start on the ABC of the Carolinas registered scale
$14.00
ABC of the Carolinas is a contractor association, and its member companies employ its apprentices. Its registered scale starts at $14.00 an hour and rises every 1,000 hours to $20.00, against a journeyworker rate of $24.00. Your employer may register its own scale instead, and you aren't paid for classroom hours.
You don't need experience to apply. The largest sponsors are contractor associations, union committees and community colleges. ABC of the Carolinas and the electrical contractor associations train employees of their member companies, and community colleges provide the classroom instruction for programs across North Carolina.
Note: The largest sponsor on the list is the Fort Bragg education center. It serves only active-duty soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg, in apprenticeships tied to their military jobs, so you can't apply to it from outside.
To apply to the Charlotte Electrical JATC, you must be 18 years old. You need an official transcript or GED that shows a grade of C or better in Algebra 1, or 4,000 hours of electrical construction experience. You also need a valid driver's license and your Social Security card.
If you have a felony conviction, you can still apply. The Charlotte Electrical JATC says a felony conviction doesn't automatically disqualify you.
The Charlotte apprenticeship takes 4 years. You need 8,000 hours on the job and classroom instruction, with class 1 day a week from 1 pm to 6 pm and on some Saturdays. You buy your own work clothes, work shoes, textbooks and tools.
You don't need a state license to start in North Carolina
North Carolina doesn't issue a state license to an individual electrician, so you don't need one to work as an employee of a licensed contractor. The North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors licenses the electrical contracting business. To be the qualified individual that a business lists on its license, you must pass the state exam.
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
ApprenticeshipNC pages: who the Fort Bragg program serves and what the community colleges provide
The U.S. Department of Labor data has 12 North Carolina filings whose registration numbers name a different state. No figure counts those filings. Every bar uses the same scale.
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