PENNSYLVANIA · ELECTRICIAN · UPDATED FROM FEDERAL RECORDS
How to become an electrician in Pennsylvania: get paid to train.
You don't need experience to start this trade, and applying to the largest program costs $25 all in. The program even pays for your physical and your background check. Pennsylvania has 183 registered electrician apprenticeships, with 3,739 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 Pennsylvania?
The median starting wage was $18.00 an hour across 3,567 recent starting records: half were above it and half were below. Separately, recent completers had a median recorded wage of $39.81 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 $16.00 and $19.73 an hour.
The median across 3,567 recent starting records from 69 programs. The middle half earned between $16.00 and $19.73 an hour. At 40 hours a week, $18.00 works out to about $720 before taxes.
The Western Pennsylvania Electrical JATC, the joint committee of the electricians' union and participating contractors in Pittsburgh, charges a $25 non-refundable processing fee to apply. When an apprenticeship is offered, the committee pays for your physical, your drug test, a color-blindness test, and your background check, and it says tuition comes at little to no cost to the apprentice. It does not publish its apprentice wage scale.
ABC Keystone, the contractor association that is the state's second-largest sponsor, takes applicants who don't yet have a job in the trade for a $125 non-refundable application fee, and works to connect them with member companies for employment. A math entrance exam decides whether you also take a construction math class; scoring 80% skips it. The association does not publish tuition or apprentice wages; you have to ask.
02 HOW TO APPLY
How to apply, and how long it takes
No experience needed. At the largest program open to outside applicants, you must be 18, though high school seniors can apply and take the entrance test at 17. You need a diploma or GED, credit for one algebra course, a Pennsylvania driver's license you keep for the whole apprenticeship, and at least a year's residency in one of the 22 western and central Pennsylvania counties the program serves. The fee is $25, and the program asks applicants not to call the office about applications.
Finishing takes five years. You work days and attend night classes, typically once or twice a week, at the training centers in Pittsburgh and Clearfield. The classes carry college credit: apprentices work toward an associate degree at the Community College of Allegheny County over the five years. The program says tuition comes at little to no cost to the apprentice, and it does not publish its apprentice wage scale.
The largest sponsors are union committees and contractor associations. The JATCs on the list are joint committees run by the electricians' union and participating contractors, like the Pittsburgh committee above and the electrical industry's training program in Philadelphia. The contractor associations run their own schools: ABC chapters and IEC Pennsylvania together train a large share of the state's apprentices, and at ABC Keystone you can apply without a job in the trade. Many smaller programs are individual companies training their own employees. Pick two or three programs near you, search each program's name with its city, and ask how and when they take applications.
Applications are closed at both of the largest programs. The Pittsburgh committee is closed for the 2026-2027 school year and says dates for 2027-2028 will be posted on its website; ABC Keystone's enrollment is closed too, and it points applicants at the 2027-2028 year. Neither publishes an opening date, so check both sites rather than waiting on a month.
Applications happen through the program's online portal for each school year. Create your account ahead; account requests take about three business days to process. The $25 processing fee is paid with the application and is not refundable.
You take the tests the committee gives or arranges; high school seniors can test at 17, but interviews wait until you are 18. The program does not publish how applicants are ranked or how long selection takes.
When an apprenticeship is offered, you take a physical, a substance test, and a color-blindness test, given by a doctor the committee selects and pays for, and the committee runs a background check with your consent, at its own cost.
Five years of working days and attending night classes in Pittsburgh or Clearfield. Your coursework counts toward an associate degree at the Community College of Allegheny County, and completing the program comes with an Electrical Construction Technology Certificate.
03 THE PROGRAMS
Every registered electrician apprenticeship in Pennsylvania
All 183 programs, ranked by each sponsor's total apprentices at the latest federal count. The bar shows that total. For the 15 sponsors that train more than one trade, the count includes apprentices in their other trades as well. Ranks cover all 183 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 163 SMALLER PROGRAMS
04 LICENSING
Licensing depends on where you work
Pennsylvania has no statewide electrician license. Cities and counties issue their own, each with its own rules, and they change across a city line. Before you count on your hours, check the rules where you plan to work.
How electrician licensing works in Pennsylvania05 SOURCES
- U.S. Department of Labor national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026. Every program, every count, and the two medians and the starting-wage band on this page.
- Western Pennsylvania Electrical JATC application, program, and college-credit pages, ibewlocal5jatc.org, accessed 2026-09-03. The requirements, the $25 fee, the paid screens, the five-year shape, and the window on this page.
- ABC Keystone apprenticeship enrollment pages, abckeystone.org, accessed 2026-09-03. The $125 fee, the placement model, and the math-exam rule on this page.
- 31 Pennsylvania 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.