How to become an electrician in Texas

Each license renews a year after it was issued, for the same fee you paid to apply. The apprentice, residential wireman, journeyman and master licenses also need 4 hours of classes before each renewal. The classes come from a TDLR-approved provider and cover the National Electrical Code, Texas electrician law and rules, and electrical safety. Apprentices don't need the classes if their training program is also registered with TDLR, which is separate from Department of Labor registration. Ask your program whether it is.

If you want to run an electrical business

Other electrician licenses in Texas

TDLR also issues these, each with its own requirements:

Apprentice, Electrical Sign · Journeyman Industrial Electrician · Journeyman Lineman · Journeyman Sign Electrician · Maintenance Electrician · Master Sign Electrician · Residential Appliance Installer · Electrical Sign Contractor · Residential Appliance Installation Contractor

In a registered apprenticeship

Starting wages in Texas electrician apprenticeships vary. Recently, the middle one was $16.25 an hour, and half fell between $15.00 and $18.50. People who recently finished one earned a middle wage of $26.83 at the end.

Across the whole trade

Among electricians employed in Texas, the middle wage is $28.16 an hour. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the middle yearly wage at $58,570. Those figures mix first-year apprentices with people decades into the trade, so expect to start well below them.

1. $18.23The bottom tenth earn this or less
2. $22.44The bottom quarter earn this or less
3. $34.20The top quarter earn this or more
4. $38.61The top tenth earn this or more

Send your license application to TDLR first. When TDLR approves it, you'll get a notice that you're approved to take the exam. Then book it with PSI, the company that runs the tests. You can take the journeyman exam once you have 7,000 hours, or once you finish a registered apprenticeship and file TDLR's eligibility form. You have one year from the day TDLR receives your application to pass the exam and meet every other requirement, including your hours. Within that year, you can retake it as many times as you need.

The journeyman and master exams each have a National Electrical Code part and a calculations part. You need 70% on each part. $78 covers both parts, and a retake is $78 whether you failed one part or both. The residential wireman exam is a single test that costs $64, and you need 70% to pass. TDLR says you may have to pay the exam fee again for each wireman retake.

All three exams are open book. Bring your own soft-bound copy of the 2026 National Electrical Code. Spiral-bound, ring-bound and loose-leaf copies aren't allowed. You can highlight it, write notes in it and add the publisher's tabs beforehand, but homemade tabs and the NEC Handbook aren't allowed. Your calculator must be silent, battery-powered and not programmable, with no printer and no letter keys. You can take the exam in English or Spanish, and you get your score at the test site. To move your exam without losing the fee, cancel at least 2 days ahead. The apprentice license has no exam.

When you book or call PSI, use the exam's official name:

Residential Wireman

Texas Residential Wireman examination

one test: 85 questions in 260 minutes · $64

Journeyman Electrician

Texas Journeyman Electrician examination

code part: 59 questions in 130 minutes; calculations part: 26 questions in 110 minutes · $78

Master Electrician

Texas Master Electrician examination

code part: 75 questions in 150 minutes; calculations part: 33 questions in 170 minutes · $78

Moving to Texas? If you hold a journeyman license from one of ten states, you can get the Texas license without taking the Texas exam. The same goes for a master license from one of seven states. You must have passed that state's exam and held that license for at least 1 year. You also need 8,000 hours under a master electrician for the journeyman license, or 12,000 for the master license. Master applicants also need at least 2 years as a licensed journeyman, or 1 year for Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio. You apply on TDLR's out-of-state form and pay the same fee a Texas applicant pays, $30 for journeyman or $45 for master. Texas has no agreements for residential wireman, apprentice or contractor licenses. From any other state, ask TDLR before you move. Leaving Texas? Ask the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work.

Journeyman license: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming

Master license: Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio

For the master license, Iowa counts only a Class A license, and TDLR asks Alabama applicants for a copy of their Class A license. Arkansas counts only its master electrician license. Louisiana counts its state contractor's license, for Louisiana residents only. North Carolina counts a master electrician or unlimited electrical contractor license.

TDLR issues every electrician license in Texas. Contact TDLR when you apply, renew or have a question about your hours. Mail applications to PO Box 12157, Austin, TX 78711-2157. You should get a reminder from TDLR about 60 days before a worker license expires, but renewing on time is up to you. You can renew online. If you renew late, you pay 1.5 times the fee within 90 days and 2 times the fee after that. After 18 months, you renew by mail and ask TDLR's executive director to approve it. After 3 years, you apply again as a new applicant and retake any exam the license requires. You can't work while your license is expired. TDLR's license search shows active licenses only, so an expired license won't appear.