An electrician apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. Texas has 197 registered electrician apprenticeship programs, with 21,579 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
About $650 a week at 40 hours. The middle half of starting wages is $15.00 to $18.50 an hour.
Median pay at the end
$26.83 an hour
About $1,070 a week at 40 hours.
From 14,113 recent starting wages in 108 programs, and 4,940 people who finished recently in 64 programs. The 2 figures come from different groups of apprentices, not the same people followed from start to finish.
How to get in
Get your apprentice license
Apply to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) online. It costs $20, you don't need experience and you don't take an exam. You must hold it as an apprentice, so get it before you apply to a program, and renew it every year.
All 197 registered programs, grouped by who runs them, with the most apprentices first. The 62 programs with 50 or more apprentices train 18,749 of the 21,579 apprentices. The 4 programs inside prisons are at the end.
193 programs
Sort by
Most apprenticesThe largest programs first
Name, A to Z
Contractor associations
13 programs · 5,956 apprentices
Many of the largest programs are run by contractor associations. Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) has chapters in Dallas, Houston and Austin that train some of the largest groups of apprentices in Texas.
No program matches. Pick another area or check the spelling.
Also trains other trades: these 41 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.
Programs inside prisons
The federal data marks these 4 programs as training people who are incarcerated. You can't apply to them from outside, and the wage figures don't include them. All 4 also train other trades.
Windham School DistrictHuntsville1,584 apprentices
FCI LowBeaumont0 apprentices
Federal Correctional InstituteThree Rivers0 apprentices
Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) - SeagovilleSeagoville0 apprentices
Windham School District is the school system inside Texas state prisons. The other 3 are federal correctional institutions.
How the largest program works: IEC Dallas
Each program runs in its own way. IEC Dallas has the most apprentices in Texas.
IEC Dallas
Irving · Dallas-Fort Worth · 1,925 apprentices
1
Get your apprentice electrician license
Apply to TDLR online before you apply to a program. IEC Dallas requires you to upload this license with your application.
2
Apply to the program
Apply directly to IEC Dallas with your documents and the $40 application fee. Classes start in September and in January.
3
Interview with contractors
IEC Dallas arranges interviews with up to 3 member contractors. You enter the apprenticeship once one of them hires you.
4
Work and attend classes
You work full time at job sites across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and workdays often start around 6 am. If you start in September, class meets 1 night a week, and if you start in January, class meets 2 nights a week.
To apply
Age
You must be 18 years old by the time classes start.
Fee
$40
Classes start
In September and in January
Documents
a high school diploma or GED, with your transcript
a U.S. ID
your Social Security card
a current apprentice electrician license
a DD-214, if you're a veteran
Selective Service registration, if you're a man
Once you're in
Length
About 4 years. You need 8,000 hours on the job and 576 hours of evening classes, which run from September through May.
To finish
You must pass the Texas journeyman electrician exam.
Tuition
$0.53 from your pay for each hour you work. Your contractor pays IEC Dallas another $25 a week and decides whether you pay for books.
Pay
The member contractor that hires you sets your wage, and IEC Dallas says apprentices receive regular raises.
Note: You stay with the contractor that hired you. If you switch contractors while you're enrolled, IEC Dallas can end your enrollment.
To work as an electrician in Texas, you need your own license from TDLR, whoever you work for. You start with the $20 apprentice electrician license, and you can get the journeyman electrician license later with hours on the job and an exam.
Windham School District, 2025 to 2029 strategic plan: Windham School District schools serve people who are incarcerated in Texas prisons
The U.S. Department of Labor data has 35 Texas filings whose registration numbers name a different state. No figure counts those filings. Every bar uses the same scale.
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