National · electricians, plumbers and sprinkler fitters
The journeyman exam: who gives it, what it costs, and what your state calls it
Most boards don’t run their own exams. They hire a testing company, and that company is who you book with, who publishes the study outline, and often who you pay. Below: the company, the fee, and the official exam title for 34 states, as each board publishes them. Every figure links to the licensing page it was read from. Nothing is averaged, estimated, or filled in.
113 exam titles · 78 exam fees · 34 state pages
What the exam costs
Past those two, the fees stop being comparable, so there is no average here.
- Michigan$100 is written into law; PSI collects it.
- New York CityOne attempt costs $1,115: a $585 written exam plus a $530 practical.
- Florida$335 covers the application and both tests in one payment.
- Virginia$200 and $225 are ceilings the rule sets, not prices.
- Washington$202.10 is the department's share; the testing company bills you on top.
Who gives your exam
The other 39 answers are in the directory below; governments that give their own exams are among them: Buffalo, Middletown, Los Angeles County and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
What the exam is called
Your exam has an official name, and searching that exact name is how you find its study material. Two examples:
- Virginia writes its own"Virginia journeyman plumber examination" is the board's own exam, under the board's own name.
- Buffalo requires a national exam by catalog number"ICC Master Electrician Exam (R16)" is a national exam: the International Code Council writes it, and the city requires it by that number.
Your state's page has the name where the board gives one.
The pass-rate question
"Journeyman Electrician test pass rate"
You want to know your odds. The 34 licensing pages this site reads don’t publish a pass rate, so you won’t find one here. What most of them do publish is who gives the exam, and that company's candidate bulletin has what you can actually act on: what’s on the test, and which code books the questions come from. Your state's row below names the company where the board does. Get the bulletin. Start there.
State by state
Find your trade, then your state. Each entry shows who gives that state's exams, in the board's own words, and what one attempt costs where the board prices it. The link lands on that state's exam section.
Electricians
Gmetrix for the Statutes and Rules Exam; PSI for the trade examination, or NASCLA for the electrical examination program
CPS HR Consulting, delivered through Pearson VUE, under contract to the Labor Commissioner's Office; PSI Exams
PSI
Pearson VUE; The Florida municipality or county issuing the competency card
PSI
International Code Council
PSI
International Code Council (ICC), or the City of Buffalo; International Code Council (ICC)
PSI Services LLC
PSI Services LLC; City of Middletown, Division of Building Inspection
Oregon Building Codes Division
International Code Council; International Code Council, proctored by Pearson VUE
Prov
PSI
PSI
PSI
Plumbers
Gmetrix for the Statutes and Rules Exam; PSI for the trade examination; Arizona Sheet Metal JATC, Phoenix, open to non-union and union members; P.I.P.E., Tempe, tests union members only
PSI Exams; Board of Examiners, Los Angeles County Public Works, Building and Safety Division; Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, License Section
PSI
Professional Testing, Inc.
PSI
Illinois Department of Public Health
PSI administers the written examination; the Bureau of Construction Codes administers the hands on practical skills examination itself; PSI
City of Buffalo examining board of plumbers
PSI Services LLC
PSI Services LLC; City of Middletown Division of Building Inspection
Oregon Building Codes Division
International Code Council
Prov
Pearson VUE
PSI
No examiner is named on that state's page.
Sprinkler fitters
Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of State Fire Marshal
Washington State Patrol, State Fire Marshal's Office
* the figure carries a note, printed beside it on the state page. A state with no fee shown publishes none: some boards leave pricing to the testing company's own bulletin. An answer two classes share is printed once.
Fees and examiners change.
When a board raises a fee or switches testing companies, you’ll see it here on the next read. Leave your email on the front page and you’ll hear when there’s something new for your state.