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Skilled trades in North Carolina

SkilledLadder has guides for 2 trades in North Carolina so far: electrician and plumber. Each one has its own license and its own rules.

  • Electrician

    Work for an employer and you need no state license. Take work in your own name and you need the contractor license, from the NC State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors. Cities can still license the trade.

    $27.31

    median pay an hour

    21,640

    jobs on payrolls

    See the guide See the 87 apprenticeship programs

  • Plumber

    You need your own state license, from the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors.

    $27.44

    median pay an hour

    14,510

    jobs on payrolls

    See the guide See the 30 apprenticeship programs

No sprinkler fitter guide for North Carolina yet. The sprinkler fitter guides cover Florida and Washington so far. See the sprinkler fitter guides

Sources

  1. The licensing boards and agencies listed in each trade's guide: who issues the license
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: median pay and jobs
  3. U.S. Department of Labor, national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026: the registered programs

Pay and jobs: median pay counts every worker in the trade on a payroll in the state, from first-year apprentices to masters, so it isn't what an apprentice earns. Jobs counts filled positions on payrolls. Someone with 2 jobs counts twice, and the self-employed aren't in it.

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