How much do electricians make in California in 2026?

The median electrician in California earns $76,160 a year, or about $36.62 an hour. That's the middle of the pack — half earn more, half earn less. Where you land depends on your license level, who you work for, and whether you're union or open shop.

At the 25th percentile, electricians take home $59,280 a year ($28.50/hr). These are typically apprentices finishing up their hours or journeymen working in lower-cost regions of the state. It's a real wage, but there's clear room to move up.

Hit the 75th percentile and you're at $103,000 a year — roughly $49.52 an hour. Electricians at this level usually hold a journeyman or contractor's license, have years of commercial or industrial experience, and are often working complex projects like data centers, hospitals, or large industrial facilities. California's high cost of living pushes wages up, and employers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego pay accordingly.

Union journeymen sit at the top of the scale. IBEW members and other union-affiliated journeymen in California average $107,120 a year, or $51.50 an hour. That figure covers base wages and reflects collective bargaining agreements across major California locals. Union packages also typically include pension contributions, health benefits, and annuity funds — none of which show up in that hourly rate.

The gap between a 25th-percentile open-shop apprentice ($28.50/hr) and a union journeyman ($51.50/hr) is $23 an hour. Over a full work year, that's a $47,840 difference. Getting your journeyman card and joining a strong local is the single biggest lever most California electricians have on their pay.

Residential work generally pays less than commercial, and commercial pays less than industrial. High-voltage work, instrumentation, and solar/battery storage installs are pulling strong wages right now because qualified hands are short. If you're already licensed, picking up certifications in those areas is a direct path to the higher end of the scale.

California also has some of the strongest apprenticeship programs in the country. A five-year IBEW apprenticeship starts you at a percentage of journeyman scale — typically 40–50% in year one — and steps you up annually. By the time you graduate, you're earning full journeyman wages with a union book in hand.

All figures on this page come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. These are employer-reported wages across California and represent the most reliable benchmark available for the trade.