How much do electricians make in Ohio in 2026?

Electricians in Ohio earn a median wage of $64,700 a year, which works out to about $31.11 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That number sits in the middle of a wide range — entry-level and lower-experience workers come in at the 25th percentile around $50,120 a year ($24.10/hr), while experienced journeymen and foremen at the top of the scale reach $80,500 a year ($38.70/hr) at the 75th percentile. All figures come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

That $30,000 spread between the bottom quarter and the top quarter tells you a lot. Where you land on that range depends on a handful of real factors: years in the trade, your license level, the type of work you're running, and the metro area you're working in. A residential wireman pulling romex in a suburb and a commercial journeyman running EMT in a downtown high-rise are both electricians, but they don't earn the same paycheck.

License level is one of the clearest drivers. In Ohio, electricians work under a state licensing framework that distinguishes apprentices, journeymen, and masters. Journeyman status typically unlocks the bulk of the wage jump — you're no longer being supervised, you're running your own work, and your billing value to a contractor goes up accordingly. Masters who move into estimating, project management, or running their own shop can push well past the 75th percentile figure, though at that point they're often earning business income on top of wages.

The type of employer matters too. Industrial facilities — auto plants, chemical processing, data centers — tend to pay more than straight residential contractors because the work is more complex and the demand for licensed electricians who can read blueprints and work with three-phase systems is higher. Large commercial contractors working public projects often pay more than small residential shops, partly because of project scale and partly because of prevailing wage requirements on government-funded work.

Geography inside Ohio shapes wages as well. The Columbus metro has seen significant construction growth and consistently pulls wages toward the higher end of the state range. Cleveland and Cincinnati are large enough markets to support strong demand for commercial and industrial electricians. Smaller metros and rural areas generally track closer to the state median or below it, though cost of living is lower there too.

Overtime is a real part of total compensation for electricians working on active job sites. A journeyman earning $31.11/hr straight time earns $46.67/hr at time-and-a-half. Workers putting in regular overtime — common during peak construction phases — can meaningfully outpace the annual figures shown here, which are based on standard hours.

Apprentices in Ohio typically start at a percentage of journeyman scale and step up incrementally through the program, which runs four to five years. Coming out of a registered apprenticeship at journeyman status, a worker should expect to be earning at or above the state median from day one as a licensed journeyman, depending on the contractor and market.

Benefits vary by employer. Larger contractors and union shops typically include health insurance, defined retirement contributions, and paid time off. Smaller non-union shops may offer higher base hourly rates to offset leaner benefit packages. When comparing offers, it's worth calculating the full package — a $2/hr difference in base pay can be erased quickly by differences in health premium contributions or retirement matching.

No union scale data is currently available for electricians in Ohio on TradesPays. Where union scale data becomes available, it will be published alongside the BLS figures for a direct comparison.