Average Pay for an Electrician in Texas: What the Numbers Actually Say

Read This First

[If you're looking at electrical work as your next move](/articles/the-office-is-emptying-out), the first thing you'll hit is a wall of conflicting salary numbers. Texas Career Check puts the average electrician wage at $59,278 a year [1]. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2024 national median of $62,350, or $29.98 an hour [2]. A 2026 Texas pay guide lists the state average closer to $27.50 an hour [6]. All of these are real. They just measure different things. This article walks you through which number applies to you, and when.

Why the Number You Find Depends on Who's Counting

The spread comes from where the data is pulled and who it includes. Texas Career Check reports $59,278 as the state annual average [1]. Unmudl, citing BLS figures, puts the Texas average at $56,350 [9]. As of January 2026, Indeed reported an average hourly rate of $28.23 for Texas electricians, and ZipRecruiter data from the same month showed most Texas salaries falling between $46,600 at the 25th percentile and $63,800 at the 75th percentile [6]. That percentile range matters more than the single average, because it shows the actual gap between a new hand and a seasoned one.

Overtime is the other thing a flat "average" hides. Indeed reported a Texas base salary near $60,732, plus about $11,250 in additional annual overtime pay [9]. In a trade where jobs run long and the workforce is short, that overtime line is real money, not a rounding error.

What You Actually Earn Starting Out

Here's the honest starting point. As a first-year apprentice, you are not making the average. In the North Texas Electrical Training Center's IBEW-NECA program, apprentices start at 50 percent of the journeyman rate, which was $19.88 an hour as of June 1, 2024, and climb to 80 percent by the final year of the five-year program [5]. That program pairs 8,000 hours of paid on-the-job training with 180 classroom hours a year, and it adds employer-paid family health insurance, a pension, and annuity benefits starting in the second year [5].

So you earn while you learn, but you start low. In Dallas, low-level electricians earn roughly $19 to $22 an hour, averaging around $20.50, while journeymen average about $33 an hour as of the guide's 2026 figures [8]. The path from one number to the other is the apprenticeship. Texas just made that path shorter: under a new TDLR rule (16 TAC §73.112), effective July 2026, graduates of a department-approved accelerated journeyman electrician education program - including programs offered through TSTC - can receive credit for 4,000 of the 8,000 required on-the-job training hours [4]. This program is brand new, so confirm which specific programs carry TDLR approval before you enroll. That reform matters because the written exam had a 73 percent fail rate in 2024 before the changes [7].

Where You Work Changes the Paycheck

Location moves the number as much as experience does. As of the 2026 pay data, Dallas had the highest hourly mean wage among major Texas cities at $30.06, while El Paso had the lowest at $23.14 [6]. That's a difference of nearly $7 an hour for the same license. A Dallas journeyman averaging $33 an hour sits above both the Texas journeyman average of $31.75 and the national journeyman average of $32.50 [8]. Top Dallas performers reportedly reach up to $84,564 a year [8], and experienced Texas electricians can earn from $60,000 to well over $100,000 in base wages depending on specialization, industry, and union membership [9].

What to Do With These Numbers

Stop chasing the single "average" figure and map yourself to a stage instead. If you're starting cold, budget for apprentice pay in the $20-an-hour range and treat the benefits and paid training as part of the compensation [5]. Pick your market deliberately: the same license pays measurably more in Dallas than in El Paso [6]. Then look at the growth behind the pay. Texas electrician employment is projected to grow 18 percent from 2022 to 2032, with about 7,800 openings a year [3], and the country faces a projected shortage of up to 224,000 electrical workers by 2030 [7]. That demand is what pushes wages and overtime up over a career.

Bottom Line

The Texas average lands near $59,000 a year [1], but that figure is the midpoint of a long climb from roughly $20 an hour as a starting apprentice [5] to six figures for an experienced, well-placed journeyman [9]. Know which stage you're pricing before you trust any one number.

Sources

[1] Texas Career Check: Electricians occupation summary, annual wage and employment growth data

[2] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook, electricians median pay

[3] O*NET OnLine: Texas employment trends for electricians, 2022-2032 projections

[4] Texas Secretary of State, Texas Administrative Code: 16 Tex. Admin. Code §73.112, Accelerated Journeyman Electrician Education Program

[5] Electrician Schools Dallas: North Texas Electrical Training Center IBEW-NECA apprenticeship details

[6] BuildForce: How Much to Pay Electricians in Texas in 2026 salary guide

[7] Texas Association of Business: Texas is Building the Workforce to Power the Future

[8] BuildForce: What To Pay Electricians in Dallas Texas in 2026

[9] Unmudl: How Much Do Electricians Really Make in Texas