Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05
From nothing to your own license
How to Become an Electrician in North Carolina: Steps
There is no state card to collect on the way, which makes the route simpler than in most states and harder to picture. Six steps run from your first paid day to a classification in your own name, and each one is tied to the rule that sets it.
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On this page
Step one: get hired
Work comes before paperwork here. G.S. 87-43.1 exempts a person doing electrical work as a bona fide employee of a licensee of the Board, so a job with a licensed electrical contractor is the whole of your legal standing on day one.
Check the company's license on the Board's public search before you start. The exemption runs through that license.
Step two: learn the classroom half
Two routes carry most people. A registered apprenticeship pairs the job with evening class, and a community college program teaches the same ground on a semester calendar.
ApprenticeshipNC, the state apprenticeship agency, registers the programs. Greater Charlotte IEC runs four years at 144 classroom hours a year with 2,000 on the job hours a year. The Raleigh-Durham Electrical Training Institute runs a four year state registered curriculum with a minimum of 900 classroom hours and 8,000 hours of work based learning. Cape Fear Community College runs four years at $185 per level plus books.
The city pages on this site list what is available in each metro, with links to the programs themselves.
Step three: log the hours properly
The Board counts a total and a primary floor inside it. Limited asks for 3,000 hours with 2,000 primary, Intermediate for 5,750 with 5,000, and Unlimited for 9,000 with 8,000.
Two thousand hours is one creditable year in the Board's rules, and credit percentages apply before hours land in a bucket. Approved North Carolina apprenticeship time credits at 100 percent as secondary experience, other apprenticeship at 80 percent.
Keep a dated log of sites, dates and duties. Your employer certifies the total later on the Board's Employer Statement Form.
Step four: apply and sit
File the examination application with two character statements and the $125 application and examination fee, which is not refundable. Unlimited applicants add two Supervise and Direct statements. The minimum age is 18.
Approval opens a 90 day window to sit. The Limited, Intermediate and Unlimited paper is 100 multiple choice questions with a maximum of six hours, open book, and the pass mark is a grade of 70.
PSI delivers it at seven sites in the state: Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.
Step five: get the license issued
Passing certifies you as a qualified individual. The license itself comes from the new license application and the annual fee of $100, $150 or $200 depending on classification.
Intermediate and Unlimited add a statement of bonding ability, written for $60,001 and $150,001 respectively. Then your name goes on the license as the listed qualified individual.
Step six: keep it
Renewal is annual and the late fee is $25. Continuing education is 8 hours a year for Limited, Intermediate, Unlimited and SP-SFD and 4 hours for the other special restricted classes, with at least half taken in person.
A newly listed qualified individual also has 12 months to take the Board's free four hour Laws and Rules class, which covers the classroom half of the first year.
How long the whole thing takes
Read it in the Board's own arithmetic. At 2,000 hours a year, Limited is about a year and a half of work, Intermediate about three years and Unlimited about four and a half.
Apprenticeship length usually sets the real pace. Four years is the common program length in North Carolina, and IBEW Local 238 in Asheville runs five.
Our experience calculator turns your own dates into the hour totals the application asks for.
What the work pays
O*NET OnLine, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data, puts the median wage for electricians in North Carolina at $27.31 an hour, or $56,800 a year.
Metro medians on the same page run from $21.95 an hour in Pinehurst-Southern Pines to $29.98 in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC area. Across the eight metros this site keeps city pages for, the spread is narrower, $26.00 in Wilmington up to $28.47 in Durham-Chapel Hill, and each city page carries its own figure.
BLS publishes its own May 2025 metro releases, but those figures cover the whole construction and extraction group rather than electricians alone, so the two sets of numbers are not interchangeable.
Questions people ask
How long does it take to become an electrician in North Carolina?
Apprenticeship programs here run four years, and IBEW Local 238 in Asheville runs five. For a license of your own, the Board counts 2,000 hours as one creditable year, so Limited is about a year and a half of work and Unlimited about four and a half.
Do I need school to become an electrician in NC?
No school is required by statute. The Board asks for hours, two character statements and a minimum age of 18. Course work still helps, because students completing courses in the National Electrical Code are credited at 50 percent as secondary experience.
Can I work as an electrician in North Carolina with no license?
Yes, as a bona fide employee of a business licensed by the Board. G.S. 87-43.1 exempts that work. The moment you contract for electrical work in your own name, you need a license.
What is the first license I should aim for?
Limited is the usual first classification. It asks for 3,000 hours with 2,000 primary, costs $100 a year, and covers a single project up to $60,000 on the Board's page, with equipment rated at a maximum of 600 volts.
How much do electricians make in North Carolina?
O*NET OnLine, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data, gives a statewide median of $27.31 an hour or $56,800 a year for electricians. Metro medians on the same page range from $21.95 an hour in Pinehurst-Southern Pines to $29.98 in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC area.
Is the North Carolina electrical exam open book?
Yes. The Board's examinations page says the exams are open book, and the reference list starts with the 2020 National Electrical Code. Loose leaf books are not allowed and temporary tabs have to be removed before testing.
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What this page cites
- G.S. 87-43.1 Exempts the bona fide employee of a licensee, which is what lets a new electrician work while learning. source
- NCBEEC examination application Sets the age, the character statements, the hours by classification and the $125 non refundable fee. source
- 21 NCAC 18B Defines primary and secondary experience, the credit percentages and the 70 pass mark. source
- Examination Information Handbook Gives the 100 question format, the six hour limit, the open book references and the test center list. source
- O*NET OnLine local wages for 47-2111 Publishes state and metro median wages for electricians, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data. source
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