New Jersey electrician license: Class A journeyman rules and pay

New Jersey now licenses journeymen statewide. Board rules that took effect June 2, 2025 replaced the old "qualified journeyman" registration with a Class A journeyman electrician license, which takes 8,000 hours with the tools plus 576 classroom hours. The median New Jersey electrician made $37.14 an hour in May 2025, per BLS.

A lot of guides online still say New Jersey only registers journeymen. That was true before mid-2025. Everything below is as of 2026, from the New Jersey Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors rules in N.J.A.C. 13:31. The board's site doesn't load for automated readers, so we read the rule text. Confirm every point with the board before you apply. For other states, see electrician license requirements in each state.

01New Jersey license facts at a glance

02What changed in 2025?

New Jersey moved from registering journeymen to licensing them. The amended rules, effective June 2, 2025, set up three working-level licenses under the electrical contractor:

The Class B wireman works under a licensed contractor or a Class A journeyman, at work that fits his training. His employer has to certify that. At each 3-year renewal he owes a 15-hour NEC course, one hour of it on New Jersey law and rules.

The practical upshot: almost everyone on a New Jersey electrical crew now carries a state license of some kind. Confirm with the board when each requirement applies to your job.

03How do you qualify for the Class A journeyman license?

Under N.J.A.C. 13:31-5.1, you qualify one of three ways:

1. Hold an active New Jersey electrical contractor license.
2. Show the hours. 8,000 hours of practical experience working with tools on wiring for light, heat or power, done to the NEC, plus at least 576 classroom hours of related instruction. At least 4,000 of those hours have to fall within the 5 years before you apply.
3. Show equivalent experience some other way, to the board's satisfaction.

Supervising, engineering, estimating and managerial time doesn't count. If you've been running work from the truck for three years, those hours may not help.

The rule text for Class A doesn't mention an exam. That's unusual. Most states with a journeyman license test you.

The 4,000-hours-in-5-years catch

Say you put in 8,000 hours from 2012 to 2016, then spent six years estimating. You've got the 8,000, but none of it falls in the last 5 years. You'd need 4,000 fresh hours with the tools, about two years full time, before you qualify on hours. Confirm with the board how it treats your history.

04Fees and renewal

The application fee is $100. The Class A license fee depends on where you land in the 3-year cycle: $150 in the first year, $100 in the second, $50 in the third. Renewal is $150 every 3 years.

For CE, a Class A journeyman attests to 15 credit hours on the most recent NEC at each renewal, from board-approved programs. No more than 8 hours count in one day. Keep your certificates for six years in case you're audited. The old rule for qualified journeymen was 10 hours.

05Does New Jersey have reciprocity?

Now it can, but only both ways. N.J.A.C. 13:31-5.8, also effective June 2, 2025, lets the board license an out-of-state journeyman if his home state gives equal reciprocity to New Jersey Class A journeymen and its requirements are substantially equivalent. You'd also need:

• 2 years of active practice as a journeyman in the last 5
• No discipline or pending cases anywhere
• Your home state's CE done
• A 15-hour course on the latest NEC from a board-approved provider
• Verification sent straight from your home board

The rule doesn't name the states, so ask the board which agreements are in place. Our reciprocity guide explains how these deals usually work.

The 30-day temporary license

For a short job, there's a temporary 30-day Class A license for out-of-state hands who meet the Class A qualifications. You get one per 3-year period, it costs a $75 license fee on top of the $100 application fee, and you must work under a licensed contractor without supervising. You sign an affidavit listing the dates you'll work. Anything past 30 days needs the full license.

Working the river? The New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware guides cover the states next door. New York and Pennsylvania are on our list of states with no statewide journeyman license.

06The electrical contractor license

The contractor license is still by exam. N.J.A.C. 13:31-2.1 requires you to be over 21 with a high school diploma or equivalent. Under N.J.A.C. 13:31-2.3, you need 5 years in the electrical business right before you apply, a completed 4-year apprenticeship approved by the U.S. Department of Labor, and at least 1 year (2,000 hours) as a journeyman after the apprenticeship. Third-party summaries say PSI runs the business and law and trade exams.

Contractors owe 34 CE hours every 3 years, including a 10-hour in-person NEC course (9 hours of code, 1 of state rules). Webinars don't count for that course.

07What does a New Jersey electrician make?

The median New Jersey electrician made $37.14 an hour in May 2025, and the top 10% made $62.91 or more. These are BLS OEWS straight-time wages for all electricians, apprentices included. They leave out overtime, per diem and benefits, and they're market data, not what any one contractor will pay you.

New Jersey had 13,520 electricians on payroll and a $77,250 median annual wage, $6.76 an hour above the national median. The spread inside the state is wide. Trenton-Princeton's median is $15.62 an hour above Atlantic City's, though only 600 electricians work in the Trenton metro. North Jersey falls in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro, the largest electrician market in the country with 36,550 on payroll. Our journeyman electrician pay guide covers what moves a rate.

Run your Pay Check to see what electricians with your license make near you. Takes about a minute and your boss never hears about it.

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