Rhode Island electrician license: levels, hours, reciprocity, pay

Rhode Island licenses journeymen statewide. As of 2026, the Department of Labor and Training's Board of Examiners of Electricians issues the Class B journeyperson license (Certificate B) after 8,000 hours as a registered apprentice and a state exam. The median Rhode Island electrician made $35.62 an hour in May 2025, per BLS.

The catch is getting in from outside. Rhode Island has no reciprocity agreements, so a journeyman from another state usually sits for the Rhode Island exam. For how that compares nationally, see our electrician license requirements in every state.

01Rhode Island license facts, as of 2026

Hours, CE and renewal come from Rhode Island's own statute, R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 5-6. The board's website blocked our reader, so rows marked come from Mike Holt Enterprises' state page, an exam-prep company that tracks every board. Confirm those with the board before you count on them; Mike Holt lists its number as (401) 462-8580.

02How do you get a Class B journeyperson license?

You put in the apprenticeship, then pass the state exam. Under R.I. Gen. Laws 5-6-24, the steps look like this:

1. Register as an apprentice. The day a licensed electrical contractor hires you, register with the Division of Professional Regulation. If you're a registered apprentice in a neighboring state, you need reciprocal recognition from DLT before you work as an apprentice in Rhode Island.
2. Log 8,000 hours over at least 4 years. You also need 144 hours of related instruction each year in a DLT-approved apprenticeship program, and your apprentice registration has to be at least 4 years old when you file.
3. Document it. Affidavits from your employers, or other proof of 8,000 hours as a registered apprentice in Rhode Island, go in with the application.
4. Pass the exam. The Certificate B goes to anyone who passes the exam given by the Division of Professional Regulation.

School can shave some of that classroom time. The statute credits 144 hours for an approved vocational school, and up to 288 hours for an accredited trade school program. A two-year electrical technology degree is its own route, but you still serve 4 years as a registered apprentice under a licensed journeyperson.

Our pillar on how to get your journeyman electrician license covers the exam prep side.

03What a Class B card lets you do

A Certificate B is a working card, not a business license. The statute says a Class B holder installs, services and tests electrical work as an employee of a licensed contractor (Certificate A, C or D), unless he's also registered as a contractor himself.

On the apprentice side, the law allows one registered apprentice working "with and under the direct personal supervision" of a licensed journeyperson. Plan your crew around that if you run work.

To work for yourself, you need the Class A contractor license. Mike Holt reports 6 years of experience and a journeyperson license held at least 2 years before the contractor exam. The business also registers with the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board. Our guide on going from journeyman to electrical contractor covers what that jump takes.

04Can you transfer an electrical license to or from Rhode Island?

Not by reciprocity. Rhode Island has no agreements to accept another state's journeyman license in place of its exam. It also sits outside the agreements New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts have with each other.

What the statute does allow is an exam route. Under 5-6-24, an applicant licensed in another state can qualify to sit for the Class B exam if the training behind that license equals Rhode Island's. So a Massachusetts or Connecticut journeyman may skip re-proving his hours, but he still tests. Confirm with the board how it judges equivalent training.

Going the other way, the card travels a little. Utah's Division of Professional Licensing lists Rhode Island's Certificate B journeyperson license as equivalent to a Utah journeyman on its endorsement map, last updated July 2020. You need to have held it at least a year, active and in good standing. That's one way only: Utah's card doesn't get you into Rhode Island. Confirm with Utah DOPL before you plan around it.

That one-year rule shows up on the hiring side too. One national electrical contractor told us they'd bring in journeymen licensed out of state, as long as each man had held his card over a year so it could transfer. If you just topped out, you're not there yet.

Our electrician license reciprocity guide shows which states trade cards and how the one-year rule works.

05Renewal and continuing education

Rhode Island licenses expire on your birthday and renew every two years, per R.I. Gen. Laws 5-6-20. Let one lapse for two years and it's forfeited; you test again to get it back.

To renew a Class A or Class B, you need at least 15 clock hours of continuing education on the current codes, under 5-6-20.1. Courses need approval from the board and the building commissioner's office, and the instructor has to be a Rhode Island licensed electrical contractor. Out-of-state residents holding a Rhode Island license can use a 15-hour course from their home state if it meets Rhode Island's standards and that state recognizes Rhode Island certificates.

Mike Holt reports the 2023 NEC took effect in Rhode Island on December 1, 2025, and that exams test on the 2023 code. Confirm with the board. For how 15 hours stacks up, see our list of electrician CE requirements by state.

06What does a Rhode Island electrician make?

The median Rhode Island electrician made $35.62 an hour in May 2025, $5.24 above the national median of $30.38, per BLS OEWS. These are 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.

The top of the Rhode Island range is bunched tight. The 75th percentile was $46.01 and the 90th was $49.44, only $3.43 apart (our math). Massachusetts' 90th percentile hit $61.64.

The middle half of Rhode Island electricians made $28.08 to $46.01, and the median annual wage was $74,090. Our journeyman electrician pay breakdown explains what puts a hand at the top or bottom of a range like that.

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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