Traveling electrician guide: pay, per diem and what to ask

A travel job is worth it when the whole check beats home: rate, overtime on 6-10s, per diem by the day, times how long the job really runs. In one labeled example ($40 an hour, 6-10s, $150 a day per diem for 7 days), a week on the road comes to $3,850 before tax and a 12-week job to $46,200. What decides it is the rate at home, the hotel bill and whether the job lasts.

This guide adds those pieces into one number. It also covers union travel through Book 2, open-shop travel, licenses in other states, housing and family, and the questions to ask before you pack up.

01What does a travel job really pay?

Add four things: straight time, overtime, per diem and the number of weeks. A high rate on a short job can pay less than a fair rate on a long one.

Here's a worked example, our math. Say the job pays $40 an hour on 6-10s (60 hours a week), with $150 a day per diem paid all 7 days:

Now stretch it over the job:

Then take out what the road costs. If the hotel near the site is $120 a night, that's $840 a week, and you're left with $3,010 before tax and food. Per diem that's paid only on days worked (6 days, $900 a week) drops the check to $3,700 before the room.

To put that next to what you make at home, see the travel vs local pay math, which runs both on the same page.

02How overtime works on 6-10s

Federal law pays time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek, so on 6-10s, 20 of your 60 hours are overtime.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime is "not less than" one and a half times your regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Federal law has no daily overtime, and hours can't be averaged across two weeks (DOL Fact Sheet #23). A few states add their own daily overtime rules, so check where the job is.

What to watch is the schedule after rough-in. Plenty of jobs run 6-10s through the push, then drop to 5-10s or 5-8s. Using the same $40 rate:

Going from 6-10s to 5-8s is $1,200 a week less on the same rate. Ask how long the 6-10s are expected to last, not just whether they're "available." Our post on what 6-10s really pay runs the overtime math at other rates and schedules.

Union sheets set their own overtime. IBEW Local 340's June 2026 inside sheet, for example, lists the journeyman at $53.70 straight time, $80.55 time and a half and $107.40 double time.

03Per diem: by the day, by the week and the tax line

Per diem in electrician travel ads on RoadDogJobs in October 2026 ran $70 to $190 a day, most of them $100 to $150. The unit (7 days or days worked) is worth as much as the number.

The federal yardstick is GSA's FY2027 rate: $181 a day in most counties ($113 lodging plus $68 meals and incidentals), and more in cities. Columbus, Ohio is $218 a day, and Salt Lake City is $232. In Columbus, $100 a day doesn't even cover a room at the $138 GSA lodging rate.

Read every ad twice. One South Dakota power plant ad posted Oct. 19, 2026 said "$125/day for all 7 days" in the body, which is $875 a week, while its header showed $1,075 a week. Ask which number is real before you drive out.

The details (7 days vs days worked, hotel vs cash, distance rules, the GSA table) are in how per diem works for electricians.

The tax side matters too. Per diem is only tax-free when you keep a tax home, sleep away from it, and the job is expected to run a year or less. The per diem tax rules explain the tax home test, the one-year rule, and why a rate cut paid back as per diem is wages.

04How long does the job really run?

Length is the piece that decides the whole check, and it's the one ads are vaguest about.

Getting short-termed (sent home early when the phase ends or manpower gets cut) is the biggest risk on the road. You paid to get there, maybe signed a lease, and the check stops. Ask:

• What phase is the job in, and when does it top out on manpower?
• How many hands are on site now, and how many at peak?
• When the phase ends, is there a next job, at this site or nearby?
• Who goes first when they cut back: travelers or locals?

From the contractor side, pay and length are tied. One national electrical contractor told us one of their jobs "doesn't pay enough to hold these guys down to where they can stay long term." When a road job pays under the market, hands leave early, and the crew that stays carries the load. Ask what the rate looks like next to other jobs in the area. Our post on how to tell if a job will last goes deeper.

Length also matters for taxes. A job at one location expected to run more than a year makes per diem taxable from the start.

05Union travel through Book 2 vs open-shop travel

Union and open-shop hands both travel. The paperwork and the way the work finds you are different.

Union travelers

A union journeyman traveling to another local signs that local's out-of-work list as a traveler, usually Book 2, and gets dispatched under that local's referral rules. You work under that local's agreement, including its rate and any subsistence it pays.

Each local runs its own books, so read the rules before you go. Two examples:

• IBEW Local 26 (Washington, DC area) asks travelers for a photo ID, a current paid dues receipt and a letter of introduction or travel letter from the home local, all sent at once. The daybook sign-in runs 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday, and you re-sign monthly between the 1st and the 25th.
• IBEW Local 11 (Los Angeles) has applicants sign the daybook by 8 a.m. and re-sign monthly between the 10th and the 16th, in person or on the local's website. Miss the re-sign and your name comes off the books.

Subsistence comes from the local's agreement, not a company's whim. IBEW Local 340's northern counties, for example, define subsistence at 55 road miles or more, with the employer furnishing meals and lodging for each day or part of a day worked. For how Book 1 and Book 2 work, see how union electricians travel.

Open-shop travelers

An open-shop journeyman goes direct to a contractor, through a travel job board, or through a staffing agency. The rate and per diem are whatever you agree to, so the questions at the bottom of this guide are your contract.

Direct and agency travel pay differently. BLS puts the May 2025 median for electricians working for electrical contractors at $61,570, against $57,760 for those in employment services, the staffing industry (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). That's a median across all work, not a rule for every job. Ask any agency who you'd work for at the site and whether you can go direct later.

06Licensing in other states

Your journeyman card may or may not cross the state line. Check the board where the job is, not the board you're from.

Some rules worth knowing, as of 2026 (confirm with each board before you go):

• The National Electrical Reciprocal Alliance (NERA). A block of mostly plains and mountain states takes each other's journeyman cards when they were earned by state exam and held at least a year. North Dakota, for example, takes journeymen from 13 states, including Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming (North Dakota State Electrical Board).
• Wyoming takes journeymen from more than 15 states, but only once. If you let a reciprocal Wyoming license lapse, you "are not eligible to reciprocate your license again" and have to test. A journeyman working in Wyoming must be "employed at all times" by a Wyoming-licensed electrical contractor (Wyoming Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety).
• Alaska accepts journeyman reciprocity applications from any U.S. state since August 2025, "without a mutual agreement between states" (Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development).
• Michigan "does not hold reciprocity with any other state." Out-of-state hands send their license and their state's requirements for review.
• States with no statewide journeyman card license at the city or county level. On those jobs, ask which local card you need.

A card that transfers is real money. The South Dakota ad above paid $57 an hour on days to hands licensed in South Dakota or a reciprocal state, and $43 to non-licensed hands. Our math on a 60-hour week: 40 x $14 plus 20 x $21 is $980 a week more for the license.

The full state-by-state picture is in which states have electrician license reciprocity.

07Housing and family time

The road check only works if the road life works. Sort out three things before you go.

Where you'll sleep. A company hotel saves you the deposit and the hunt, but ask if it's a single room. Cash per diem lets you pick, which matters if you cook. A camper cuts the nightly cost, but price the RV lot near the site first. Near big jobs, those lots can fill up. Renting a room or splitting an Airbnb with another hand works on long jobs, if you trust the guy.

How you'll get home. On 6-10s you get one day off a week. Ask whether the company pays a trip home mid-job, and whether travel pay covers the drive out and back. Under federal rules, travel away from home overnight counts as work time when it cuts across your normal working hours, even on a day off, but time riding as a passenger outside those hours generally doesn't (DOL Fact Sheet #22).

What it costs at home. Kids' games, a wife running the house alone, a dog that needs someone. Talk it through before you sign, with a real end date and a point where you'll sit down and decide whether to stay on if the job runs long.

08What to ask before you pack up

Get these answered by the company, in writing, before you leave home:

1. What's the rate, and is it the same on every shift?
2. What's the schedule now, and how long are the 6-10s expected to last?
3. How much is per diem, and is it per day worked or all 7 days?
4. Hotel provided or cash? Single or shared room?
5. Do I lose per diem on rain days or if I miss a day?
6. Is there travel pay to get there and home at the end? A trip home mid-job?
7. What phase is the job in, and when does it peak on manpower?
8. How long is it expected to run, and is there a next job after it?
9. Which license or card do I need, and do you help with reciprocity paperwork?
10. Who's the foreman, and how long has he been with the company?
11. Is there badging, a drug test or safety orientation before day one, and is that time paid?
12. Am I working for you directly, or through an agency?

If a company won't answer number 8, that tells you something.

Before you compare a road offer to home, get your home number straight. Run your Pay Check to see what electricians with your license make near you. It takes about a minute, and your boss never hears about it.

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