Register as an apprentice with the state
8,000 hours and four years, and you must be 20
$76,270 a year, about $36.67 an hour
Michigan runs on plants and the buildings around them: auto and battery manufacturing across the southeast, hospitals and universities in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, utility and grid work statewide, and older housing stock that needs rewiring.
Day to day:
Michigan requires an electrical apprentice registration, and the Bureau of Construction Codes is direct about it: you cannot be on the job site without an active one.
Three conditions come with it, and the second one surprises people:
The apprentice application is a short form. The program you enroll in has to be approved by the board, and the board approves programs that meet or exceed federal registered apprenticeship standards.
If you live in the City of Detroit, the state does not license you. Detroit issues its own electrical licenses and registrations locally, and the bureau directs Detroit residents to contact the city instead.
Everywhere else in Michigan, the state license is the one you need. Check which side of that line you are on before filing anything, because the applications are not interchangeable.
Michigan attaches minimum ages to these licenses, which you should plan around if you start young.
So if you start at 18, you will hit 8,000 hours before you hit the age gate. Worth knowing so the timing does not catch you out. Applications go through the state licensing portal using the exam application form.
Michigan employs about 23,530 electricians, and the median is $76,270 a year, or $36.67 an hour.
Because registration depends on being enrolled in an approved program and employed at the same time, the two have to line up before you can start counting hours.
Michigan holds no reciprocity with any other state or country. Your license does not transfer.
You can still apply. Send a copy of the license you hold and a copy of that jurisdiction’s licensing rules, showing in detail the hours, schooling, and conditions you had to meet. The bureau reviews it against what Michigan requires.
Send the fullest documentation you can, since the review turns on whether your hours and schooling match up.
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Yes. Michigan requires an electrical apprentice registration and the Bureau of Construction Codes states you cannot be on the job site without an active one. You also have to be employed by a master electrician and an electrical contractor and enrolled in an approved related technical instruction program.
8,000 hours and at least four years as a registered apprentice, supervised by a Michigan licensed journeyman or master electrician. You also have to be at least 20 years old and score 75 percent on the exam.
20 for a journeyman license and 22 for a master license. There is no stated minimum age for apprentice registration, so someone starting at 18 can reach the hours before reaching the age.
Yes. If you live in the City of Detroit, the city issues its own electrical licenses and registrations, and the state directs Detroit residents to contact the city directly.
4,000 hours as a licensed journeyman and at least two years holding that license, with 12,000 hours of experience over at least six years in total, plus the master exam at 75 percent.
No. Michigan does not require an examination for the electrical contractor, fire alarm contractor, or sign contractor licenses. You still have to apply, and you need a master electrician license or an employee who holds one.
No. Michigan holds no reciprocity with any other state or country. You can apply with a copy of your out-of-state license and that jurisdiction’s licensing rules, and the bureau reviews whether the hours and schooling match Michigan’s.
The median is $76,270 a year, about $36.67 an hour. The top quarter earns above $92,300, and the top ten percent above $103,120. Helpers have a median of $44,240.
