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None. A job with a licensed contractor is enough.
Commercial electrical contracting (after five years of experience)
$64,700 a year, about $31.11 an hour
Ohio has manufacturing across the north, data centers and chip fabrication going up around Columbus, hospitals and universities in every metro, and a lot of older housing that needs rewiring. Day to day:
There is no Ohio journeyman electrician license and no state master license. The state licenses contractors, not the people doing the work.
So getting started here is about getting hired. Find an electrical contractor who will take you on, work under their license, and get paid while you learn the trade.
Note: A small number of Ohio cities do conduct their own journeyman licensing, so call the building department of the city where you plan to work just to make sure.
Get hired by a licensed contractor. That starts your paycheck as well as the five years the board will eventually count.
SkillUp houses short, low-cost programs in one place so you’re not calling around. Our Ohio training catalog only lists programs we have checked for cost, length, and whether they lead to work.
Ohio employs about 28,950 electricians, and the median is $64,700 a year, or $31.11 an hour.
When you want to contract in your own name, the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board is where to do so. It licenses five trades, including electrical, and its scope is quite narrow.
The license covers commercial projects. Residential buildings sit outside the board’s jurisdiction entirely, so an electrician who works only on houses may never need a state license at all. That is unusual: most states scope a license by the value of the job or the kind of work, while Ohio scopes it by the kind of building.
To qualify, you need five years in the electrical trade immediately before you apply, working under a licensed contractor. The application asks you to prove it with permits, at least one for each of the last five years, pulled by the contractor who employed you.
Ohio holds reciprocity with several southern and mid-Atlantic states. If you hold a comparable license in one of them, you can skip the Ohio trade exam, though you still sit the business and law paper and complete the Ohio application.
There is a separate out-of-state application for this, and you must have passed an equivalent exam in the reciprocating state rather than being licensed some other way.
SkillUp is so much more than a job board. Our free tools support you through each step:
No. Ohio does not license individual electricians. You work for a licensed electrical contractor and get paid while you build experience. A small number of cities run their own journeyman licensing, so check with the building department where you plan to work.
Not from the state. The Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board issues contractor licenses only, in five trades. Any journeyman licensing in Ohio is municipal.
Commercial electrical work. Residential buildings fall outside the board’s jurisdiction, so an electrician working only on houses may never need a state license.
Five years in the electrical trade immediately before you apply, working under a licensed contractor. An Ohio engineer registration with three years of business experience in the trade is an alternative route.
With permits. The board asks for at least one permit for each of the last five years, pulled by the contractor who employed you, alongside the rest of your application evidence.
At least $500,000 in contractor liability coverage, held in one contracting company name.
Yes, with several southern and mid-Atlantic states. You can skip the Ohio trade exam if you passed an equivalent exam in a reciprocating state, but you still take the business and law exam and file an out-of-state application.
The median is $64,700 a year, about $31.11 an hour. The top quarter earns above $80,500, and the top ten percent above $99,280. Helpers have a median of $41,920.
