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Home / Electricians / Tennessee

How to become an electrician in Tennessee

Tennessee licenses electricians at the state level through the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors.1 You start as an apprentice or trainee and work toward the exam.

64registered apprenticeship programs$29.37median an hour in Tennessee

Pick your way in

Apprenticeship

Earn while you learn

A program hires you, pays you on the job and runs your classes.

Pay
From day one
In TN
64 registered programs
Find a program near you
Trade school

Classroom first

Learn the basics, then find work to log your hours.

Pay
You pay tuition
In TN
16 schools with programs
Compare 16 schools
Helper

Start on a crew

Get hired as a helper by a licensed electrical contractor and log hours on the job.

Pay
Paid on the job
Start
No experience needed
How to get started

The license steps

  1. Start as an apprentice or trainee

    Join a registered apprenticeship, take a trade school program, or work as a helper for a licensed contractor.

    Issued by
    Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors
    Compare the ways in
  2. Journeyman license

    No experience requirement appears in the Board's LLE rules, which list only an application, fees and the exam

  3. Run your own shop

    Experience is required to support the monetary limit; the application instructions say the Board prefers 3 years. A reference letter from a past client, employer or code official is required.

    Issued by
    TN Board for Licensing Contractors (Commerce & Insurance)
    Tennessee contractor license
Already logging hours?

Exam vendor, code book, fees, renewal and reciprocity for the Tennessee license.

Tennessee electrician license
Pay once you're working

$61,090

a year is the median for electricians in Tennessee ($29.37 an hour, May 2025).5

Pay by city and percentile
  1. Chattanooga$34.77
  2. Nashville–Davidson$30.45
  3. Memphis$29.27
  4. Jackson$29.02
  5. Cleveland$28.97
Tennessee median $29.37 an hour

Questions

Do you need a license to work on your own as an electrician in Tennessee?

Yes. Tennessee licenses electrical contractors through the TN Board for Licensing Contractors (Commerce & Insurance).3

Are electricians in demand in Tennessee?

Projections Central expects about 2,330 electrician openings a year in Tennessee through 2034, counting new jobs and people leaving the trade.4

Next step

Find an apprenticeship near you

64 registered programs in Tennessee. Enter your ZIP to see the closest ones and what they ask for.

Find a program

More for electricians in Tennessee

Sources

  1. Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (tn.gov, 2026-10-27)
  2. Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors: experience requirements (publications.tnsosfiles.com, 2026-10-27)
  3. TN Board for Licensing Contractors (Commerce & Insurance) contractor licensing (tn.gov, 2026-10-27)
  4. Projections Central, long-term occupational projections 2024-2034 (projectionscentral.org, 2024-2034)
  5. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Tennessee, May 2025 (bls.gov, May 2025)