Locations
Electricians by state and city
Electrical work is regulated locally. Who licenses electricians, who inspects their work, which utility owns the line to the house and what the weather does to it all change at the state line, and sometimes at the city line. Each of the 51 state guides below covers those points for one state, and 8 city pages go deeper where a city has its own code, inspection system or utility.
Southeast and Gulf Coast
Hurricanes, lightning and heat load. Florida and Louisiana license contractors at state level, with journeyman cards issued locally in several states.
Alabama
State board licenses contractors and journeymen. Tornadoes, Gulf hurricanes and heavy lightning.
Florida
Certified (statewide) or registered (local) contractors. Hurricanes, lightning and insurer inspections.
- MiamiHigh-Velocity Hurricane Zone rules, building recertification and insurer inspections.
Georgia
Class I and Class II contractor licenses. Tree-related storm damage, ice and intown rewiring.
Louisiana
State contractor board plus parish licenses. Hurricanes, flooding and long outages.
Mississippi
State board above thresholds, local below. Gulf hurricanes, tornadoes and heat.
North Carolina
Limited, intermediate and unlimited contractor licenses. Hurricanes, mountain flooding and ice.
South Carolina
Separate commercial and residential licensing boards. Hurricanes and tidal flooding.
Mid-Atlantic
Old housing stock and dense cities. New York and Pennsylvania have no statewide electrician license, so the city or township is the authority.
Delaware
State board licenses; inspections by state-licensed private agencies. Coastal flooding and salt air.
District of Columbia
Licensed by the Board of Industrial Trades. Pre-1940 rowhouses, conversions and historic review.
Maryland
State master license plus county registration. Rowhouse wiring and derecho outages.
New Jersey
State contractor license and business permit. Post-Sandy flood rules and older suburban services.
New York
Licensing is local; New York City has its own code. Pre-war buildings and upstate ice.
- New York CityCity-licensed master electricians, a city electrical code and building-wide limits.
Pennsylvania
Licensing is municipal; home improvement registration is statewide. Century-old rowhouse wiring.
- PhiladelphiaCity-licensed contractors, third-party inspection agencies and century-old rowhouses.
Virginia
Class A, B and C contractors plus tradesman licenses. Tidal flooding, ice and derechos.
West Virginia
Electricians licensed by the State Fire Marshal. Tree-related outages and flash flooding.
New England
Ice, coastal storms and pre-war wiring. Every New England state licenses electricians at state level.
Connecticut
E-1 and E-2 licenses from Consumer Protection. Tree-related storm outages and pre-1960 wiring.
Maine
State board and state inspectors. Winter outages, generators and heat pump load.
Massachusetts
Class A and B licenses; local inspectors of wires. Knob-and-tube and nor'easters.
New Hampshire
State Electricians' Board. Ice and wet snow outages, seasonal homes with small services.
Rhode Island
Certificate A and B licenses. Very old multi-family housing and coastal storms.
Vermont
Licensing board within Fire Safety. Valley flooding, heat pumps and home batteries.
Great Lakes and Ohio Valley
Derechos, ice and aging housing. Illinois and Indiana leave licensing to cities and counties; the others license statewide.
Illinois
Licensing is municipal. Chicago's conduit rules, older two-flats and summer derechos.
- ChicagoCity-issued licenses and a code that requires conduit, even in houses.
Indiana
Licensing is local and uneven. Tornadoes, ice and older industrial-city housing.
Kentucky
State licenses, state-certified inspectors. Ice, tornadoes and valley flooding.
Michigan
State licenses; state inspects where no local program. Ice, wind outages and 1920s housing.
Minnesota
State licenses and state inspectors. Extreme cold, frost depth and severe summer storms.
Ohio
State license for commercial work; residential is local. Pre-1940 wiring and derechos.
Wisconsin
DSPS licenses statewide. Cold, severe storms, pre-1930 Milwaukee housing and dairy wiring.
Plains and Mid-South
Tornadoes, ice and wide rural service territories, with state electrical boards doing much of the inspecting outside the cities.
Arkansas
State board licenses masters and journeymen. Ice storms, tornadoes and long rural lines.
Iowa
State board licenses and inspects. Derechos, farm services and winter ice.
Kansas
Licensing is local. Tornadoes, hail and long rural services.
Missouri
Optional statewide license plus local ones. Tornadoes, ice and old St. Louis wiring.
Nebraska
State Electrical Division licenses and inspects. All public power; hail, tornadoes, blizzards.
North Dakota
State Electrical Board licenses and inspects. Blizzards, cold and Red River flooding.
Oklahoma
Construction Industries Board licenses statewide. Tornadoes, ice storms and heat.
South Dakota
Electrical Commission licenses and inspects. Blizzards, derechos and farm services.
Tennessee
Contractor license at $25,000 and up; Limited Licensed Electrician below. Tornadoes and TVA local power.
Mountain West and Southwest
Extreme heat, wildfire shutoffs and fast growth. Arizona and Nevada license the contractor through a contractors board.
Arizona
Contractors licensed by the Registrar of Contractors; codes adopted city by city. Extreme heat and monsoon storms.
- PhoenixTwo utilities with different rules, extreme heat and air conditioning load.
Colorado
State Electrical Board licenses and inspects. Wind, wet snow, hail and wildfire shutoffs.
Idaho
State board licenses and inspects in most areas. Rapid growth and agricultural services.
Montana
State board licenses; state permits outside certified cities. Distance, cold and wind.
Nevada
C-2 contractor license from the Contractors Board. Extreme heat, EV charging and pools.
New Mexico
State division licenses and inspects. Adobe walls, dry-soil grounding and wildfire.
Utah
Division of Professional Licensing. Fast growth, canyon winds and basement apartments.
Wyoming
Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety licenses and inspects. Wind and distance.
Pacific
Winter windstorms, wildfire shutoffs, salt air and the highest EV and rooftop solar adoption in the country.
Alaska
Certificate of fitness for each electrician. Extreme cold, isolated grids and frost movement.
California
C-10 contractor license plus certified electricians. Wildfire shutoffs, EV charging and electrification.
- Los AngelesA municipal utility, LADBS permits and mid-century panels meeting EV demand.
Hawaii
State electrician licenses and a C-13 contractor license. Salt corrosion, solar and island grids.
Oregon
Building Codes Division licenses; contractors also need CCB. Ice, fire shutoffs and old wiring.
Washington
L&I licenses, certifies and inspects. Windstorms, electric heat and EV-ready codes.
- SeattleCity-run inspections, a municipal utility and old Craftsman wiring.
How coverage works
Calls are routed by ZIP code to an independent electrical contractor where one is available, and you will be told if none covers your area. A state guide is information about that state, not a promise that a contractor is on call in every county. City pages are added only when a local code, inspection system or utility changes how work is done, so most towns are covered by their state guide plus the national service pages, problem pages and guides. For a permit question in a city we have not written up, ask your own city or county building department.
An electrician where you are
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