Lessons · Electrical · who licenses you, and the states where it is not the state
Who licenses you, and the places where the answer is not the state
Most states license electricians centrally, through one authority for the whole state. A small number do not, and the city or county licenses instead, which means neighbouring municipalities can have different requirements and a licence from one may not be recognised in the next.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a licensed electrician. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
Every other licensing road on this site can safely say 'find your state board', because for every other licensed career a state board is the answer. Here that instruction is wrong for some readers, and being wrong in that particular way is expensive: somebody researches a state requirement that does not govern them, meets it, and discovers the authority that actually licenses them wanted something else. It also means advice from a colleague an hour away can be accurate and still not apply to you.
How to think about it
Before anything else, find out whether your state licenses electricians centrally or leaves it to municipalities. Only once you know which, go looking for the requirement, and get it from the authority that will actually issue your licence rather than from a state-level summary that may not govern your town. Requirements here are set by whoever licenses you and they change, so any figure you plan around has to come from that authority's own page rather than from here or from somebody who qualified in a different place or a different year.
Worked example
Most states license centrallyOne authority, one set of requirements for the whole state.
Some do notThe city or county licenses instead, and there is no statewide licence to hold.
So neighbouring towns can differTwo electricians an hour apart can be under different authorities.
And a licence may not travel across the lineEven inside one state, when the licence was a municipal one.
Which is why this question comes firstLooking up the wrong authority's requirement is looking up nothing.
Your turn
Name the first thing to establish about licensing where you live.
First find out whether your state licenses centrally or leaves it to the
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Reading a state requirement and assuming it governs you. In the states with no statewide licence there is no state requirement to meet, and the one that matters is your municipality's. Requirements here are set by whoever licenses you and they change, so any figure you plan around has to come from that authority's own page rather than from here or from somebody who qualified in a different place or a different year.