How Much Should an Electrician Charge per Hour?

TL;DR: Homeowners typically pay $50 to $100 an hour for a qualified electrician, with the first hour often around $150 because it covers the trip, according to Angi's 2026 cost guide. Master electricians are listed at $90 to $120 an hour. Your own number should come from your costs, not theirs. The worked example below shows how.

The going rate tells you what customers are used to seeing. It does not tell you whether that rate keeps your truck on the road. You need both numbers.

Angi's electrician cost guide (updated August 3, 2026) gives these ranges:

• Typical hourly rate: $50 to $100.
• First hour / service call: $100 to $200, about $150 on average.
• Emergency call-outs: often $100 to $200 added on top, or roughly double the normal rate.
• By license level: apprentice $40 to $60, journeyperson $60 to $90, master $90 to $120.
• Minimums: many electricians charge one to four hours of labor no matter how short the job.

Angi also notes city electricians often charge $100 or more an hour, while rural rates sit nearer $50. Its own headline range runs up to $130.

Treat these as what a homeowner sees on the bill. They are not what you take home.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for electricians at $30.38 an hour ($63,190 a year) as of May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned under $42,640. The top 10% earned over $108,510.

That is employee pay. The employer covers the truck, insurance, payroll taxes, and the hours nobody bills for. BLS wage data also leaves out self-employed workers.

So if you bill $30 an hour on your own, you are paying yourself far less than a wage job. The gap between $30 and $100 is your overhead and your unbilled time.

Grab last year's numbers, or your best guess if you're new. Then do this.

1. Pick your pay. Decide what you want to earn in a year. Many people start with what they'd make on a crew. We'll use the BLS median, $63,190.
2. Add self-employment tax. The IRS self-employment tax rate is 15.3% (Social Security plus Medicare). An employer used to pay half of that. Now you pay all of it.
3. Add your fixed costs. Insurance, truck, phone, software, license renewals, tools, accounting, advertising.
4. Count your billable hours. Not hours worked. Hours you can actually put on an invoice. Driving, quoting, supply runs, and callbacks don't count.
5. Divide, then add profit. Total cost divided by billable hours is your break-even rate. Add a margin on top so the business can grow and survive a slow month.

Lines with a source are marked. The rest are round numbers to show the math. Swap in your own.

Why no auto insurance line? The IRS standard mileage rate is a per-mile figure for running a vehicle, so we use it as a rough figure for the whole truck. If you track real truck costs instead, add your commercial auto premium (Insureon's median for electricians is $3,304 a year).

Now the hours. Say you work 48 weeks and can bill 25 hours a week. That's 1,200 billable hours.

• Break-even rate: $91,493 ÷ 1,200 = about $76 an hour.
• Add a 15% profit margin: about $88 an hour.

Notice where that lands. A solo electrician paying themselves a median wage ends up near the top of Angi's typical range. That's why first-hour minimums exist. A 30-minute outlet swap with a 40-minute drive each way loses money at a flat hourly rate.

Change one number and watch the rate move. Bill 1,000 hours instead of 1,200 and break-even jumps to about $91. Billable hours move your rate more than anything else on the list.

Keep labor and materials separate on every quote.

• Price breakers, devices, wire, and fixtures at what they cost you, plus a markup for sourcing, handling, and the risk of returns.
• Don't hide material cost inside a bigger hourly number. It makes small jobs look overpriced and big jobs underpriced.

Most small shops end up using both.

• Hourly works for troubleshooting, where you can't know how long it will take.
• Flat rate works for repeat jobs you know well: a ceiling fan swap, a GFCI outlet, a fixture install. You price from your hourly rate times your real average time, plus materials.
• Service call fee covers the drive and the first chunk of diagnosis. Say clearly what it includes and whether it goes toward the repair.

We cover the paperwork side of this, from first call to invoice, in Electrician Service Call Paperwork.

If you want to run this math without building a spreadsheet, the Electrician Pricing Calculator ($14.99) is one Excel workbook with a service pricing tab for your hourly rate, service hours and material costs, plus a quote builder with fields for materials, travel and deposit.

To show customers your standard prices once you've set them, the Electrician Price List & Service Menu ($4.99) gives you an editable price list.

Not by Angi's numbers. $100 sits at the top of its typical range and inside its master-electrician range. Whether it's right for you depends on your costs and billable hours.

Angi lists $100 to $200 for the first hour, about $150 on average. Many electricians build the drive and first diagnosis time into that fee. Tell the customer what it covers before you go.

Check it, but don't copy it. Their truck, insurance, and hours aren't yours. Work out your break-even rate first, then compare.

BLS reports employee pay. The customer's price also pays for the truck, insurance, taxes, unbilled time, and profit. BLS wage data doesn't include self-employed electricians.

Many electricians do. Angi says emergency calls often add $100 to $200 or double the rate. Put your after-hours rate in writing before you roll the truck.

Checked October 1, 2026.

• Angi, "How Much Does an Electrician Cost to Hire? (2026 Data)," updated Aug 3, 2026
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Electricians (May 2025 wage data; page modified Aug 27, 2026)
• IRS, Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes)
• IRS, Standard mileage rates (2026: 72.5¢ Jan–Jun, 76¢ Jul–Dec; page updated Jul 28, 2026)
• IRB 2026-29, Announcement 2026-11 (rates are for "computing the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business")
• Insureon, "How much does electrician insurance cost?" (median customer premiums; updated Jul 28, 2026)

This is general information, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Rates vary by city, license level, and type of work. Check current figures at the sources listed above before you set prices.