How Much Do Electricians REALLY Make?

it's always a big question for any career path what the money is going to be like up front and at the end because that is the reason why we go to work every single day is to bring home a paycheck and to support our lives so today we're going to be talking about how much you should expect to make as an apprentice electrician as well as a breakdown of how quickly it scales from Apprentice to journeyman and what that looks like then in the deep end of this video I'll tell you guys how much I made my first year as an apprentice electrician and how I doubled that by the time I started my third year as an apprentice comment down below and let me know what your starting wage was your first year and subscribe for more videos like this and to support the trades that's what we're trying to do here at American electrician is help spread the word of what's going on in the trades an apprentice electrician is somebody who is learning to become a licensed electrician both in school and in the field they work under a journeyman or a network of Journeymen in a company and this is definitely my favorite form of Education I believe in this form of education so much I try to apply it to every area of my life because it combines schooling with so like learning with your eyes and through books and also hands-on experience which is the best teacher that you can find there are a few different things that play into what an apprentice makes location is a big one experience and the industry are the three major factors there's also Union and non-union where Union is a standardized and non-union is not non-union is what people are traditionally used to in the workforce I am non-union so the wages vary for me and traditionally people think that this way pays a little bit less but at the end I'll show you guys what I was making as a third year print and I think that it's going to surprise you guys the typical range for a first year Apprentice is somewhere between 13 and 20 an hour this means that while you're earning an education you can make somewhere between 27 and 41 000 for your first year so while most people are racking up debt you are racking up cash and knowledge I would really consider what area of the country you're in which will significantly affect how much you make in the cost of living is going to change how much you end up getting paid Indiana is right in the middle of the pack but it also depends on your experience level I was super green when I started I mean I had no experience at all and I was so bad at anything mechanical I could not read a tape measure to save my life typically bigger Cities end up paying a lot more than small rural places however it really just depends also on the kind of work that you have in that area the good news is that no matter where you start at on that scale whether it's 13 or 20 you are guaranteed to go up every single year this is the beautiful part of an apprenticeship and that's what makes it a career and not just a job for now not only are you learning right now but every single year you get a pay increase so as an apprentice you're working up to be a journeyman typically this is a four-year deal in Indiana it's four years that's what I'm used to in some places it is five and it really just depends on what kind of schooling you're going through every single year you get closer and closer to being a journeyman now you don't just have to blindly head into this and have no idea what the end of that four years looks like we know what journeyman make typically it's somewhere between 30 to 35 dollars per hour for the first couple of years so no matter where you start on that end if it's the low end or the high end you typically head towards the higher end of making about seventy thousand dollars per year as a journeyman the union scale typically lends from about 33 to 40 an hour here in Indiana and we're about the middle of the pack so depending on your area it could be much higher or much lower it really it just depends on your area you can also receive your Master's license which takes a lot more work and is a very large test not many people pass it on their first try here in Indiana however you can end up making so much more money you can also become certified in other areas such as Telecom or other skills getting any sort of certification and adding value to you can increase your pay substantially there's also a potential to even own your own business which can pay astronomically larger than most things ever and it really depends on how you run it and you can end up having a lot more free time or a lot more money it just depends on how you want to run the business but the more valuable that you make yourself to a company the more that they're willing to pay you to keep you so this means that you have the availability to make about 13 to 20 an hour for your first year and guaranteed to go up every single year after that the ceiling is also incredibly high with a guarantee of good money at the end of your journey as an apprentice and you know what it's heading towards my suggestion is to bargain and try to get as much up front as you can because I have seen it where typically even if you get a two dollar raise if you started at 13 you're only making 15 but if you do start at 17 then you're making 19. so you want to try and just get as much out of that as you can up front don't be stingy work with your company when I started I was making 15 an hour but by the time I was a third year I was making thirty dollars an hour now this is because I was running work I was valuable and I was making my company money I would very commonly run service calls and do other things for my company I was skilled and I was certified in a few different things that's not a very common number however I made myself valuable and so my company they paid me for that and even my first year when I was making 15 I ended up making about forty thousand dollars that year now this is a huge jump and it's somewhat unrealistic for most situations or scenarios and some companies can't do that however I did do that and so it is possible if you apply yourself and you make yourself useful and valuable and available people will pay you I hope this helped answer your questions if you have any more leave them in the comments and if you're wanting to know the top three reasons why you can't afford to not join the trades now go ahead and click on this video up here in the corner and I will see you guys on the next one

Channel: American Electrician

Views: 30,411

Keywords: Electrical apprentice, Electrician, How to start, Becoming an electrician, Becoming an apprentice, Trade school, Union, How to be come an electrician, Electricians vlog, Electrical vlog, Knipex, Veto pro pac, Wiha, Carhartt, New job, apprentice electrician, electricians tools, klein tools, mad electrician, electrician apprentice, Electrical apprenticeship, electrician u, electricians money, electrician wages, how much money do electricians make

Id: z_-XCINoalU

Length: 6min 49sec (409 seconds)

Published: Thu May 25 2023