Electrician

 

Types of Degrees Electrician Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many electrician graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Undergraduate Certificate	11,326
Basic Certificate	8,212
Associate Degree	2,699

What Electrician Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to electrician were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Electrician Majors

Electrician majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Electrician Majors

electrician majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Quality Control Analysis - Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
• Troubleshooting - Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Electrician Majors

A major in electrician will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Electrician Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with electrician:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Electricians	8.9%	$55,190
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	12.6%	$65,230
Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers	14.2%	$47,190
Signal and Track Switch Repairers	2.0%	$70,490

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Electrician?

This major tends to be male dominated. About 95% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of electrician majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	41
Black or African American	197
Hispanic or Latino	407
White	1,868
International Students	6
Other Races/Ethnicities	180

Geographic Diversity

Electrician appeals to people across the globe. About 0.2% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Electrician Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Electrician majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $48,540 to $67,800 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Electrician

Some degrees associated with electrician may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to electrician have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	4.6%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	26.7%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	41.9%
Some College Courses	14.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	10.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	2.9%

Online Electrician Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	359	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	41	0
Associate’s Degree	212	1
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Electrician Worth It?

The median salary for a electrician grad is $59,190 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 48% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $385,800 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Electrician

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to electrician.

Major	Number of Grads
Lineworker	2,257
General Electrical & Power Transmission Installation/Installer	1,836
Other Electrical & Power Transmission Installers	129

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Fran Hogan under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.