Earn More MoneyDecember 7, 2020January 3, 2021

How Much Money Can An Electrician Earn?

Working in trades is a common topic on our website. However, the term “trade” is a very broad term. Therefore, there are many types of trade jobs that are out there. I guarantee that if you were to look at a list of trade jobs, there will be a few that are unfamiliar. For example, we covered a few trade jobs in one article. You can view that article here. However, it is always good to take a deeper look into particular trade jobs. For example, many people have heard of an electrician. However, some people don’t know what they do. Furthermore, there are people who are unaware of the various types of electricians.

With that being said, the focus of this article will be on electricians. An electrician is a very well known trade. Furthermore, it can also be extremely lucrative, like any other trade. However, some readers may not know how lucrative it is or where they can look to start. Well, look no further because we’re going to break down how much money an electrician could make. Furthermore, we will take a look into how you can become an electrician and the various types.

What Is An Electrician?

As an electrician, you can have a multitude of tasks. These tasks can range from maintaining to troubleshooting and repairing power generation. This can be breakers, wiring, and distribution equipment. While these are some of the tasks you’ll have to endure, being an electrician requires a lot of knowledge. This means knowing how to read and understand blueprints/schematics. This can be learned in a few ways, most notably school.

If you choose to be an electrician and own your own company, you may have slightly different tasks. For example, if you own a company, people will often call you to fix wiring, if you’re residential. However, if you work for a corporation, your daily operations can consist of performing daily inspections. Furthermore, if you own a company, large corporations can contract you out. This will sometimes be the case if you have a company with a multitude of employees. Regardless of what path you choose, as an electrician, you’re responsible for the maintenance and repairing of units that provide or distribute power.

What Are The Various Types of Electricians?

Much like other trades and jobs, as an electrician, you can choose to specialize in a particular field. Contrary to what many may think, there are actually a lot of specializations that electricians can take. Furthermore, you can choose to do multiple specializations. There is no rule saying that if you choose to be a maintenance electrician, you can’t be anything else. Therefore, a lot of people choose to be an electrician because it offers a wide variety for you to choose from. With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the specializations that you can progress towards.

Above is a snippet from homestratosphere. These are 4 specializations of electricians that I have not previously discussed. Low voltage, industrial, electrical instrumentation, and highway systems. Of course, some of these specializations pay more than others. For example, an industrial electrician can earn, on average, $72,000 per year. However, a low voltage electrician can earn you on average $43,000. Both of these numbers are based on salaries that have been surveyed. This means that you can potentially earn more. However, this is something that we’ll talk about more in-depth in the latter half of this article. Now that we’ve discussed that you can specialize in various fields, we need to talk about how you can become an electrician.

How Do You Become An Electrician?

There are a few ways to become an electrician. However, the main way to become an electrician through schooling and programs. Of course, being an electrician is very hands-on. In contrast to university, when you go to school for trades, you’re be getting plenty of infield experience. However, one thing you’ll almost always need is a GED or a high school diploma. This is the minimum requirement. After this, you can choose to go to colleges that specialize in trade studies.

Above is the tuition for two years at Algonquin College. At this institution, you can take a two-year pre-apprentice course for just under $2,000. However, this does not include any additional fees. These fees can include housing, food, books, supplies, and any other resources that this college has to offer.

If you’re lucky and find an amazing program, you may even have the opportunity to be paid while learning. Similar to an apprenticeship, you can do paid co-op. Here, you will learn the tricks of the trade while earning money. In any ideal career path, doing this is the most optimal. This is due to the fact that you can mitigate your expenses and start earning money as soon as possible. However, after this is finished, you need to become an apprentice. Finishing an apprenticeship can take up to 5 years, depending on the fielded and company.

How Much Money Do Electricians Make?

It’s time for the part that most people came to this article for. How much money can you make as an electrician? We’ll as we previously stated earlier in the article, it depends. It depends on the field you want to go into. For example. we stated that industrial electricians can earn, on average, $70,000+ per year. Whereas low voltage technicians earn on average $40,000+ per year. Since we discussed these particular fields, lets take a look into the other specializations.

Above is the average amount of money that a commercial electrician can earn on an hourly basis. If you convert this to an annual number, it will equate to just over $70,000 per year. This is higher than what the average Canadian earns. However, there is one important thing to note when displaying these numbers. They do not account for any overtime. As a trade worker, you’ll have many opportunities to work overtime. More often than not, you’ll be working 10+ hours per day. This means that this rate of $34.25 per hour will become time and a half. However, there are the possibilities of being contracted out. Furthermore, your income can also be increased if you get bonuses or commissions.

Next on our list is a maintenance electrician. These people install and assemble a mariot of electronic equipment. As well as maintaining them. However, you can see that they earn quite a considerable amount of money. There is a common theme in terms of income when it comes to electricians. Most of the specializations that we’ve looked at today have had earnings higher than the average Canadian. It seems that the average electrician can earn over $70,000 per year in many of their fields.

Lastly, once you’ve garnered enough experience, you can always look to open your own business. You can do this by going through the proper channels. However, you can be a freelancer who focuses on residential areas. You can make a healthy living off this strategy. If that’s not your forte, you can always create a business, hire employees and acquire contracts for large commercial businesses. When a building is being created, they need a large number of people. This means contractors, plumbers and electricians.

Shameed Chris Khan

Shameed is just a man on a mission to help those around him gain financial success. Obsessed with writing about all things finance, this GTA native is constantly learning and sharing his experiences with others.