Electrician Exam Statistics by State (2026 Data)

Most electrician exam guides cover one state at a time. We did the opposite: we compiled the journeyman licensing exam format for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia into a single dataset, then looked at the patterns across the whole country. Here is what the US electrician licensing landscape actually looks like by the numbers.

Methodology

These figures come from GetLicenseReady's own state exam dataset, which tracks the testing vendor, question count, passing score, and open-book status for the journeyman license in each of the 50 states plus DC (51 jurisdictions). Where a state has no single statewide license and licensing happens at the city or county level, we recorded the most common or representative jurisdiction. Always confirm the current details with your state or local licensing board before scheduling, because vendors and rules change.

Testing vendor: PSI dominates

PSI administers the journeyman electrician exam in 28 of the 51 jurisdictions, more than every other vendor combined.

• PSI: 27 jurisdictions
• Prov: 8 jurisdictions
• Pearson VUE: 6 jurisdictions
• State-administered (the state runs its own exam): 5 jurisdictions
• ICC (International Code Council content): 1 jurisdiction
• Local, municipal, or jurisdiction-specific vendors (including New York City and Chicago's Continental Testing Services): the remaining 4

The practical takeaway: if you are studying for an electrician exam in the US, there is better than a one-in-two chance you will sit it at a PSI testing center.

Passing score: 70% is the standard

A 70% passing score is by far the most common requirement.

• 70%: 41 jurisdictions
• 75%: 9 jurisdictions (including Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and Utah)
• 80%: 1 jurisdiction (West Virginia)

So roughly 4 out of 5 jurisdictions set the bar at 70%, and only a handful go higher. On an 80-question exam, 70% means you can miss 24 questions, which sounds generous until you are racing the clock in an open codebook.

Open book: about 90% of exams

The electrician exam is open book in the large majority of jurisdictions.

• Open book: 46 jurisdictions
• Closed book: 1 jurisdiction
• Varies by jurisdiction: 4

Open book does not mean easy. With roughly 80 questions and a multi-hour limit, you do not have time to look up every answer. The electricians who pass are the ones who know the code well enough to navigate a tabbed NEC quickly, which is exactly why every question in our bank cites the exact article.

Question count: 80 is typical

Across the jurisdictions we tracked, the journeyman exam ranges from 40 to 155 questions, with a median of 80 and an average of about 85. Most candidates face a 3 to 4 hour time limit, so pacing matters as much as knowledge.

What this means for your prep

Three patterns hold almost everywhere: the exam is open book, the code is the NEC (2023 in most states), and the passing score is 70%. That means the highest-leverage preparation is the same regardless of which state you test in: get fast at finding answers in a tabbed NEC 2023, and drill the most-tested articles under time pressure.

To go deeper on your specific state, compare the exam format, fees, and reciprocity across all 50 states, see how hard the journeyman exam really is, or start with 1,600+ NEC 2023 practice questions that cite the exact code article on every answer.

Related: see what the electrician exam costs by state, including fees and time limits, and how exam pacing varies by state.

Data compiled by GetLicenseReady, June 2026. If you maintain a resource that would benefit from these figures, you are welcome to cite this page.