Montana · electrician licensing · verified July 2026
Montana electrician license requirements
The short answer
As of July 2026, Montana requires a state license from the Montana State Electrical Board (Department of Labor & Industry) for all electrical work. Individuals license as Residential (4,000 hours), Journeyman (8,000 hours or completed apprenticeship), or Master electricians (8,000 journeyman-level hours or an electrical engineering degree plus 2,000 hours), and businesses must hold an Electrical Contractor license with a Montana-licensed journeyman or master as the responsible electrician. Exams are vendored through PSI and licenses renew every two years on July 15 of even-numbered years.
Do you need a license to work as an electrician in Montana?
Montana licenses electricians statewide, so one credential is valid across the whole state.
Montana does not publish a fixed reciprocity-state list; out-of-state licensees apply by reciprocity/endorsement under substantial-equivalency (SE) criteria in MCA 37-1-307, MCA 37-68 and ARM 24.141 (active, unrestricted license from a state that required an exam plus equivalent hours/apprenticeship). Several states (e.g., Nebraska) list Montana as a reciprocal partner. Apprentices in Montana train through registered apprenticeship; the Electrical Board itself licenses at residential level and above.
What licenses does Montana issue?
The Montana State Electrical Board (Department of Labor & Industry, Business Standards Division) issues the credentials below for this trade. Boards often list further classes for specialties and business licenses; these are the ones this page covers.
Hours are what each class asks for on its own terms. Where a senior class shows fewer than a journeyman, the board is counting time served after the earlier license rather than from the start; the prerequisite column says which.
| License | On-the-job hours | Classroom hours | Exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential Electrician | 4,000 | not published | Yes |
| Journeyman Electrician | 8,000 | not published | Yes |
| Master Electrician | 8,000 | not published | Yes |
| Electrical Contractor | not published | not published | No |
Source: Montana State Electrical Board (Department of Labor & Industry, Business Standards Division) (boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov). Verified July 2026.
Residential Electrician: 4,000 hours practical residential experience, or approved apprenticeship completion, or 20,000 maintenance hours (8,000 practical)
Journeyman Electrician: Approved apprenticeship completion or 8,000 hours practical experience or 20,000 maintenance hours (8,000 practical)
Master Electrician: 8,000 hours journeyman-level experience (max 50% residential), or EE degree plus 2,000 practical hours
How many hours do you need in Montana?
Montana requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job experience for a Journeyman Electrician license. At a 40-hour week the on-the-job portion is roughly 4 years of full-time work.
What exam does Montana require?
Montana electrical licensing examinations (Residential, Journeyman, Master) - based on the 2020 NEC. Administered by PSI (exam vendor for the State Electrical Board; board approval required before registering).
Source: examination page (boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov). Verified July 2026.
How much does a Montana electrician license cost?
Getting a Journeyman Electrician license in Montana costs $190 in board fees, before any training. That is the application fee charged once. No board publishes this total, so it is added up here from the schedule it does publish. An exam is required and its fee is not in that figure, because no amount for it appears in the board material this page is built from. Check the board's current fee schedule before budgeting.
- Application fee$190
How often do you renew, and what continuing education is required?
Renewal period: 2 years, all electrician and electrical contractor licenses expire July 15 of even-numbered years (2026 renewal-cycle fees were abated 50%; standard renewal fee amount not published on the pages reviewed)
Continuing education: 16 hours of Board-approved courses per 2-year renewal cycle, of which a minimum of 8 hours must be on code update (ARM 24.141.2102). CE from reciprocal states accepted.
Source: renewal requirements (boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov). Verified July 2026.
How does the apprenticeship route work?
Completion of an approved inside-wireman apprenticeship program (or an appropriate bona fide union/trade-association training program) fully satisfies the experience requirement for the Journeyman exam in lieu of the third-party-verified 8,000 hours, applicants submit the Apprenticeship Completion Certificate showing hours and trade (MCA 37-68-305). Exam candidates may work under a licensed electrical contractor on a $50 temporary practice permit (90 days) while awaiting results.
Which states does Montana have license reciprocity with?
Montana appears in 11 published reciprocal licensing agreements for this trade, covering Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Wyoming. Boards write these as agreements between two states rather than as a one-way list, and some publish the list while their counterpart does not, so this counts every agreement naming Montana from either side. Recognition is never automatic: the board you apply to decides, and most require the original license to have been earned by examination and to be in good standing.
How does Montana compare to neighboring states?
Requirements stop at the state line, which matters if you live near one or expect to move. Here is what the neighboring states ask of the same trade.
| State | Journeyman hours | Licensing model |
|---|---|---|
| Montana | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Idaho | 8,000 | Statewide |
| North Dakota | 8,000 | Statewide |
| South Dakota | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Wyoming | 8,000 | Statewide |
Source: state licensing boards. Verified July 2026.
How does Montana compare nationally?
24 states publish an explicit hour figure for this trade, and they range from 8,000 to 10,000 hours. Montana's 8,000 hours is what 23 of them ask, making it the standard rather than an outlier; no state asks less and 1 asks more. The full comparison is on the hours by state table.
Sources and verification
Every fact on this page traces to one of these
- MT State Electrical Board - Journeyman Electrician
- MT State Electrical Board - Exam Information (PSI vendor)
- MT State Electrical Board - Renewal Process
- Journeyman Electrician Application/Checklist (Rev. 07/22/2024)
- Master Electrician Application/Checklist (Rev. 07/22/2024)
- Residential Electrician Application/Checklist (Rev. 07/22/2024)
- Electrical Contractor Checklist
- MT State Electrical Board - Electrical Contractor
Last verified July 2026. Found an error? Report it and it will be corrected and logged on the corrections page.
Other states with published requirements for this trade: Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island.
Price the whole path with the license cost estimator, or weigh earning against paying for school with the apprenticeship comparison. Back to electricians overview.
Licensing requirements change between our verification sweeps. This page is informational only, so confirm current requirements with Montana State Electrical Board (Department of Labor & Industry, Business Standards Division) before making decisions. Not legal advice.