New Mexico · electrician licensing · verified July 2026
New Mexico electrician license requirements
The short answer
As of July 2026, New Mexico licenses electricians statewide through the Construction Industries Division (CID) of the Regulation and Licensing Department. All electrical work must be performed by, or under the supervision of, a certified journeyman in the proper classification, and electrical contracting businesses must hold a separate CID contractor license with a qualifying party. Journeyman certification requires 2-4 years (4,000-8,000 hours) of verified work experience depending on classification, plus a PSI-administered exam.
Do you need a license to work as an electrician in New Mexico?
New Mexico licenses electricians statewide, so one credential is valid across the whole state.
Application fee is $75 per classification (refunded if rejected), paid to PSI as CID's contractor. Reciprocity applies to the EE-98J classification only, via the multi-state reciprocal electrical license group listed on the official CID application; applicant must have held the license at least 1 year in the state where they tested and be in good standing. Exam scores are valid 1 year; passing score 75% per 14.6.4 NMAC.
What licenses does New Mexico issue?
The New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, Construction Industries Division (Electrical Bureau) 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journeyman Electrician EE-98J (residential and commercial electrical) | 8,000 | not published | Yes |
| Journeyman ER-1J (residential wiring) | 4,000 | not published | Yes |
| Journeyman EL-1J (electrical distribution systems, including transmission lines) | 8,000 | not published | Yes |
| Electrical specialty journeyman classifications (ES-1J signs/outline lighting, ES-2J cathodic/lightning protection, ES-3J sound/intercom/alarm systems 50V and under, ES-7J telephone systems, ES-10J and ES-10RJ water well pump installer) | 4,000 | not published | Yes |
| Electrical contractor license (e.g., EE-98 and related classifications, 14.6.6 NMAC) | not published | not published | Yes |
Source: New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, Construction Industries Division (Electrical Bureau) (srca.nm.gov). Verified July 2026.
Journeyman Electrician EE-98J (residential and commercial electrical): 4 years (8,000 hours) of work experience within the 10 years immediately prior to application, gained while employed by a licensed contractor; accredited technical/apprenticeship training may substitute at 1/2 year per year of training, up to half the total requirement
Journeyman ER-1J (residential wiring): 2 years (4,000 hours) of qualifying work experience within the 10 years prior to application
Journeyman EL-1J (electrical distribution systems, including transmission lines): 4 years (8,000 hours) of qualifying work experience within the 10 years prior to application
Electrical specialty journeyman classifications (ES-1J signs/outline lighting, ES-2J cathodic/lightning protection, ES-3J sound/intercom/alarm systems 50V and under, ES-7J telephone systems, ES-10J and ES-10RJ water well pump installer): 2 years (4,000 hours) of qualifying work experience in the specialty within the 10 years prior to application
How many hours do you need in New Mexico?
New Mexico requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job experience for a Journeyman Electrician EE-98J (residential and commercial electrical) license. At a 40-hour week the on-the-job portion is roughly 4 years of full-time work.
What exam does New Mexico require?
New Mexico Electrical Journeyman examination (per classification, e.g., EE-98J); passing score 75% per 14.6.4 NMAC. Administered by PSI (administers licensing and testing on behalf of CID).
Electrical contractor qualifying party trade exam and Business & Law exam. Administered by PSI.
How much does a New Mexico electrician license cost?
Getting a Journeyman Electrician EE-98J (residential and commercial electrical) license in New Mexico costs $75 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$75
How often do you renew, and what continuing education is required?
Renewal period: 3 years (journeyman certificate active for three years, effective the last day of the month of issuance)
Continuing education: 16 hours of approved course work per 3-year renewal period for journeyman electricians: 8 hours of code-change instruction plus 8 hours of other industry-related instruction; proof submitted with renewal
Source: renewal requirements (rld.nm.gov). Verified July 2026.
How does the apprenticeship route work?
No separate state apprentice registration through CID; apprentices work under a licensed contractor and those hours count directly as the required work experience. Accredited apprenticeship or technical training can substitute for up to one-half of the experience requirement at 1/2 year credit per year of training. Completing a 4-year registered apprenticeship (~8,000 OJT hours) satisfies the EE-98J experience requirement; apprenticeship graduates document the program on the journeyman application.
Which states does New Mexico have license reciprocity with?
New Mexico appears in 10 published reciprocal licensing agreements for this trade, covering Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, 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 New Mexico 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 New Mexico 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 |
|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Arizona | not published | Statewide |
| Colorado | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Oklahoma | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Texas | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Utah | 8,000 | Statewide |
Source: state licensing boards. Verified July 2026.
How does New Mexico compare nationally?
24 states publish an explicit hour figure for this trade, and they range from 8,000 to 10,000 hours. New Mexico'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
- 14.6.4 NMAC - Certificates of Competence (NM State Records Center and Archives)
- NM RLD - Continuing Education for Construction Industries Bureau
- Official CID Journeyman Certificate Application (administered by PSI for the NM Regulation and Licensing Department)
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: North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota.
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 New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, Construction Industries Division (Electrical Bureau) before making decisions. Not legal advice.