North Dakota · electrician licensing · verified July 2026

North Dakota electrician license requirements

Do you need a license to work as an electrician in North Dakota?

North Dakota licenses electricians statewide, so one credential is valid across the whole state.

Reciprocity detail: journeyman agreements with AK, AR, CO, ID, IA, ME, MN, MT, NE, NH, SD, UT, WY; master agreements with Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota only. Reciprocity requires having passed the written exam in the originating state, holding the license continuously for 1 year, and 8,000 hours (journeyman) / 10,000 hours (master) of supervised experience; applicants from states without CE requirements must take an approved 8-hour code class.

What licenses does North Dakota issue?

The North Dakota State Electrical Board 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.

Source: North Dakota State Electrical Board (ndseb.com). Verified July 2026.

Journeyman electrician: 8,000 hours (not obtainable in less than 3 years) registered as an apprentice under supervision of a contracting master or master of record; credits allowed: up to 2,000 hours for graduating a 2-year+ approved electrical school, up to 1,000 hours repair work, up to 1,000 hours fire alarm systems, up to 2,000 hours process control/power-limited.

Class B electrician: 3,000 hours (minimum 18 months) in farmstead/residential wiring under a master or Class B electrician; up to 1,000 hours credit for approved 2-year electrical school; commercial work does not count

Master electrician (contracting master, master of record, or non-contracting master): Minimum 1 year as a licensed journeyman plus 2,000 hours under supervision of a master or master of record

How many hours do you need in North Dakota?

North Dakota 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 North Dakota require?

NDSEB electrician licensing examination (Master, Journeyman, Class B or Power Limited): two parts - closed-book 1 hour plus open-book 3.5-4.5 hours; based on fundamental electricity, ND laws/rules/wiring standards and the current NEC; passing grade 70%; code books and calculators provided. Administered by North Dakota State Electrical Board (administered directly by the Board; must test within 6 months of exam invite).

Source: examination page (ndseb.com). Verified July 2026.

How much does a North Dakota electrician license cost?

North Dakota does not publish every fee a first-time applicant pays, so there is no complete total to give. What the board does publish is below.

• Application feenot published
• Initial license fee$25
• Renewal fee (recurring)$25

How often do you renew, and what continuing education is required?

Renewal period: 1 year (renewals open January 1; journeyman licenses expire March 31; master, power limited and Class B expire April 30; apprentice registrations expire January 31)

Continuing education: 8 hours of continuing education required before renewal, of which 4 hours must be code; providers must submit rosters to the Board within 15 days of course completion

Source: renewal requirements (ndseb.com). Verified July 2026.

How does the apprenticeship route work?

Apprentices register with NDSEB annually (only registered hours count) and work under direct constant supervision, max 3 apprentices per licensed electrician. Board-recognized pathways to journeyman: (1) related-training apprenticeship, 576 classroom hours plus 8,000 practical hours (min 3 years); (2) PEAP program, 8,000 initial hours then 372 classroom hours plus 4,000 additional OJT hours; (3) 2-year approved electrical degree plus 6,000 practical hours (min 3 years). Up to 2,000 hours credit granted for graduating an approved 2-year electrical school.

Which states does North Dakota have license reciprocity with?

North Dakota appears in 13 published reciprocal licensing agreements for this trade, covering Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah, 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 North Dakota 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.

Source: reciprocity agreement (ndseb.com). Verified July 2026.

How does North Dakota 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.

Source: state licensing boards. Verified July 2026.

How does North Dakota compare nationally?

24 states publish an explicit hour figure for this trade, and they range from 8,000 to 10,000 hours. North Dakota'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

Other states with published requirements for this trade: Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming.

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 North Dakota State Electrical Board before making decisions. Not legal advice.