South Dakota · electrician licensing · verified July 2026

South Dakota electrician license requirements

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

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

Reciprocity requires the out-of-state license to have been earned by examination and held active for at least one year; agreements cover journeyman and (for most listed states) the master/contractor equivalent, Alaska, Colorado, and New Mexico are journeyman-only per the Commission's table. Additional restricted classes exist: maintenance electrician (issued to public entities/firms for in-house maintenance, $120 biennial), 501(d) electrician (restricted to 501(d) organization properties, $120 biennial), and electrical inspector ($100 license fee on the application form). Statutory exam fee cap is $150 per examination (SDCL 36-16-13). Homeowners may wire their own residence/farmstead without a license subject to inspection (SDCL 36-16-15).

What licenses does South Dakota issue?

The South Dakota Electrical Commission (South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation) 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: South Dakota Electrical Commission (South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation) (dlr.sd.gov). Verified July 2026.

Journeyman Electrician: Four years (8,000 hours total) as a licensed apprentice electrician working under the employment and supervision of an electrical contractor; hours must be earned while licensed to count

How many hours do you need in South Dakota?

South 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 South Dakota require?

Journeyman Electrician Examination (JM) - 2023 NEC since Dec 2, 2024. Administered by South Dakota Electrical Commission (exam site details sent after application approval; statute permits a third-party administrator).

Class B Electrician Examination (CBE). Administered by South Dakota Electrical Commission.

Electrical Contractor Examination (EC). Administered by South Dakota Electrical Commission.

Source: examination page (dlr.sd.gov). Verified July 2026.

How much does a South Dakota electrician license cost?

Getting a Journeyman Electrician license in South Dakota costs $140 in board fees, before any training. That is the application fee and the initial license fee charged once, with renewal charged separately below. 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$60
• Initial license fee$80
• Renewal fee (recurring)$80

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

Renewal period: 2 years, all licenses expire June 30 of even-numbered years

Continuing education: 16 hours per biennial renewal cycle with a minimum of 8 hours on the National Electrical Code; no more than 8 hours may be from pre-approved online courses (ARSD 20:44:17:02)

How does the apprenticeship route work?

Apprentices must register with the State Electrical Commission (biennial registration, fee capped at $20) and work only under personal supervision of a contractor, journeyman, or Class B electrician. 8,000 hours (4 years) as a licensed/registered apprentice under an electrical contractor's employment qualifies you to sit for the journeyman exam; only hours worked while registered count.

Which states does South Dakota have license reciprocity with?

South Dakota appears in 14 published reciprocal licensing agreements for this trade, covering Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, 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 South 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 (dlr.sd.gov). Verified July 2026.

How does South 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 South Dakota compare nationally?

24 states publish an explicit hour figure for this trade, and they range from 8,000 to 10,000 hours. South 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: Utah, Vermont, West Virginia.

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 South Dakota Electrical Commission (South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation) before making decisions. Not legal advice.