Skilled trades are one of the few well-paid careers that don't require a four-year degree, and electrical work is among the best paid of them. But an electrician's paycheck buys very different lives depending on where the work is - a strong wage in an expensive metro can leave less in hand than a moderate one somewhere affordable. We ranked US metros by what an electrician's pay is actually worth after local costs.
How we did it
We took the median annual wage for electricians in each of the 150 largest US metro areas (federal BLS data), then divided by that metro's cost-of-living index, where the US metro median is 100, to get its cost-adjusted value - what the wage is worth in average-cost-of-living dollars. The ranking below is by that adjusted figure, not by raw pay.
One caveat to state plainly: our cost index is built on local rent, the single biggest cost-of-living difference between metros. It captures housing well but does not fully price in groceries, utilities, or transport. Our guide on cost-of-living indices explains how it works.
Where an electrician's pay goes furthest
Ranked by cost-adjusted pay:
| Rank | Metro | Median electrician pay | Cost index | Adjusted value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Davenport, IA | $76,950 | 71.4 | $107,773 |
| 2 | Toledo, OH | $74,710 | 71.2 | $104,930 |
| 3 | Flint, MI | $78,270 | 75.0 | $104,360 |
| 4 | Akron, OH | $77,360 | 78.3 | $98,799 |
| 5 | Lansing, MI | $80,480 | 82.4 | $97,670 |
| 6 | Buffalo, NY | $77,930 | 80.2 | $97,170 |
| 7 | Syracuse, NY | $77,110 | 81.7 | $94,382 |
| 8 | Chicago, IL | $102,350 | 108.5 | $94,332 |
| 9 | Fort Wayne, IN | $71,290 | 76.1 | $93,679 |
| 10 | Salem, OR | $98,850 | 106.1 | $93,167 |
This ranking looks different from our nurse and teacher studies in one important way: most of these metros aren't just cheap - they pay electricians above the national typical wage of $62,995 and cost less to live in. Davenport ($76,950), Flint ($78,270), Lansing ($80,480), and Buffalo ($77,930) are all comfortably above that national figure, not just below-average on rent. That's a double advantage, not a single one. Chicago (#8, $102,350) and Salem, Oregon (#10, $98,850) make the point even more sharply: both pay well above every other metro on this list in raw dollars, and both hold onto a top-10 adjusted spot despite real cost of living, because the underlying wage is that strong. For comparison, the metros with the single highest nominal electrician pay - Portland, OR ($105,090), Seattle ($101,780), and Honolulu ($100,270) - all pay more than Chicago or Salem before adjustment, but fall to 28th, 65th, and 81st once cost of living is factored in. High housing costs there outrun even a very strong paycheck.
Rust Belt and Midwest metros dominate the rest of the list, the same pattern we've seen in other trades and professions. One likely explanation for Chicago and the older industrial metros here - Toledo, Flint, Akron, Buffalo - is strong electricians' union presence in that region, which tends to support higher negotiated wages; we don't have union membership data to confirm this directly, so treat it as a plausible factor, not a proven one.
Where it goes least far
| Metro | Median electrician pay | Cost index | Adjusted value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando, FL | $50,820 | 133.5 | $38,067 |
| North Port, FL | $51,930 | 132.5 | $39,192 |
| Miami, FL | $58,630 | 141.8 | $41,347 |
| Naples, FL | $60,020 | 141.2 | $42,507 |
| Oxnard, CA | $64,840 | 175.7 | $36,904 |
Florida takes four of the bottom five spots, and Oxnard, California is the single worst metro in the entire ranking. None of these pay disastrously low nominal wages - Oxnard's $64,840 is close to the national typical figure - but a cost index running 33% to 76% above the metro median erases the advantage. The gap between the best and worst metro for the same trade is stark: an electrician's pay in Davenport ($107,773 adjusted) is worth nearly three times what the same trade buys in Oxnard ($36,904) - a spread of $70,869 in real terms for identical work.
How the trades compare
Electrical work isn't the only option, and the trades differ more than people assume:
| Trade | Typical metro median | Metros with data | Spread (p90/p10) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters | $62,855 | 150 | 1.55x |
| Electricians | $62,995 | 150 | 1.48x |
| HVAC Mechanics and Installers | $60,715 | 150 | 1.51x |
| Carpenters | $58,310 | 150 | 1.55x |
| Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers | $53,880 | 150 | 1.30x |
| Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics | $50,225 | 150 | 1.36x |
Plumbing and electrical work pay almost identically nationally - $62,855 versus $62,995, a gap of $140 that's essentially a rounding difference. Automotive technicians trail noticeably, at $50,225, about 20% below the electricians' and plumbers' figure. The spread column tells a separate story: it's not about which trade pays more, but which trade's pay depends more on where you do it. Plumbers and carpenters have the widest geographic spread (1.55x) - location is a bigger factor in what they earn than it is for electricians (1.48x). Welders sit at the other end (1.30x), the most nationally standardized pay of the six trades: a welder's earnings move less when they relocate than a plumber's do for the same move.
What this means if you work in the trades
Judge an offer or a move by cost-adjusted pay, not the headline hourly rate - the metros with the single highest raw electrician wages, like Portland and Seattle, are frequently not where the trade leaves you best off. But don't chase the adjusted number blindly either: weigh local demand and the volume of available work, since a slightly lower adjusted wage in a busy market can beat a higher one where jobs are scarce. Trade pay is also shaped by licensing requirements and union agreements that vary by state, which plausibly explains part of what we found above.
We found the same pattern in other fields. Our studies on where a nurse's salary stretches furthest and where a teacher's salary stretches furthest both found that the biggest headline salaries rarely marked the best places to earn them, and our national ranking of where a paycheck goes furthest covers all occupations together.
You can look up local pay for your own trade on our electrician salary pages, or convert a wage between any two metros with the salary calculator.
The takeaway
Davenport, Iowa tops this ranking at $107,773 in cost-adjusted electrician pay; Oxnard, California sits at the bottom at $36,904 - a gap of $70,869 for identical work. For a trade that exists in every city in the country, where you choose to do it is one of the biggest financial decisions available to you, and the metros paying the most on paper - Portland, Seattle, Honolulu - are rarely the ones where that paycheck actually goes furthest.