Requirements, license levels, and the issuing authority, sourced from Utah's official board.
Decide early which license you are aiming at. The residential journeyman at 8,000 hours is a realistic four-year target; the unrestricted journeyman at 16,000 is an eight-year one. And practise for the practical, Utah is one of the few states where a written pass alone does not get you licensed.
| Requirements | UTAH ASKS FOR MORE HOURS THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER STATE, and it tests with a PRACTICAL as well as a written paper, a combination only a handful of states still use. JOURNEYMAN ELECTRICIAN. 16,000 HOURS of LICENSED electrical experience, worked under the supervision of a licensed journeyman or master electrician. Sixteen thousand hours is roughly EIGHT YEARS of full-time work, double the 8,000-hour standard used in most states. Then pass BOTH the Utah Journeyman Electrician WRITTEN examination AND the Utah Electrician PRACTICAL examination. RESIDENTIAL JOURNEYMAN ELECTRICIAN. The lighter route: 8,000 HOURS of licensed electrical experience under the same supervision, then the Utah Residential Journeyman Electrician written examination and the Utah Residential Electrician practical. This is the license most people working on houses actually need, and it is reached in half the time. THE WORD "LICENSED" IS DOING WORK IN BOTH. The hours must be served while holding an apprentice license under a licensed supervisor; unlicensed time does not count. |
| Reciprocity | DOPL runs separate application paths for Utah applicants and for those licensed elsewhere; an out-of-state electrician applies on the non-Utah-applicant route and is assessed against the Utah hour requirements. Given the 16,000-hour full journeyman standard, incoming applicants frequently qualify for the residential license rather than the unrestricted one. |
| Renewal | Licenses renew with DOPL on the division's published cycle, with continuing education in the National Electrical Code as a condition of renewal. The division's electrical pages carry the current fee and hour requirement. |
| Notes | Decide early which license you are aiming at. The residential journeyman at 8,000 hours is a realistic four-year target; the unrestricted journeyman at 16,000 is an eight-year one. And practise for the practical, Utah is one of the few states where a written pass alone does not get you licensed. |
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Sources: commerce.utah.gov, commerce.utah.gov, commerce.utah.gov, dopl.utah.gov. Always confirm current requirements with the issuing authority.
UT's register has not been re-collected in 58 days, so this page will not change tonight and the figure above stands as of August 9, 2026. Every other market ATI tracks refreshes nightly: track one and see which contractors just got licensed, added a trade, or dropped off, and pull the full record on any of them. ATI is in private beta; apply for access.