Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. electricians is 55 or older, as trade groups warn of a skilled-worker shortage. But the trade is younger than the workforce as a whole.
About 191,000 of the roughly 1.06 million employed electricians in the U.S. were 55 or older in 2025, or 18.0%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A separate Census survey for 2024 puts the share at 19.8%. Either way, it’s close to 1 in 5. Many of those workers are within about 10 years of typical retirement age.
The trade is getting attention this month. A Stateline report on Oct. 8 tied skilled-worker shortages to aging journeymen, immigration enforcement and data center construction, and cited an industry estimate that the U.S. needs 1.7 million new skilled trade workers a year through 2035.
Electricians are actually younger than the average worker
The age data adds some context. Across all U.S. jobs, 23.2% of workers are 55 or older, more than among electricians. The median electrician is 39.6 years old, compared with 42.1 for all workers, and 15.7% of electricians are under 25. Plumbers (18.4% aged 55+) and HVAC techs (18.7%) look similar. So the shortage reports are about demand growing faster than new workers arrive, not about the trade being unusually old.
Some states skew older
Census survey data for 2024 shows bigger older shares in some states: New Jersey 33.1%; Florida 27.2%; Pennsylvania 25.6%; North Carolina 25.1%; Texas 15.0%. These state figures come from smaller samples, so treat them as rough.
What this means if you’re an electrician thinking about your own shop
As older owners retire, some customers and contractors will need new electricians, and some shops may come up for sale. If you’re planning to go out on your own, line up coverage first. See our guides to electrician insurance in Florida and electrician insurance in North Carolina. To pay for a van, tools or buying an existing shop, see our electrician business loans guide.
How we got these numbers
National figures come from the BLS Current Population Survey, Table 11b (2025 annual averages). BLS notes that 2025 averages cover 11 months because October 2025 data wasn’t collected during the federal shutdown. The 2024 national cross-check and state figures come from our own count of Census American Community Survey microdata (occupation code 6355, employed workers, person weights), without margins of error. Data pulled October 16, 2026.