Colorado Residential Wireman License: Requirements, Hours, and How to Apply

Colorado Residential Wireman License: Requirements and How to Apply

Colorado's Residential Wireman license is the State Electrical Board's license for electricians who wire homes. It covers one-, two-, three- and four-family dwellings — commercial and industrial work needs a journeyman or master license. Here is what it takes.

Experience or training

You qualify with either:

• 4,000 hours of practical experience over at least two years wiring one- to four-family dwellings, or
• two years of accredited training.

Keep your own record of hours and the type of work as you go. Apprentices register with the Board and work under the direct supervision of a licensed electrician.

Applying and testing

1. Apply to the State Electrical Board with your experience or training records.
2. Once approved, schedule with PSI online or by phone, at a Colorado center or a PSI center elsewhere.
3. Take the exam within three years of approval, or you reapply. If you test but have not passed within five years, you also reapply.

The exam is 90 scored questions in 4 hours, 70% to pass, on the 2026 NEC since August 1, 2026, with an unmarked code book supplied at the center. What is on the exam breaks down the nine content areas.

Licensed in another state?

Colorado grants licenses by endorsement to applicants who hold an active residential wireman (or journeyman or master) license from another state, completed an approved apprenticeship or have the required experience, and passed a comparable written state exam on the current NEC.

Renewal

Licenses renew every three years. Each license period needs 24 hours of continuing education — at least 4 on NEC changes and no more than 4 on safety. The CE requirement does not apply to your first renewal after passing the exam.

Getting ready

Try our free 10-question practice test on the 2026 NEC, weighted like the PSI outline, or see the full Colorado Residential Wireman exam prep.