Oregon General Journeyman Electrician License: Requirements and How to Apply
What Oregon requires for a General Journeyman (J) electrician license: 8,000 hours of experience and related training, the BCD application, the 52-question exam, reciprocity with seven states, and continuing education.
Contents
Oregon General Journeyman Electrician License: Requirements and How to Apply
Oregon licenses electricians statewide through the Building Codes Division (BCD). The Electrical and Elevator Board writes the exams, and BCD gives them. The General Journeyman (J) license is the one most Oregon electricians hold: more than 13,000 were active in 2026. Everything below comes from ORS chapter 479, BCD's rules in OAR chapter 918 and BCD's licensing pages.
What a general journeyman may do
A general journeyman may make any electrical installation, working under the supervision of a general supervising electrician (or a limited supervising electrician for that limited type of work). In a manufacturing or industrial plant without a supervising electrician or engineer, a journeyman is limited to maintenance work (OAR 918-282-0170).
Experience and training
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Experience | At least 8,000 hours of electrical work, through a board-approved apprenticeship or equivalent experience |
| Equivalent experience | Minimum hours in set work categories: residential, commercial and industrial installations (1,000 hours each), signal and control systems (500), troubleshooting and maintenance (250) and more, totaling 4,000 subject hours within the 8,000 |
| Related training | Transcripts with a C or better in classes such as electrical math, the NEC, AC and DC theory, wiring methods, limited-energy circuits, calculations, and motors, generators and transformers |
Most applicants qualify through a registered apprenticeship. If you are using equivalent experience, read OAR 918-282-0170 before you apply: BCD checks the hours in each category.
How to apply
- Apply to BCD on the electrical license application with the $100 application fee. The fee is nonrefundable and covers the exam; there is no separate testing-vendor fee.
- Wait for approval. BCD mails a Letter of Authorization naming your proctor site, often a community college.
- Schedule with the proctor site and test within 60 days of the letter.
- Get your result by mail, in about two weeks.
The exam in brief
| Item | Oregon General Journeyman (J) |
|---|---|
| Given by | BCD, on paper at local proctor sites |
| Questions | 52 |
| Time | 3 hours |
| Passing score | 75% (39 correct) |
| Format | Open book, from BCD's approved list |
| Code | 2026 NEC with Oregon's Table 1-E amendments |
Oregon publishes no outline for the exam. See what is on the Journeyman exam for what to expect.
Licensed in another state?
Oregon has reciprocity agreements for the general journeyman license with Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. You need a current license earned by exam, four years of apprenticeship schooling (at least 576 classroom hours) and 8,000 hours, and at least 1,000 hours worked under that license. Washington applicants must have completed an apprenticeship in Oregon or Washington. If you failed the Oregon journeyman exam in the past two years, you cannot reciprocate.
Renewal and continuing education
Licenses renew every three years. A general journeyman needs 24 hours of approved continuing education each cycle, including 8 hours of code change and a 4-hour Oregon rule and law course required under BCD's rules (OAR 918-030-0120). New licensees need fewer hours in their first, shorter cycle.
Practice for the exam
Our Oregon General Journeyman practice test is built on the 2026 NEC as Oregon amends it, and every question cites the section you would look up on test day. When you are ready to move up, see the General Supervising requirements.
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