Texas Master Electrician License: Requirements, Cost, and How to Apply

Texas Master Electrician License: Requirements, Cost, and How to Apply

The Master Electrician license is the top individual electrician license in Texas — the license that supervises journeymen and apprentices. It is issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), and the exam is delivered by PSI.

Here is what it takes, what it costs, and how it differs from the journeyman route.

The experience requirement

TDLR requires both of these:

• A Texas Journeyman Electrician license held for at least two years. You cannot go straight to master.
• 12,000 hours of on-the-job training under the supervision of a Master Electrician licensed in Texas.

As with the journeyman license, the hours must be documented: each supervising master signs an Experience Verification Form for the hours worked under them. If you have worked for several contractors over the years, collect the forms as you go — chasing a former employer's signature later is the most common delay.

Costs

Once TDLR approves your application, PSI sends scheduling instructions. You bring your own soft-bound 2026 NEC to the exam — see what you can and cannot bring.

The exam

Two portions, each scored on its own:

You need 70% on each portion, and a failed portion is retaken on its own. Since September 1, 2026, both portions are written to the 2026 NEC.

This is the hardest electrical exam in Texas by pass rate. In TDLR's FY2025 statistics, 22.2% of Master NEC Knowledge attempts and 19.1% of Master Calculations attempts passed. What is on each portion breaks down the content outline — it leans much harder on services and motors than the journeyman exam.

Keeping the license

Texas electrician licenses are valid for one year and renewed annually. Masters, like every other electrician license type, need 4 hours of continuing education before each renewal, covering:

• the National Electrical Code
• Texas Electrician Law (Occupations Code Chapter 1305)
• TDLR's electrician rules (16 TAC Chapter 73)
• electrical safety under NFPA 70E

Licensed in another state? Reciprocity

Texas reciprocates master licenses with Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. To use one you must have:

• passed that state's statewide examination,
• held its license for at least one year, and
• at least 12,000 hours under the supervision of a master electrician.

The journeyman time that state requires varies: one year for Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee; two years for Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina. Some of those states' qualifying licenses go by other names — Iowa's Class A master electrician, Louisiana's state contractor's license, Tennessee's electrical contractor license. From states outside that list there is no reciprocity route.

Getting ready

Most of the work is the exam. Try our free 10-question practice test — 7 NEC questions and 3 calculations, scored per portion like the real thing — or see the full Texas Master exam prep.