Base wage is the floor. Overtime, union scale, storm calls, per diem, and utility versus contractor work decide what actually lands on your W-2. Here are the numbers that matter before you drag up or take a call.
A journeyman working 40 hours at $48 an hour grosses about $99,840 a year. The same hand working 60 hours with overtime at time and a half grosses about $149,760, before per diem, storm pay, double time, or bonuses.
That is why two linemen in the same state show different W-2s. One works a municipal troubleman job with steady hours. The other works transmission construction, takes every storm call, lives on per diem, and spends half the year out of a motel.
BLS wage data does not include every piece of a lineman's check. It reports wages, not the full value of health insurance, pension, annuity, line school debt, per diem, show-up pay, truck pay, or storm restoration premiums.
Use this as a planning tool, not a guarantee. Strong states usually combine high utility density, expensive labor markets, union scale, large transmission work, storm exposure, or hard-to-staff rural systems. BLS publishes annual OEWS state wage tables for this occupation, and the May 2024 state tables are the cleanest public source for comparing state-level employment and wages.
IOU scale, cost of living, wildfire hardening, and heavy distribution work.
Utility scale, hydro and transmission work, strong union presence.
West Coast wage pressure and transmission construction in Oregon. Growth, heat work, and utility expansion in Arizona. Remote conditions and high-cost markets in Alaska and Hawaii, where the labor pool is thin.
Dense grid, metro pay, expensive labor markets, and coastal storm restoration.
Large utilities, strong union halls, heavy distribution workload.
Hurricane work, rapid growth, and a large contractor presence. Texas carries a huge employment base with an IOU and co-op mix plus transmission buildout.
Data center load, utility work, storm response, and metro labor pressure.
Desert transmission and Las Vegas load in Nevada. Growth, mountain work, and utility construction in Colorado.
Steady distribution and transmission work, winter restoration, aging systems, and a mix of IOU, co-op, and municipal employers. Lower cost of living in Indiana and Missouri stretches the same rate further.
Rural systems, long drives, weather exposure, wind and transmission support. High lineworker concentration relative to population.
TVA region municipal and co-op work with contractor calls in Tennessee. Hurricane restoration, industrial load, and contractor work in Louisiana.
Storm restoration, rural line miles, and Northeast wage pressure in small territories.
Co-op-heavy markets with lower base wages and lower cost of living. Storm work, mountain maintenance, and rural transmission carry the hours. Strong lineworker concentration in Oklahoma and Kentucky.
A $56 hourly wage in California does not spend like $48 an hour in Tennessee once rent, fuel, state taxes, and commute time hit the check. Before you chase a state, price the whole call.
That is where a lower base rate beats a higher one. A transmission call at $44 with $150 a day per diem, 6-10s, and Sundays available out-earns a clean 40-hour utility job at $52. Compare the numbers against the journeyman lineman pay scale before you sign anything.
Apprentice pay follows the journeyman rate. Many outside line apprentices start around 50 to 60 percent of journeyman scale and step up as they gain hours and pass required training. A common progression runs through several steps over roughly 7,000 to 8,000 hours of on-the-job training, depending on the apprenticeship program.
About $62,400 at 2,080 hours, before any overtime.
About $78,000 at 2,080 hours, before any overtime.
About $93,600 at 2,080 hours, before any overtime.
About $104,000 at 2,080 hours, before any overtime.
A second-step apprentice on a busy contractor crew often grosses more than a first-year journeyman in a slow market. Hours beat the rate when storm and transmission work stack up.
Groundman pay moves even more than journeyman pay. A CDL groundman with flagger, OSHA 10 ET&D, first aid, CPR, and underground experience gets a better shot than someone walking in cold. Without a Class A CDL, you usually land at the bottom of the list.
Expect entry-level groundman pay well below journeyman scale. In most markets the real goal is not the first paycheck. It is documented hours, learning material, staying useful around the digger derrick, and building enough reputation to get into an apprenticeship. Line school helps when it gets you climbing time, pole-top rescue, basic rigging, and CDL prep. It does not replace apprenticeship hours or a journeyman ticket.
The best-paying states reward the same things: ticket, CDL, hot work, storm readiness, and the ability to work without babysitting.
Storm pay changes everything. Hurricane, ice, fire, and wind restoration turns a normal month into a large check, but it is not free money. Long shifts, bad sleep, gas-station food, damaged circuits, backfeed, generators, trees, wire down, and customers standing too close.
California is consistently one of the highest-paying states for electrical power-line installers and repairers. High wages come from utility scale, cost of living, wildfire hardening work, and large grid investment.
Nationally, electrical power-line installers and repairers earned a median of $92,560 in May 2024. A journeyman lineman working overtime, storm, or travel construction often grosses well above the median.
Usually, yes. Strong union scale raises the floor for journeyman linemen, apprentices, operators, and groundmen. The full package matters more than the hourly rate, especially pension, annuity, health coverage, overtime, and per diem.
Not cleanly. BLS wage data captures wages from employer surveys, but it does not show the full story of storm restoration, per diem, travel pay, bonuses, or double-time-heavy months.
Yes. An advanced apprentice in a strong wage state, working 6-10s, storm calls, or travel construction, reaches six figures before topping out. A slow 40-hour schedule will not get there as fast.
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Open the EstimatorWritten by Matthew Sorensen. Skilled trades recruiting executive and founder of PowerLinemanJobs.com. 15+ years placing electrical and commercial trades professionals, author of four books on hiring, and host of the Hired podcast, ranked in the top 0.5% of career podcasts worldwide.