Traveling lineman pay comes down to hourly rate, overtime, per diem, and how many days you stay on the job. This guide shows what the money looks like before you leave home, sign the book, or take a contractor call.
Traveling lineman pay starts with your base hourly wage. For a journeyman lineman, that rate often matters less than the full package. A $48 an hour call with steady overtime and $125 per day per diem beats a $60 an hour call that works four tens and pays nothing for lodging.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists electrical power-line installers and repairers at a median wage of $92,560 per year, or $44.50 per hour, as of May 2024. The top 10 percent earned more than $126,610. Utilities showed a median of $102,050, while utility system construction showed $74,550. Those figures do not tell the whole road money story because storm work, double time, subsistence, show-up pay, and per diem change the check fast.
A traveling journeyman lineman usually looks at five numbers before taking a call:
The fastest way to compare traveling lineman pay is by the week. Annual numbers lie when a call lasts six weeks, then you sit at home waiting on the next one.
| Call Type | Hourly Rate | Schedule | Per Diem | Estimated Gross Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distribution rebuild | $48 | 5-10s | $100/day, 5 days | $3,140 |
| Transmission project | $55 | 6-10s | $125/day, 7 days | $4,675 |
| Substation/outage support | $52 | 6-12s | $150/day, 7 days | $5,862 |
| Storm work | $60 | 7-16s | $175/day, 7 days | $11,545 |
The storm work number assumes 40 straight-time hours and 72 overtime hours at time and a half. Some storm agreements pay double time after certain thresholds, some do not. Read the call language before you roll.
BLS also notes that lineworkers work more than 40 hours in emergencies and may travel to storm-damaged areas for long stretches. That is where traveling lineman pay separates from a regular utility job.
Per diem is daily money meant to cover meals, lodging, and incidental costs while you work away from home. In line work, per diem shows up a few ways: flat daily pay, lodging paid by the contractor, hotel plus meal money, or nothing at all.
GSA federal per diem rates are not written for lineman calls, but many contractors use them as a benchmark. For FY 2026, GSA rates apply from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, and cover lodging plus meals and incidental expenses for federal travel. GSA says standard rates apply to most continental U.S. locations, with separate rates for about 300 higher-cost areas.
A real road call often pays $75 to $200 per day in per diem, depending on location, manpower demand, and whether hotels are available. A rural transmission job with cheap rooms might pay $100. A coastal storm call after a hurricane might pay $150 to $200 because every hotel from the yard to the beach is packed with crews, adjusters, tree trimmers, and DOT contractors.
Do not treat every per diem dollar as tax-free money. The IRS looks at your tax home, assignment length, and whether the payment fits travel rules.
IRS Publication 463 says a temporary assignment in one location generally means one expected to last one year or less. If the assignment is expected to last more than one year, it is indefinite, and the assignment location becomes your tax home. The IRS also says an itinerant worker with no regular place of business and no regular home is not considered away from home for travel deduction purposes.
For a traveling lineman, that means paperwork matters. Keep your tax home clean. Keep proof of duplicate living costs. Save hotel records, dispatch paperwork, call sheets, and per diem statements. If a contractor pays “per diem” but treats it like extra wages, expect it on the W-2.
Union traveling lineman pay usually follows the outside construction agreement tied to that local or district. You take the call through the hall, work under the agreement, and the package includes wage, health, pension, annuity, and conditions. Per diem depends on the call. Some calls pay subsistence. Some pay zone pay. Some pay nothing because the rate already accounts for the area.
Non-union traveling lineman jobs vary harder. Some contractors advertise a strong hourly wage but weak benefits. Others pay solid per diem, hotel, and a truck allowance. Ask whether overtime starts after 8, after 10, after 40, or only after a project-specific threshold.
Storm work is its own animal. You are paid for speed, availability, and long days in bad conditions. Expect 16-hour days, staging delays, wire down calls, backyard easements, broken poles, and feeder patrol. Good storm pay requires clear rules on meal breaks, rest time, lodging, travel days, and when the overtime clock starts.
Traveling lineman pay for apprentices and groundmen sits below journeyman scale, but road work still adds up when overtime is steady.
A groundman on a road crew might see $24 to $35 an hour with $75 to $125 per day per diem. A hot apprentice might see 60 percent to 90 percent of journeyman scale, depending on step, program, and agreement. If the journeyman rate is $55, an apprentice at 70 percent earns $38.50 before overtime.
Do not chase per diem before you build skills. A groundman who shows up with a Class A CDL, tanker endorsement where needed, OSHA 10 ET&D or OSHA 30, basic rigging sense, and the ability to work around digger derricks without being babysat gets called back. A green hand who burns daylight, misses tailboards, and leaves the truck a mess gets spun fast.
Use weekly gross, not hourly wage. Then subtract road costs.
Example:
Call A pays $60 an hour, 5-10s, no per diem.
Call B pays $52 an hour, 6-10s, $125 per diem paid seven days.
Call A: 40 hours at $60 plus 10 overtime hours at $90 equals $3,300.
Call B: 40 hours at $52 plus 20 overtime hours at $78 equals $3,640, plus $875 per diem equals $4,515.
Call B wins by $1,215 before you even count benefits. That is why traveling lineman pay has to be figured by the whole call, not the top-line rate.
Bad calls usually show themselves early. Watch for vague per diem language, “up to” travel pay, no written schedule, unpaid mobilization, and hotel promises that never make it into dispatch notes.
Ask these questions before you leave:
If the recruiter cannot answer, get it in writing from the contractor or hall before you load the hooks.
A solid traveling journeyman lineman call often grosses $3,000 to $6,000 per week with overtime and per diem. Storm work pushes higher when crews work 7-16s or longer. Base national median pay for electrical power-line installers and repairers was $92,560 in May 2024, before road extras and storm schedules.
Per diem is not automatically tax-free. It depends on your tax home, assignment length, records, and whether the payment follows accountable travel rules. IRS Publication 463 treats assignments expected to last more than one year as indefinite, which changes the tax treatment.
Good per diem usually starts around $100 per day in cheaper areas and runs $150 to $200 per day in high-cost or storm-hit areas. The best setup is hotel paid plus meal money, but a high flat per diem works when rooms are cheap and you are willing to manage your own lodging.
Some calls pay mileage, flights, mobilization, or a set travel day. Others pay nothing until you report to the yard. Never assume drive time is paid. Ask before you take the call, especially when the job is 800 miles away.
Storm work pays when the overtime rules are strong, lodging is handled, and the contractor keeps crews moving. It burns men out when rest time is sloppy, hotels are hours away, or the pay language changes after you arrive.
The best traveling lineman pay comes from reading the whole call: rate, overtime, per diem, benefits, schedule, scope, and travel terms. Check current traveling lineman, journeyman lineman, apprentice, and groundman openings on PowerLinemanJobs.com and compare the full package before you hit the road.