LicensebyState

Moving to Alabama as a journeyman electrician: every state's rule

Alabama has reciprocity agreements with 1 state. Everyone else follows its standard out-of-state path: experience credit.

Alabama journeyman electrician · “Journeyman Electrician”

State license plus local requirements

Verified September 15, 2026· 5 sources

Issued by Alabama Board of Electrical Contractors

Alabama issues a statewide Journeyman Electrician license through the Alabama Board of Electrical Contractors. A new applicant must document at least 8,000 hours of experience installing electrical wiring, apparatus or equipment (up to 2,000 hours may be substituted with approved education or apprenticeship) and pass the journeyman exam administered by Prov, either the Alabama exam or the NASCLA Portable Journeyman exam ($115 either way); the license fee is $35 and it renews annually for $35. Exams currently reference the 2023 NEC and will move to the 2026 NEC on January 1, 2027. Alabama law also lets counties and municipalities license and examine journeymen for work inside their boundaries, but a statewide Board license is deemed qualifying in every county and municipality, and journeymen employed by a Board licensee are exempt from local licensing. The Board's only journeyman reciprocity partner is Texas; every other out-of-state journeyman must qualify by documented experience and take the Alabama exam.

How local licensing works in Alabama

Ala. Code §34-36-13(a) requires a journeyman to hold a license 'from the board or from the county or municipality where the electrical contracting work is being performed', and §34-36-13(b)(2) preserves the authority of counties and municipalities to require their own examinations. A holder of a valid statewide Board license is deemed qualified and must be allowed to work in any county or municipality on proof of the license, subject to the local building permit and business license. Local journeyman cards therefore exist only as a substitute for the state license within the issuing jurisdiction; the Board's reciprocity applies only to state-issued licenses, and no Alabama city or county reciprocity rule was verified from an official page.

States Alabama reciprocates with

Every origin state

Reciprocity 1Experience credit 33No credit 16
Every state's path into Alabama
StateMechanismNoteVerified
AlaskaExperience credit2026-09-15
ArizonaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
ArkansasExperience credit2026-09-15
CaliforniaExperience credit2026-09-15
ColoradoExperience credit2026-09-15
ConnecticutExperience credit2026-09-15
DelawareExperience credit2026-09-15
District of ColumbiaExperience credit2026-09-15
FloridaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
GeorgiaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
HawaiiExperience credit2026-09-15
IdahoExperience credit2026-09-15
IllinoisNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
IndianaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
IowaExperience credit2026-09-15
KansasNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
KentuckyExperience credit2026-09-15
LouisianaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
MaineExperience credit2026-09-15
MarylandExperience credit2026-09-15
MassachusettsExperience credit2026-09-15
MichiganExperience credit2026-09-15
MinnesotaExperience credit2026-09-15
MississippiNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
MissouriNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
MontanaExperience credit2026-09-15
NebraskaExperience credit2026-09-15
NevadaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
New HampshireExperience credit2026-09-15
New JerseyExperience credit2026-09-15
New MexicoExperience credit2026-09-15
New YorkNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
North CarolinaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
North DakotaExperience credit2026-09-15
OhioNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
OklahomaExperience credit2026-09-15
OregonExperience credit2026-09-15
PennsylvaniaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
Rhode IslandExperience credit2026-09-15
South CarolinaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
South DakotaExperience credit2026-09-15
TennesseeNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-15
TexasReciprocityexplicit agreement2026-09-15
UtahExperience credit2026-09-15
VermontExperience credit2026-09-15
VirginiaExperience credit2026-09-15
WashingtonExperience credit2026-09-15
West VirginiaExperience credit2026-09-15
WisconsinExperience credit2026-09-15
WyomingExperience credit2026-09-15

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