Moving to Florida as a master electrician: every state's rule
Florida has reciprocity agreements with 0 states. Everyone else follows its standard out-of-state path: endorsement.
Florida master electrician · “Certified Electrical Contractor (EC)”
State license plus local requirements
Issued by Florida Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board (Department of Business and Professional Regulation)
Florida has no license called 'master electrician'. The highest person-held electrical credential is the certificate of competency as a Certified Electrical Contractor (license prefix EC), issued by the Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board within DBPR to an individual who meets the experience requirements of s. 489.511(1)(b), F.S. (for example 4 years as a foreman, supervisor or contractor, with at least 40% of the work on 3-phase services) and passes the Pearson VUE technical/safety and business examinations; the certificate holder then qualifies a business, but the certificate itself belongs to the person and is valid statewide. Alongside the state certificate, counties and municipalities issue their own master electrician or electrical contractor certificates of competency (Miami-Dade's Construction Trades Qualifying Board and Broward's Central Examining Boards, for example); their holders register with DBPR as Registered Electrical Contractors (ER) and may work only in the jurisdictions that issued the local card, which is why this level is marked Hybrid. Florida has no reciprocity agreement with any state. Out-of-state contractors are handled by endorsement under s. 489.511(5): the Board waives the Florida exam(s) only for exams it has found substantially equivalent (currently full recognition for California C-10, Georgia Class II with Low Voltage Unlimited, and North Carolina Unlimited; partial recognition for several others), or waives everything for a contractor licensed in another state for at least 10 years. Everyone else must pass the Florida exams. Certified licenses cost $296 to issue and renew, expire August 31 of even years, and require 11 hours of continuing education per biennium.
How local licensing works in Florida
Local contractor cards and state registration. Under s. 489.505, a Registered Electrical Contractor is one who registered with DBPR after 'fulfilling the competency requirements in the jurisdiction for which the registration is issued'; DBPR's FAQ explains that registered licensees can work only in the counties or municipalities where they hold the local license, while certified licensees can work anywhere in Florida. Initial registration costs $151 (active) plus $25 for each additional county. Miami-Dade's Construction Trades Qualifying Board and Broward County's Central Examining Boards examine and certify master electricians and electrical contractors locally (Broward: trade and Business & Law exams, 75% passing, $450 contractor application from January 1, 2025); Miami-Dade reciprocates its local cards only with Broward and Palm Beach counties. None of the county pages reviewed describes accepting an out-of-state master electrician license toward a local contractor card.
Every origin state
| State | Mechanism | Note | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Alaska | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Arizona | No credit | no state license to transfer | 2026-09-15 |
| Arkansas | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| California | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| Colorado | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| Connecticut | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Delaware | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| District of Columbia | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Georgia | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| Hawaii | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Idaho | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Illinois | No credit | no state license to transfer | 2026-09-15 |
| Indiana | No credit | no state license to transfer | 2026-09-15 |
| Iowa | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Kansas | No credit | no state license to transfer | 2026-09-15 |
| Kentucky | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Louisiana | No credit | no state license to transfer | 2026-09-15 |
| Maine | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Maryland | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Massachusetts | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Michigan | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Minnesota | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Mississippi | No credit | no state license to transfer | 2026-09-15 |
| Missouri | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Montana | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Nebraska | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Nevada | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| New Hampshire | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| New Jersey | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| New Mexico | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| New York | No credit | no state license to transfer | 2026-09-15 |
| North Carolina | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| North Dakota | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Ohio | No credit | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| Oklahoma | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| Oregon | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Pennsylvania | No credit | no state license to transfer | 2026-09-15 |
| Rhode Island | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| South Carolina | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| South Dakota | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Tennessee | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| Texas | Endorsement | explicit agreement | 2026-09-15 |
| Utah | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Vermont | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Virginia | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Washington | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| West Virginia | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Wisconsin | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 | |
| Wyoming | Endorsement | 2026-09-15 |