Electrician Hourly Rates in Seattle, and Why They're High

Seattle’s median electrician wage is $48.93 an hour. At an assumed 2 to 3 times burden multiplier, that works out to roughly $98 to $147 billed per electrician-hour. Across the 25th to 75th percentile wages, the plausible span widens to about $73 to $182. The wage is 61.1% above the national median, and the gap carries into the bill.

Key points

• The median Seattle electrician is paid $48.93 an hour, versus $30.38 nationally: $18.55 more, or 61.1%.
• A wage is not a bill. At an assumed 2.0 to 3.0 times multiplier, the median wage becomes $97.86 to $146.79 per billed hour.
• A day of labor (8 electrician-hours) at the median wage and a 2.5 times multiplier is $978.60 before materials.
• Metals prices are up 49.3% in a year, but that index is not a dollar price, and on a sample job it moves the total by at most 14.3%.
• Any quote can be converted to an implied multiplier by dividing the hourly rate by the wage. Above about 3.0 times, ask why.

What do the numbers here come from, and what do they not cover?

Every wage and index figure on this page comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This site does not inspect homes, survey contractors or collect quotes, and none of the figures below are contractor prices. They are arithmetic on federal wage data, shown so you can change an input and redo it.

The wage source is the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics series for Electricians (SOC 47-2111) in the Seattle area, survey year 2025, series ID OEUM004266000000047211108. The data supplied does not state a release date. It was pulled from the BLS public API on 2026-10-06. Material direction comes from the BLS Producer Price Index, August 2026. Those two sources cover different periods, and the page keeps them apart. For what the job involves, the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook has the official occupation profile.

Assumptions used throughout, all flagged as such:

• Burden multiplier: 2.0 to 3.0 times the wage. This is a working assumption for small residential contractors. It is not measured here. It stands in for payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance, vehicles, fuel, tools, office time, warranty reserve and profit.
• Crew-hours: chosen by this page for illustration. Your job has its own.
• Material allowance: $600 in the worked example. An assumption, not a price.

What do Seattle electricians earn compared with the national figure?

Seattle electricians earn more than the U.S. figure at every point in the pay range, by $12.59 to $20.19 an hour. These are wages paid to workers, not prices charged to customers.

Measure	United States	WA statewide	Seattle, WA	Seattle minus U.S.	Seattle vs U.S.
25th percentile	$23.76	$32.04	$36.35	$12.59	+53.0%
Median	$30.38	$45.78	$48.93	$18.55	+61.1%
Mean	$34.37	$45.42	$47.94	$13.57	+39.5%
75th percentile	$40.36	$58.43	$60.55	$20.19	+50.0%
Employed	757,220	19,380	9,750	n/a	n/a

Three readings from the table:

• The median gap is the largest in percent terms. $18.55 on $30.38 is 61.1%. The mean gap is smaller (39.5%) because the national mean sits well above the national median, which the national figures show.
• Seattle is above the state, too. The Seattle median is $3.15 above the Washington median ($48.93 vs $45.78), or 6.9%. Seattle also accounts for 9,750 of the state’s 19,380 electricians, about 50.3%.
• Pay is more spread out in Seattle. The 25th-to-75th percentile gap is $24.20 in Seattle ($60.55 minus $36.35) versus $16.60 nationally. That is 45.8% wider. Two Seattle quotes for the same job can differ more than two national quotes, and part of that difference is just who is doing the work.

BLS also reports that first-line supervisors of construction trades in Seattle earn a median of $58.24 an hour. That is $9.31 (19.0%) above the Seattle electrician median. It matters when a job needs a lead on site, as the crew table below shows.

How does an electrician’s wage become the hourly rate on my bill?

Multiply the wage by a burden factor. The wage is only what the worker takes home before their own taxes. The contractor also pays for everything that lets the worker show up and be insured: payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance, the truck and fuel, tools, office time, a warranty reserve and profit. Those costs sit on top of the wage, so the billed rate is some multiple of it.

This page applies 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 times. These are assumptions. The BLS does not publish contractor burden, so there is no federal figure to cite, and a single contractor’s true multiplier could land outside this range. Treat 2.0 as a lean shop with a low-overhead owner-operator and 3.0 as a shop with heavy overhead or a thin number of billable hours. Those two descriptions are working interpretations, not data.

What is the billed hourly rate at each wage level and multiplier?

At Seattle’s median wage the billed rate runs $97.86 to $146.79 an hour. This table varies two things at once, the wage level and the multiplier, so you can find the cell nearest the contractor you are talking to. Each cell is the wage multiplied by the multiplier.

Seattle wage level	Wage	2.0 times	2.5 times	3.0 times
25th percentile	$36.35	$72.70	$90.88	$109.05
Median	$48.93	$97.86	$122.33	$146.79
Mean	$47.94	$95.88	$119.85	$143.82
75th percentile	$60.55	$121.10	$151.38	$181.65

For comparison, the same multipliers applied to the national wages:

U.S. wage level	Wage	2.0 times	2.5 times	3.0 times
25th percentile	$23.76	$47.52	$59.40	$71.28
Median	$30.38	$60.76	$75.95	$91.14
75th percentile	$40.36	$80.72	$100.90	$121.08

At a 2.5 times multiplier, the Seattle median billed rate is $122.33 against $75.95 nationally, a difference of $46.38 per hour. Because the same multiplier applies to both, the percentage gap stays at 61.1%. The multiplier changes the dollars, not the percent.

Does a second person change the rate? Here is the median wage for crews, same multipliers:

Crew on site	Combined wage per hour	2.0 times	2.5 times	3.0 times
1 electrician	$48.93	$97.86	$122.33	$146.79
2 electricians	$97.86	$195.72	$244.65	$293.58
1 electrician + 1 supervisor	$107.17	$214.34	$267.93	$321.51

The third row adds the $48.93 median electrician wage to the $58.24 supervisor wage. A contractor may not bill this way, and many jobs need no supervisor. It shows what a crew with a lead costs if one is on the clock.

How much does labor cost for a job of every size, from 1 to 40 hours?

Find your estimated electrician-hours in the first column. Labor is hours times the Seattle median wage times the multiplier, with no materials. “Hours” means electrician-hours, so two people working 4 hours is 8.

Electrician-hours	Wage cost ($48.93/hr)	2.0 times	2.5 times	3.0 times
1	$48.93	$97.86	$122.33	$146.79
2	$97.86	$195.72	$244.65	$293.58
4	$195.72	$391.44	$489.30	$587.16
8	$391.44	$782.88	$978.60	$1,174.32
16	$782.88	$1,565.76	$1,957.20	$2,348.64
24	$1,174.32	$2,348.64	$2,935.80	$3,522.96
40	$1,957.20	$3,914.40	$4,893.00	$5,871.60

How to use it: take a contractor’s stated hours, find the row, and see whether their labor line lands inside the three columns. A labor line far above the 3.0 times column on the stated hours needs an explanation. A labor line below the 2.0 times column is also worth a question, since it may leave something out of the scope.

Rows are not interchangeable with job types. Three hours of work for one task and three hours for another might look the same here and cost different amounts once permits and materials enter. That is why the next section adds materials.

What does a full job build-up look like, with Seattle versus national wages?

Here is one worked example with every input visible. The job is hypothetical: two electricians, 6 hours each, with a $600 material allowance. The hours and the $600 are assumptions picked for illustration. They are not typical or measured values for any real task.

Step by step:

1. Electrician-hours: 2 electricians × 6 hours = 12.
2. Wage cost at Seattle median: 12 × $48.93 = $587.16.
3. Apply the burden multiplier to get billed labor.
4. Add the $600 material allowance.

Line	2.0 times	2.5 times	3.0 times
Wage cost (12 × $48.93)	$587.16	$587.16	$587.16
Billed labor (wage × multiplier)	$1,174.32	$1,467.90	$1,761.48
Material allowance (assumed)	$600.00	$600.00	$600.00
Total	$1,774.32	$2,067.90	$2,361.48

Now the same job at the national median wage of $30.38:

Line	2.0 times	2.5 times	3.0 times
Wage cost (12 × $30.38)	$364.56	$364.56	$364.56
Billed labor	$729.12	$911.40	$1,093.68
Material allowance (same $600)	$600.00	$600.00	$600.00
Total	$1,329.12	$1,511.40	$1,693.68

At 2.5 times, the Seattle labor line is $556.50 higher ($1,467.90 minus $911.40), or 61.1%. The total is also $556.50 higher ($2,067.90 versus $1,511.40) but only 36.8% higher, because the $600 allowance is held equal in both cities. That is an assumption. If Seattle materials cost more, the total gap would be larger than shown.

This is why a Seattle job looks “expensive” in the headline wage comparison but less so as a total: the more of a job that is materials, the less the local wage gap matters.

How much do material prices move the total?

Less than the headline percentages suggest. The BLS Producer Price Index tracks what producers receive, as index levels (1982 = 100). These are index points, not dollars, and they cannot be converted into a shelf price.

PPI series	August 2026	A year earlier	Change in points	Change over 12 months
Electrical machinery and equipment (WPU117)	162.573	143.199	+19.374	+13.5%
Primary nonferrous metals (WPU1022)	544.731	364.834	+179.897	+49.3%

Both series rose, and the metals series rose much faster. The direction is clear: parts and metal-based goods have been getting more expensive at the producer level. What is not clear is how much of that reaches your wiring job. The metals series covers primary nonferrous metals broadly, not wire or cable specifically, and retailers and distributors add their own margins.

A scenario, not a forecast, shows the ceiling on the effect. Suppose the whole $600 allowance rose by the full 49.3%:

• $600 × 0.493 = $295.80 more.
• New total at 2.5 times: $2,067.90 + $295.80 = $2,363.70.
• Increase on the job: $295.80 ÷ $2,067.90 = 14.3%.

If only the electrical equipment series applied, 13.5% of $600 is $81.00, or 3.9% of the job. The truth for a real job sits somewhere around those two ends, and it depends on what the job needs. The PPI covers August 2026 and the wage data covers survey year 2025, so combining them assumes wages have not moved since.

What billed rate does my quote imply?

Divide the quoted hourly rate by the wage to get the implied multiplier. Or run it in reverse: to bill a given hourly rate at a given multiplier, the contractor’s electrician has to be paid this wage.

Billed rate per hour	Wage needed at 2.0 times	at 2.5 times	at 3.0 times
$100	$50.00	$40.00	$33.33
$120	$60.00	$48.00	$40.00
$150	$75.00	$60.00	$50.00
$180	$90.00	$72.00	$60.00

Compare with Seattle’s wages: median $48.93, 75th percentile $60.55. A $120 rate fits the median wage at about 2.5 times ($48.00 needed). A $150 rate fits the 75th percentile wage at 2.5 times ($60.00 needed) or the median wage at roughly 3.1 times ($150 ÷ $48.93 = 3.07). A $180 rate at 3.0 times needs $60.00, which is the 75th percentile. At 2.0 times it needs $90, well above the 75th percentile of $60.55.

These tell you what a rate implies. They do not tell you the contractor is overcharging. A senior electrician with a license that commands a higher wage, or a small shop with few billable hours per week, can legitimately sit at the top of the range.

Which common beliefs about electrician pricing are wrong?

“Electricians make $122 an hour in Seattle.” No. The median electrician is paid $48.93. The $122.33 figure is that wage at an assumed 2.5 times multiplier, and it is what a contractor bills, not what the worker earns. The rest pays for insurance, trucks, tools, office time and profit.

“Seattle prices are a markup on top of a normal rate.” The data shows a wage gap, not a markup. At the same multiplier, Seattle’s bill is 61.1% above the national one purely from the $18.55 wage difference. If a Seattle contractor used a lower multiplier than a national one, the gap would shrink. The BLS data does not say what multipliers contractors use.

“Metal prices up 49% means my bill is up 49%.” The 49.3% is an index change for primary nonferrous metals. On the worked job, even if every material dollar rose by it, the total moves 14.3%. And labor, which was 71% of that job’s total at 2.5 times ($1,467.90 of $2,067.90), did not move at all.

“The cheapest quote is the one at the 25th percentile wage.” Quotes are not wages. A contractor paying $36.35 at 3.0 times bills $109.05, which is more than one paying $48.93 at 2.0 times ($97.86). Compare the billed rate and the hours, not the pay grade you imagine behind them.

What can this calculation not see?

Everything that is not wage-hours-materials. The numbers above are a floor for the labor and parts of the job. A real estimate adds:

• Permits and inspections. Fees and the time spent arranging inspections are not in the wage data.
• Disposal. Hauling old wire, panels or fixtures costs time and sometimes a fee.
• Code upgrades. Opening a wall or replacing a device can trigger required updates that were not in the original scope. Ask the contractor which are required and which are optional.
• Access. Finished basements, crawlspaces, tight attics and sealed walls add hours without adding any material.
• Difficulty. Older wiring, aluminum or knob-and-tube conditions, or a crowded panel can turn a short task into a long one.
• Season. Busy periods can change availability and scheduling. This page has no seasonal data, so it makes no numeric claim.
• Emergency call-outs. Evening, weekend or urgent calls are commonly priced above standard rates. No figure is supplied here, so none is estimated.
• Minimum charges and travel. A short visit can still bill a minimum, which makes small jobs cost more per hour than the table shows.

When is this estimate wrong?

It is wrong whenever one of its inputs is. Concrete cases:

• The job is mostly materials. For a fixture or panel where parts dominate, the labor tables understate the total, and the PPI scenario matters more.
• Hours are far above your guess. If a task takes 16 hours instead of 8, the labor line doubles: $978.60 becomes $1,957.20 at 2.5 times.
• The contractor’s multiplier is outside 2.0 to 3.0. A solo operator with low overhead could be below 2.0. A shop with high overhead or few billable hours could be above 3.0. Neither is proven wrong by this page.
• The electrician is not at the median. The 25th to 75th percentile gap is $24.20 an hour, which at 2.5 times is $60.50 per billed hour. A specialist or lead can sit above the 75th percentile, and BLS percentile figures stop there.
• The wage data is stale. The survey year is 2025. If wages have risen since, every wage-based number here is low by that amount.
• You are outside Seattle. The WA statewide median ($45.78) is $3.15 below Seattle’s. Suburbs and other Washington cities may price differently, and this page has no figure for them.

How should I read a real quote against these numbers?

A quote that can be checked has these lines itemized separately:

1. Labor hours and crew size. Not just a total.
2. Hourly rate or labor subtotal. So you can divide it by hours.
3. Materials, listed or with a stated allowance. Ideally by major item.
4. Permit and inspection fees. As a separate line.
5. Disposal and any minimum charge. If they apply.
6. Exclusions. What is not included, such as drywall repair or painting after wall access.

Then run the checks: divide labor by hours to get a billed rate, divide that by $48.93 to get the implied multiplier against the median wage, and look at where the number falls in the grid above.

The single question that exposes a padded bid: “How many labor hours and how many people are in that number?” A padded quote is usually vague here, because inflated hours are hard to defend line by line. An honest quote answers in one sentence. If the answer is “it’s a flat price,” ask for the hours behind it anyway, since that is how you divide it.

What should I check before signing?

• The total divided by the stated hours gives a billed rate inside or near the range in the grid, or you have an explanation for why not.
• Hours and crew size are written on the quote.
• Materials are itemized or capped with an allowance, and you know who pays if the allowance runs out.
• Permits and inspection fees are listed, and the contractor, not you, is pulling the permit.
• Required code work is separated from optional work.
• The quote states what is excluded and what triggers a change order.
• Payment terms tie money to completed stages, not just a start date.
• Licensing and insurance are confirmed with the relevant state or local authority, not taken from the quote.

Compare at least two quotes on the same scope, same hours basis and same exclusions. A lower total with fewer hours or more exclusions is not a lower price, just a smaller job.

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