Power Line Worker

Build and repair the high voltage lines that carry electricity to everyone else. Outdoors, dangerous, and paid like it.

Typical pay: $95,320a year
Time to qualify: 3 to 4 yearspaid while you train, from day one
Demand: Very high
License needed: Nono license to hold

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Quick answers

How much does a power line worker make in the United States?

The median pay is about $95,320 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $51,470 at the lower end to about $128,690 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.

How long does it take to become a power line worker in the United States?

3 to 4 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.

What does it cost to become a power line worker?

$600 to $25,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.

Do you need a license to work as a power line worker in the United States?

No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.

What is the job outlook for a power line worker in the United States?

Very high demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.

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Power Line Worker salary in the United States

What you earn and what it costs to get there.

What line workers make

Median

$95,320

Bottom tenth

$51,470

Top tenth

$128,690

The 2025 national median is $95,320 a year, and the bottom tenth earn $51,470 or less. You do not need a degree to get here.

The bottom quarter

$67,270 a year or less

$32.34 an hour or less, 25th percentile of the national wage survey, 2025

Apprentices are paid from day one, as a percentage of the journeyman rate that steps up as they log hours. Each program publishes its own scale.

The top quarter

$109,740 a year or more

The 75th percentile of line workers, 2025

The survey does not say who is at the top. After a hurricane or an ice storm, crews travel across state lines and work long days at overtime rates, with hotels and meals paid.

What it costs to get there

Lineworker certificate program: Several thousand dollars or more for a short course, far more at a private school than a community college. Not required if a utility or union takes you in directly
CDL (commercial driver's license) training: $3,000 to $7,000, and many employers pay for it
Climbing gear, boots, rain gear: $500 to $1,500 to start
Registered apprenticeship: No cost. You are an employee earning wages the whole time

Roughly, all in

$600 to $25,000

Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel

A registered apprenticeship with a utility or a union is paid work, so the low end is boots, climbing gear and rain gear bought while you earn a wage. The high end is paying for a lineworker school first, plus a commercial driver's license course that many employers would have covered for you. Getting taken on directly is the cheaper door, but it is competitive and often takes a few tries. Most line workers finish training with savings rather than student debt.

Most line workers finish training with savings instead of student debt. If you do go to a lineworker school first, file the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) to see what grants and federal loans you qualify for.

Benefits

Real pensions
Public power utilities and IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) locals still run defined-benefit pension plans.
Overtime and double time
Outage and storm callouts are paid at premium rates, all night if that is what it takes.
Per diem on travel work
A daily allowance for food and lodging when you are sent out of town.
Health coverage from early on
Utility and union plans usually start within months of being hired, not years.

How to become a power line worker in the United States

The exact path from high school to qualified.

The path to becoming a power line worker, step by step

An apprenticeship, not a degree. The hard part is getting the apprenticeship, not finishing it.

1
High school diploma
Grade 12
Algebra is the one that matters. Get strong, get comfortable with heights, and keep your driving record clean.
2
Commercial driver's license
A few weeks
Most crews need you to drive the bucket truck and the digger derrick, so a Class A CDL (commercial driver's license) is either required up front or required early.
3
Optional lineworker school
3 to 15 months
A certificate of a few months to more than a year at a school like Northwest Lineman College, which has campuses in Idaho, California, Texas and Florida, or at a community college. It is not required, but it puts you ahead in the applicant pile.
4
Get into a registered apprenticeship
Weeks to a year of waiting
Through a utility, a line construction contractor, or a joint union and employer program. Expect an aptitude test, an interview, a physical and a drug screen.
5
Work the apprenticeship
About 3 and a half to 4 years
Outside line programs run thousands of hours on the job plus classroom work. You climb, you dig, you frame poles, you learn to work near energized conductors.
6
Journeyman lineworker
After your hours
You top out at the full rate, take your own truck and start training the apprentices behind you.

High school courses that help you become a power line worker

Algebra and geometry
Sag calculations, pole loading and conductor tension are all arithmetic you do on site.
Physics
Voltage, current and magnetic fields are the whole job.
Shop or electronics
Shows you can handle tools and read a drawing.
Physical education
The entrance physical is real. You will be climbing poles carrying 40 pounds of gear.

Time and money, at a glance

Years after high school: 3 to 4
Entry test: Aptitude test, interview, physical, drug screen
Total out of pocket: Often under $5,000, up to about $25,000 if you attend a private lineworker school
Paid while training?: Yes, from the first day of the apprenticeship

No state license, but heavy rules

Unlike an inside electrician, a line worker usually does not hold a state license. What governs the job is your employer's qualification program and federal workplace safety law. OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has a specific standard for electric power generation, transmission and distribution work covering minimum approach distances, protective grounding and rubber gloving. You also need a commercial driver's license in almost every crew, which is a real license with medical checks and drug testing behind it.

Where people train

Three doors into the same trade.

Utility apprenticeships
City-owned and investor-owned utilities hire apprentices directly. Steady work, pension, less travel.
Union and contractor programs
Joint programs run by IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) locals and line construction contractors. More travel.
Private lineworker colleges
Northwest Lineman College and similar schools run short pre-apprenticeship certificates with pole yards and climbing towers.
Community colleges
Many technical and community colleges run electrical lineworker certificates that cost far less than a private school.

What helps you get ahead as a power line worker

Things you don't need, but that help.

Ways to move up

Transmission work
The big steel towers and the highest voltages. Harder, with more travel.
Troubleman
The experienced lineworker who rolls alone to find and fix faults.
Substation and relay technician
A related path inside the fence, less climbing, more testing equipment.
Foreman or general foreman
Running a crew. More responsibility and more paperwork.
Storm travel crews
Volunteering for mutual aid work after hurricanes and ice storms means long days and overtime away from home.

Nice-to-haves before you apply

A clean driving record
A bad record can end the application before anything else is looked at.
CPR and first aid
Pole-top rescue is part of the job. Crews want you certified.
Real fitness
Climb, carry, and work with your arms above your head all day.
Aptitude test practice
Most apprenticeship entrance tests are algebra and reading comprehension. They are passable with a few weeks of practice.

What being a power line worker is really like

Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.

What a power line worker does day to day

Report to the yard around 6am or 7am, get the job briefing, check the truck and the rubber gloves. Drive out and set up traffic control. Then the work: changing a cross arm, replacing a transformer, pulling new conductor, or restoring a line after a car hit a pole. You spend the day in a bucket or on hooks, in whatever weather the day brings. Some days end at 3pm. Some end at 3am because the phone rang.

The honest pros and cons of being a power line worker

The good

A median of $95,320 without a degree or debt
Paid from the first day of the apprenticeship
A bright federal outlook, with growth much faster than average
A skill that is needed in every state

The hard parts

One of the genuinely dangerous jobs in the country
Storm callouts at 2am, holidays included
Weeks away from home on travel and mutual aid work
Hard on the shoulders, knees and back by your forties

Work life

Typical hours: 40 a week plus heavy overtime and callouts
Remote work: None
Physical demand: Very high
Unionized: Often, especially line construction

Similar paths

Things nobody tells you about being a power line worker

Things people don't tell you.

About 132,000 people do this job

O*NET (Occupational Information Network) counted about 131,900 electrical power-line installers and repairers in the United States in 2025, with employment projected to grow 7% or more from 2025 to 2035 and about 10,900 openings a year. It is a small trade holding up a very large country.

The survey says it plainly

In O*NET (Occupational Information Network) survey answers, 93% of line workers report exposure to hazardous conditions every day, 83% work in high places every day, and 83% wear specialized protective equipment every day.

Crews cross state lines to help

After a big storm, utilities call in mutual aid. Convoys of bucket trucks from other states drive through the night to restore power somewhere they have never worked.

Some of it is done live

Line workers routinely work on energized conductors using insulated fiberglass hot sticks, rubber gloves rated for the voltage, and insulated bucket trucks. Shutting the power off to fix it is not always an option.

How a power line worker compares

Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.

More skilled trades careers in the US

Electrical and energy first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.

Where these numbers come from

Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.