- The middle half earn between $23.14 and $38.04 an hour.
- Nebraska is 42nd of the 50 states and DC, in the bottom ten for this trade.
- Nebraska pays less than all 6 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 6,440 electricians on payrolls in Nebraska.
- At the state median wage, an electrical contracting business needs to bill about $121.94 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Electrician pay in Nebraska, bottom to top
The BLS group covers electricians who install and repair wiring in homes, businesses and plants. Line workers on power lines are counted separately and are not included.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $19.42 | $40,400 | $20.50 |
| 25th percentile | $23.14 | $48,140 | $23.76 |
| Median | $29.24 | $60,820 | $30.38 |
| 75th percentile | $38.04 | $79,130 | $40.36 |
| 90th percentile | $45.21 | $94,040 | $52.17 |
| Average (mean) | $30.75 | $63,960 | $34.37 |
Pay is bunched up in Nebraska. The top tenth earn $45.21 an hour or more, about 2.3 times the $19.42 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.5 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
Both ends trail the national figures. The bottom tenth earn $1.08 an hour less than the bottom tenth nationally, and the top tenth $6.96 less than the national top tenth.
The average, $30.75, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Nebraska compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $60,820 in Nebraska against $63,190 nationally, $2,370 less.
In the state ranking, Nebraska sits 42nd, between Mississippi ($29.26) and Kentucky ($28.71). The range runs from $23.59 in Arkansas to $48.71 in Oregon.
Every one of the neighboring states pays electricians more than Nebraska. The closest is Iowa at $29.26, and the biggest gap is with Wyoming.
How many electricians work in Nebraska
About 6,440 electricians work on payrolls in Nebraska, 0.9% of the 757,220 nationwide, the 35th largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 6.3 of every 1,000 jobs in Nebraska, 1.3 times the national share.
What an electrical contracting business in Nebraska should charge
Say you run an electrical contracting business in Nebraska and pay the state median of $29.24 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on its starting numbers: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $29.24 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $65,472 |
| Break-even rate | ($65,472 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $103.65 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $103.65 ÷ 0.85 | $121.94 |
That is $121.94 per billable hour, 4.2 times the wage, and $2.00 less than the $123.94 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $38.04 in Nebraska, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $137.39.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $23.14, the rate only drops to $111.23.
Overhead, at $60 of every billed hour, and the unbilled hours move this rate more than a raise does. A dollar more in wages adds about $1.76 to the rate.
Run it with your own numbers in the electrician labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as an electrician in Nebraska
- Licensing. What Nebraska asks for before you can work on your own: Electrical license in Nebraska.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how electrical contractors run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-2111, electricians, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: electrician salary by state.