Salary
Average Salary: $49,840
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $2,081,000
Electricians make between $18.00 and $28.00 an hour, on average, but the amount of money you make depends on your employer.
Those working for electric power generation companies make the most—usually around $28.00 an hour. Local government workers make around $25.00 an hour; non-residential building construction electricians or those working for building equipment contractors make around $22.00 an hour; and, if you're working for a company that sends you out on residential and commercial calls, you'll be making a piddling $18.00 an hour (source).
Many electricians are part of a union. Roughly 32% of electricians are members of a union, such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Works and the United Steelworkers of America. If you join a union, you'll have an ally that will negotiate with companies on your behalf.
A union might ask for better wages or a safer or more comfortable work environment. However, unions have different requirements to join. Before you get excited and begin chanting, "Workers of the world, unite," make sure that you meet their minimum requirements.
But now let's say you have your own company and have a dozen other electricians working underneath you. Now you're getting paid every time one of your electricians does. Maybe you also have an electrical parts and supply store. You are no longer making just electrician money—you are making businessman money (source). We're talking $250,000 or more a year. Not bad for someone who didn't have to go to seven years of medical school or stand in front of a judge arguing cases all day.