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Electrician shortage in Pennsylvania: the licensed-supply numbers

What the Pennsylvania register actually shows, by tier and per capita, updated nightly.

As of 2026-08-09, Pennsylvania carries 1,148 licensed electricians on its state register, or 8.9 per 100,000 residents.

1,148
licensed electricians
8.9
per 100k residents
#41
density rank of 41

Pennsylvania does not issue a separate apprentice license for this trade, so no pipeline ratio is published here. The tier counts below are what the register itself records.

By credential tier

Every electrician license on the Pennsylvania register, normalized to one ladder.

TierLicensedShare
Journeyman131%
Contractor / business1,08695%
Inspector494%

Against comparable states

States nearest Pennsylvania on licensed electricians per capita.

StateLicensed electriciansPer 100k
Pennsylvania1,1488.9
Tennessee3,08943.3
Ohio3,51529.8
New York2,72213.9
Counts, not a capacity opinion. We publish the licensed supply and the pipeline ratio; whether a market can absorb a given project is a judgement for the reader, not a claim we make.

Frequently asked

Is there an electricians shortage in Pennsylvania?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. Pennsylvania carries 1,148 licensed electricians on its register as of 2026-08-09, or 8.9 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed electricians does Pennsylvania have?
1,148 on the state register as of 2026-08-09.
Where does the shortage narrative come from?
Industry analyses project national shortfalls of hundreds of thousands of skilled-trades workers against data-center and electrification demand. Those are demand-side estimates; the figure here is the licensed supply on the register today.

Related

Count
How many electricians in Pennsylvania
Market
Pennsylvania licensed trades supply
Corridor
Electricians and the data-center buildout
Track Pennsylvania licensed supply as it moves.

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