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Electrician shortage in Rhode Island: the licensed-supply numbers

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

As of 2026-08-09, Rhode Island carries 8,438 licensed electricians on its state register, or 769.9 per 100,000 residents.

8,438
licensed electricians
769.9
per 100k residents
#10
density rank of 41

Rhode Island 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.

Against comparable states

States nearest Rhode Island on licensed electricians per capita.

StateLicensed electriciansPer 100k
Rhode Island8,438769.9
Minnesota48,637847.6
New Mexico17,784841.1
Texas236,141774.1
Colorado41,945713.6
Oregon29,612699.5
Hawaii8,709606.8
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 Rhode Island?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. Rhode Island carries 8,438 licensed electricians on its register as of 2026-08-09, or 769.9 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed electricians does Rhode Island have?
8,438 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 Rhode Island
Market
Rhode Island licensed trades supply
Corridor
Electricians and the data-center buildout
Track Rhode Island licensed supply as it moves.

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