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Electrician shortage in West Virginia: the licensed-supply numbers
What the West Virginia register actually shows, by tier and per capita, updated nightly.
As of 2026-08-09, West Virginia carries 5,261 licensed electricians
on its state register, or 297.2 per 100,000 residents.
5,261
licensed electricians
297.2
per 100k residents
#22
density rank of 41
West Virginia 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 West Virginia register, normalized to one ladder.
Tier
Licensed
Share
Intermediate
441
8%
Journeyman
2,642
50%
Master
2,178
41%
Against comparable states
States nearest West Virginia on licensed electricians per capita.
State
Licensed electricians
Per 100k
West Virginia
5,261
297.2
Oklahoma
17,577
433.6
Connecticut
14,883
411.5
Utah
13,298
389.1
Kentucky
12,962
286.4
Arkansas
8,710
283.9
California
83,027
213.1
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 West Virginia?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. West Virginia carries 5,261 licensed electricians on its register as of 2026-08-09, or 297.2 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed electricians does West Virginia have?
5,261 on the state register as of 2026-08-09, including 2,178 at master level.
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.
New licenses, ladder upgrades, classification changes and lapses, by market and credential tier. Read the quarterly free, or license the underlying data.