Arkansas · Electrical licensing · official-source guide
Arkansas licenses electricians at state level through the Board of Electrical Examiners, part of the Department of Labor and Licensing. The board licenses the individual by class, from residential journeyman up to master electrician, and registers apprentices. The contracting business needs a separate Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board license once a commercial job reaches fifty thousand dollars.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-09-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Arkansas licenses electricians at state level. The Board of Electrical Examiners of the State of Arkansas sits inside the Department of Labor and Licensing, under the Code Enforcement side of the agency, and the Electrical Section staff administers it day to day. The governing statutes are Arkansas Code Title 17, Chapter 28, which the board posts as a single PDF on its own site. The board rules are 17 CAR Part 210. Two things follow from that structure and contractors get both wrong. First, the license is held by a person, not by a company. Arkansas Code 17-28-304 says no person shall perform electrical work, or display or use any title, sign, card, advertisement or other device indicating that the person performs electrical work or is an electrician, without first holding a license. Second, the company may still need a separate license from a different board. The Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, also housed at the Department of Labor and Licensing, licenses the contracting business once the job crosses a dollar threshold, and it has its own electrical classification. So an Arkansas electrical company on commercial work is usually carrying two credentials from two boards at the same time. The board itself is nine members under Arkansas Code 17-28-201: the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or a designee, plus eight appointed members drawn from municipal inspection, professional engineering, electrical contractors, master or supervising electricians, public utilities, private utilities, the general public and seniors. The board also licenses electrical inspectors and registers apprentices, so essentially everyone working in the trade in Arkansas shows up in its records somewhere.
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The board issues master electrician, journeyman electrician, residential master electrician, residential journeyman electrician, air conditioning electrician and industrial maintenance electrician licenses, and it registers electrical apprentices. Rule 17 CAR 210-101 adds a specialist sign electrician class and defines the scope of each. Master electrician is the unlimited class. A master may plan, lay out and supervise electrical work with no ceiling on building type. Journeyman electrician is limited to installing, maintaining and extending electrical conductors and equipment. The rule is explicit that a journeyman cannot contract with the general public to plan, lay out or supervise work without employing at least one full time master electrician. That single sentence is why most Arkansas electrical companies are built around a master. Residential master electrician covers planning and supervision but only in single family through four family dwellings. Residential journeyman electrician is the same building limit, working under a residential master or a master. Industrial maintenance electrician is restricted to repair, maintenance, alteration and extension of power and control systems inside industrial or manufacturing facilities, and the rule notes that employees of industrial facilities do not need this or any other class of license. Specialist sign electrician covers installing, maintaining and repairing electrically illuminated or operated signs within twenty five feet of an approved outlet, and may also maintain parking lot lights. Picking the wrong class is expensive because the exam fee and the wait for the next sitting both start over.
The electrician license does not license the company. Arkansas Code 17-25-101 defines a contractor by dollar value: a person or entity that bids or contracts to construct, alter, demolish or repair any building or other improvement, other than single family residences, when the cost of the work including labor and materials is fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or more. At that point the business needs a license from the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board. That board runs an electrical classification, and 17 CAR 255-402(d) says a contractor holding an electrical classification must maintain expertise, proper facility, financial ability, and at least one full time employee holding a master electrician license issued by the Board of Electrical Examiners. So the two boards are wired together. The Contractors Licensing Board also sets a minimum business related net worth by classification. For the electrical classification it is $20,000, and new applicants must hold half of that in cash. An applicant may file a surety bond in lieu of a financial statement under Arkansas Code 17-25-304(c), in an amount ten times the required net worth for the classification. The statute caps the application fee at one hundred dollars ($100) and the annual renewal fee at one hundred dollars ($100). Splitting a project into contracts under fifty thousand dollars to dodge this is addressed head on: the statute says the exception does not apply where the work is divided for that purpose.
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Rule 17 CAR 210-404 sets the qualifying paths and they differ sharply by class. For master electrician: an electrical engineering degree plus two years of construction experience, or six years of experience in the construction industry covering both residential and commercial work including two years as a licensed journeyman, or a board approved combination of apprenticeship and training. For journeyman electrician: completion of a four year apprenticeship program with a release from the Department of Labor, or one year of licensure in another state under reciprocity, or eight years of electrical construction experience where the board counts a maximum of 2,000 hours per year toward a 16,000 hour total. That last path is the slow door and most applicants avoid it. For industrial maintenance electrician: two years of experience under the supervision of an engineer, master or journeyman, or board approved apprenticeship, vocational or military training. For residential master electrician: three years of dwelling wiring experience including one year as a licensed residential journeyman. For residential journeyman electrician: two years of dwelling wiring experience, or a two year board approved apprenticeship with a verification letter from the school. For specialist sign electrician: one year with an electrical sign company or a licensed electrician. The board also allows an individual with a criminal record to petition under Arkansas Code 17-3-103 for a prelicensure determination before spending money on an application, and the board must answer in writing with reasons.
Rule 17 CAR 210-403 requires the board to offer examinations in every class at least every six months. The rule keeps exam content inside the board's discretion, requires the exam to be of a length and type that shows proficiency, and requires a uniform grade throughout the state. The examination fees are published in the same rule: master electrician $80.00, journeyman electrician $80.00, residential master electrician $80.00, residential journeyman electrician $80.00, specialist sign electrician $80.00, and industrial maintenance electrician $50.00. Applications to sit are filed through the board's online application link on the electrical licensing page. The review step is separate. Under 17 CAR 210-503 the Chief Electrical Inspector or a designee reviews the application and supporting documents, notifies an applicant in writing if the file is incomplete and says why, and only then is the applicant approved to test. Failing has different consequences depending on how you qualified. An applicant who completed an apprenticeship training program stays approved for later sittings of the same class with no further board action. An applicant who did not complete an apprenticeship may be required by the board to complete up to two years of an apprenticeship program before being approved for any subsequent examination. That is a hard stop, not a waiting period, and it is the strongest argument for entering through a registered apprenticeship rather than counting field hours.
Arkansas registers apprentices and polices how closely they are watched. Under 17 CAR 210-507 a master electrician must register an apprentice within thirty days of hire, and registration goes to the board, to the Arkansas Office of Skills Development and to the United States Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship. The apprentice must start school no later than the first full semester following hire, and if that start is delayed past ninety days the employer has to provide board approved technical instruction in the meantime. Registration costs ten dollars ($10.00) and renewal costs ten dollars ($10.00). The certificate is valid one year and expires on the last day of the month one year from issue. The ratio is three apprentices to one journeyman or one master electrician on a single electrical job. Supervision is graded by year and by occupancy. First year apprentices in dwellings get direct, immediate and continuous supervision. From ninety days to two years in dwellings, the supervisor observes every two to three hours and before work is operational, complete or covered. On non dwelling projects the schedule tightens: continuous in year one, every thirty minutes to an hour in year two, every two to three hours in year three, and before work is operational, complete or covered in year four. The supervising electrician must stay within reasonable proximity, which the rule describes as line of sight or the same street address.
Arkansas electrician licenses run one year, not two or three. Rule 17 CAR 210-504 says licenses expire on the last day of the month one year following the date of issue. Annual renewal fees are set in the same rule: fifty dollars ($50.00) per year for a master electrician license, fifty dollars ($50.00) for a residential master, and twenty five dollars ($25.00) each for journeyman, residential journeyman, industrial maintenance and specialist sign electrician licenses. Renewing late is priced by the month. Within thirty six months of the expiration date the licensee pays the annual renewal fee plus ten dollars ($10.00) for each calendar month between expiration and renewal. Past thirty six months the price changes character: a penalty of one thousand dollars ($1,000) and the exam again. Temporary licenses exist and run six months, at fifty dollars ($50.00) for a master electrician and twenty five dollars ($25.00) for a journeyman. A licensee aged sixty five or older with at least twelve years of licensure may apply for a restricted lifetime master or journeyman license under Arkansas Code 17-28-307, at fifty dollars ($50.00) under 17 CAR 210-904, and must still take continuing education for any period in which electrical work is done for pay. Rule 17 CAR 210-404(m) waives initial licensing fees for applicants on Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, TANF or Lifeline, applicants approved for unemployment within twelve months, and applicants at or below two hundred percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
Arkansas does not ask for annual hours. It asks for hours per National Electrical Code cycle. Rule 17 CAR 210-1002 requires a journeyman electrician or master electrician licensee to complete at least eight hours of continuing education for each NEC cycle before renewing, and states that the NEC cycle begins on January 1 of each year of NEC publication. Arkansas Code 17-28-311 puts the same duty on journeyman, residential journeyman, master and residential master licensees and adds the timing: the hours are taken for the current code cycle in the first year of each new code cycle. The content is narrow. The rule says the instruction must relate specifically to the National Electrical Code, and only board approved programs count. Course curricula have to be presented to the board at least thirty days before the course date on a board approved form. The course provider files an attendance roster with the Electrical Section, and the rule says the provider roster is the only document acceptable to confirm credit, which means a certificate in your glovebox is not proof. The certificate itself must carry the course title and board issued course number, date and location, the attendee name and license number, and the instructor name. An apprentice who finishes an apprenticeship program and passes the journeyman exam is not required to obtain further hours during that cycle. Miss the hours and you cannot renew until you complete them and pay all fees and penalties.
The board adopts the code itself rather than leaving it to a building agency. Rule 17 CAR 210-401(a) states that the Board of Electrical Examiners of the State of Arkansas adopts and incorporates the National Electrical Code, 2026 edition of the National Fire Protection Association, and subsection (b)(1) makes NFPA 70, 2026 the standard for construction, installation, repair and maintenance of electrical facilities and for the performance of electrical work. The rule does not include later amendments or editions, and the board must hold notice and a public hearing to move to a new edition. Arkansas then amends the code in ways that show up on residential jobs immediately. AFCI and GFCI provisions are not required on dwelling unit circuits over 130 volts except for the requirements in Articles 680 and 682. AFCI and GFCI protection does not apply within a dwelling unit to laundry areas, except convenience outlets within six feet of a sink, or to a refrigerator or microwave appliance. Island and peninsula receptacles follow state minimums: at least one receptacle outlet within an island or peninsula for the first nine square feet of countertop or work surface, an additional outlet for each further eighteen square feet, at least one outlet within two feet of the outer end of a peninsula, and remaining required outlets placed as the installer, designer or building owner determines. The board also adopts ANSI/NECA 1-2023 as the workmanship standard.
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Arkansas Code 17-28-306 authorizes the board to license applicants holding equivalent licenses in other states on payment of fees and proof of the out of state license, provided an agreement exists for that state to recognize Arkansas licenses. The board publishes the working list on its electrical licensing page. For journeyman, the listed jurisdictions are Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. For master, the listed jurisdictions are Iowa, Oregon and Texas. Three restrictions matter more than the list. The board only reciprocates an original license from the issuing state, so a license you yourself obtained by reciprocity somewhere else will not travel again. A master license from the list can only be reciprocated into an Arkansas journeyman license, with an exception the page states for Oregon and North Dakota, where Arkansas says it holds a master license reciprocal agreement. Wyoming carries its own condition: journeyman licenses only, and the applicant must have completed a United States Department of Labor approved apprenticeship program of at least 576 hours of classroom time. Read the master column and the master exception together and they do not line up, because North Dakota appears in the exception but not in the master list while Oregon appears in both. Both statements sit on the same board page, so confirm your own case with the Electrical Section before you file.
There are two enforcement tracks and they can both run. Under Arkansas Code 17-28-309(a) the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or a designee may petition a court to enjoin or restrain a person performing electrical work without a license or otherwise violating the chapter. Under 17-28-309(b) the department may assess a civil penalty against any person, firm or corporation for violating the chapter, the Arkansas Electrical Code Authority Act at 20-31-101 et seq., any board rule or order, any condition of a license, certificate or registration, or the criminal records licensure provisions at 17-3-102. The civil penalty shall not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) per day for each violation, and each day of a continuing violation is a separate violation. Assessment must be made no later than two years after the date of the occurrence. The board's own rule 17 CAR 210-701 sets the same one thousand dollar ceiling per violation. Revocation carries a two year minimum wait before reinstatement may be sought under 17 CAR 210-610, with the burden of proving rehabilitation on the applicant. The company side is separate and heavier. Working as a contractor at fifty thousand dollars or more without a Contractors Licensing Board license is a Class A misdemeanor with each day of activity a separate offense, the board may assess a civil penalty of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) and not more than four hundred dollars ($400) per day capped at three percent of the project, and no action may be brought to enforce the contract.
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Arkansas preempts local licensing of electricians and says so plainly. Arkansas Code 17-28-305(a) states that an individual licensed or registered under the chapter shall not be subject to examination or licensing by any city or county in order to perform electrical work. That is the opposite of the pattern in many states and it is worth knowing before you budget for city tests. What cities and counties keep is real, though. Under 17-28-305(b)(1) a city or town may prescribe rules, regulations and standards for materials used in construction, installation and inspection of electrical work, as long as those standards do not conflict with the board standards adopted under 17-28-202, 17-55-101 et seq. and 20-31-104. Under 17-28-305(b)(2) a city or county may require a person to demonstrate technical competency before doing electrical work on that person's own primary residence. Under 17-28-305(c) any city or county may establish a system of permits and inspections for the installation, repair and maintenance of electrical facilities and electrical work. Local electrical inspectors themselves must be licensed by the board under 17-55-101 et seq. One more local rule reaches the company rather than the electrician: Arkansas Code 17-25-313 says a building inspector or other permit issuing authority may not issue a permit for work of fifty thousand dollars or more until the applicant proves a current contractor license or an exemption.
Because Arkansas Code 17-28-305(a) blocks city examination and city licensing of electricians, the practical city layer in Little Rock and Fort Smith is permits, inspections and the ordinary business side of operating there. Both cities run building and inspection functions, and both sit under the same state ceiling: local material standards and inspection procedures are allowed only where they do not conflict with the board's statewide standards, and any local electrical inspector must hold a board issued inspector license. Little Rock publishes its business license information and application portal through the city's licenses and permits page, which is where a company registering to do business in the city starts. Two state rules interact with the city permit desk in ways contractors feel. First, 17 CAR 210-502(b) only requires the twelve by twelve job site sign at job sites that do not have a permit issued by a city or county building code enforcement authority, so pulling a city permit changes your signage duty. Second, Arkansas Code 17-25-313 requires the permit issuing authority to verify a current contractors license before releasing a permit for work of fifty thousand dollars or more, so on larger commercial jobs the city counter is where a lapsed Contractors Licensing Board license surfaces. Confirm current permit fees and any local registration step with each city's building office before bidding, since those figures are set locally and change on a local schedule.
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Arkansas has an unusually concrete display rule and it is written for the job site, not the website. Rule 17 CAR 210-502(b)(1) says the license number of the responsible master electrician and the company name shall be displayed on a sign at all job sites that do not have a permit issued by a city or county building code enforcement authority. Subsection (b)(2) sizes it: the sign shall be a minimum of twelve inches by twelve inches and include the name of the electrical contractor, the license number of the responsible master and a telephone number, in contrasting colors to the sign color, with a minimum letter size of one and one half inches. Note what the rule names. It is the responsible master's license number that goes on the sign, not the company's tax number and not a journeyman number. Rule 17 CAR 210-502(c) covers the person rather than the site: all licensed electricians and apprentices shall have on their person or immediately available their license and a photo identification at all times while performing electrical work, and shall produce both to any state or local government electrical inspector, building inspector or fire marshal on request. Rule 17 CAR 210-505 bars altering, transferring, lending or renting a license, which is the rule behind most Arkansas discipline involving a master whose number appears on work he never saw. Address changes go to the board within ten working days under 17 CAR 210-502(a)(2).
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The title restriction is in the licensing statute itself, which makes it broader than a signage rule. Arkansas Code 17-28-304 prohibits any person from performing electrical work, or displaying or using any title, sign, card, advertisement or other device to indicate that the person performs electrical work or is an electrician, unless the person first holds a license or is exempt. The words that carry legal weight are the class names the board issues: master electrician, journeyman electrician, residential master electrician, residential journeyman electrician, industrial maintenance electrician, air conditioning electrician and specialist sign electrician. Advertising a class you do not hold is the risk. A residential master should not market as a master electrician, because the rules confine residential classes to single family through four family dwellings. A journeyman should not market the company as offering to plan, lay out or supervise work for the public, since 17 CAR 210-101 conditions that on employing a full time master electrician. On the company side there is a second trap. If your advertising solicits commercial work at fifty thousand dollars or more, the Contractors Licensing Board statute reaches bidding itself, because 17-25-103 covers a person who attempts to or submits a bid without first holding a license with the proper classification. Put the responsible master's license number in the same places you put the phone number, and keep the classification language matched to the license you actually hold.
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There are two public records to check and they answer different questions. The Department of Labor and Licensing publishes roster searches for its boards at its rosters page, including the State Board of Electrical Examiners roster, which is where a homeowner or a general contractor confirms that a named electrician holds a current license and sees the licensure status and details. That record covers the person. The Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board publishes its own contractor search, linked from its find a licensed contractor page, and that record covers the business and its classifications. On a commercial job of fifty thousand dollars or more, both should be checked, because a company can hold a valid contractor license while the master electrician named on its electrical classification has moved on. Two other signals are easy to verify in the field. Rule 17 CAR 210-502(c) entitles an inspector to see the license and photo identification of any licensed electrician or apprentice on site, and a contractor who will not produce them is telling you something. Rule 17 CAR 210-502(b) puts the responsible master's license number on the job site sign wherever no city or county permit was issued, so the number is supposed to be readable from the curb. If a name does not appear on either state record, Arkansas Code 17-28-309 gives the department power to seek an injunction and assess civil penalties, and complaints go to the Electrical Section at the department.
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These are common details other guides publish about Arkansas, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Board of Electrical Examiners of the State of Arkansas, part of the Department of Labor and Licensing, licenses master, journeyman, residential master, residential journeyman, air conditioning and industrial maintenance electricians under Arkansas Code Title 17, Chapter 28, and registers electrical apprentices.
For commercial work at fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or more, yes. Arkansas Code 17-25-101 makes that the contractor threshold, and 17 CAR 255-402(d) requires a company holding the electrical classification to employ at least one full time master electrician licensed by the Board of Electrical Examiners.
The examination fee is $80.00 under 17 CAR 210-403, and the annual renewal fee is twenty five dollars ($25.00) under 17 CAR 210-504. A master electrician pays $80.00 to sit and fifty dollars ($50.00) per year to renew.
One year. Rule 17 CAR 210-504 says licenses expire on the last day of the month one year following the date of issue. Renewing late within thirty six months costs the renewal fee plus ten dollars ($10.00) per calendar month.
At least eight hours for each National Electrical Code cycle before renewal, under 17 CAR 210-1002 and Arkansas Code 17-28-311. The cycle begins January 1 of each year of NEC publication, the hours must relate specifically to the NEC, and only board approved courses count.
The 2026 edition. Rule 17 CAR 210-401 adopts NFPA 70, 2026 as the standard for electrical work statewide, without later amendments or editions, and adds Arkansas amendments covering AFCI and GFCI application and island and peninsula receptacle spacing.
The board's page lists journeyman reciprocity with Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming, and master reciprocity with Iowa, Oregon and Texas. Only an original license from the issuing state qualifies.
No. Arkansas Code 17-28-305(a) says an individual licensed or registered under the chapter is not subject to examination or licensing by any city or county to perform electrical work. Cities may still run permits, inspections and material standards that do not conflict with board standards.
At job sites with no city or county permit, 17 CAR 210-502(b) requires a sign at least twelve inches by twelve inches showing the electrical contractor name, the responsible master's license number and a telephone number, in contrasting colors, with letters at least one and one half inches.
Arkansas Code 17-28-309 allows an injunction and a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) per day for each violation, with each day of a continuing violation counted separately and assessment required within two years of the occurrence.
Three. Rule 17 CAR 210-507 sets a ratio of three apprentices to one journeyman or one master electrician on a single electrical job, and requires the supervising electrician to stay within reasonable proximity, described as line of sight or the same street address.
The Department of Labor and Licensing publishes roster searches at labor.arkansas.gov/resources/rosters/, including the State Board of Electrical Examiners roster for individuals. The Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board publishes a separate contractor search from its find a licensed contractor page for the business.
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