Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05
Santa Clara County
San Jose CA Electrician License: Classes and Exam Site
San Jose pays electricians more than almost anywhere else in the state, and its apprenticeship entry rules are written down in detail. Here is the route from a first job to a certification card, with the local programs named.
Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed
On this page
The license a San Jose electrician needs
The card comes from the state, not the city. The Department of Industrial Relations certifies electricians in five classifications, and an electrician who makes connections of greater than 100 volt amps for a C-10 contractor holds one of those cards or a trainee registration.
Contracting is the other half. The Contractors State License Board issues the C-10 Electrical license to the business, on four years of journey level experience and two exams of its own.
What is decided locally
No city electrician license appears in the state, county or city sources cited on this page. Certification and the C-10 are state documents, and they travel with you across city lines.
Permits and inspections are local everywhere in California, so the building department that reviews your work is the office to ask about permit routes and which code edition your plan check runs against. The statewide answer is the 2025 California Electrical Code, effective January 1, 2026.
Where to train in San Jose
- IBEW Local 332, 2125 Canoas Garden Ave., Ste. 100, San Jose, CA 95125, (408) 269-4332, info@ibew332.org. Three apprenticeships are listed: Inside Wireman, Residential Wireman, and Sound and Communications, over five years.
- Electrical Training Alliance of Silicon Valley, 1873 Barber Lane, Milpitas, CA 95035, which runs the Inside Wireman apprenticeship over five years with ten pay periods. Applicants must be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or GED, and have passed one full year of Algebra or Algebra II in high school with a C or better each semester, or one semester in college with a C or better, plus a valid California driver's license, the ability to work at heights and in cramped spaces, color vision and fluent English. Online applications open for the first three days of the month only, and the program puts books at about $430 a year and tools at about $500.
- San Jose City College, 2100 Moorpark Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128, 408-298-2181, DIR approved school #146. It is an approved electrician trainee partial curriculum provider, combining classroom instruction, hands-on training and fieldwork, with courses in the National Electrical Code, blueprint reading and rigging, and low voltage specialty systems.
- Three more DIR approved trainee schools serve the area: Institute for Business Technology #144 at 2400 Walsh Ave in Santa Clara, Center for Employment Training #150 at 701 Vine St in San Jose, and MetroED Silicon Valley CTE #157 at 760 Hillsdale Ave in San Jose.
The state approves those schools, and this site is not one of them. Nothing published here counts as trainee instruction or renewal hours.
Where the exams are given
The certification exam is delivered by CPS HR Consulting through Pearson VUE for exams on or after June 1, 2026. Candidates receive an authorization to test by email and pick a site inside the Pearson VUE scheduling system, and neither the Candidate Information Bulletin nor the state test information page publishes a list of California test center cities.
The nearest contractor test center on the Board's list is Santa Clara, with Union City and San Francisco further north. Both contractor exams are closed book and run 3 and a half hours each, scheduled through PSI online or at (877) 392-6422.
What the work pays around San Jose
The median for electricians in the San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara area is $43.77 an hour and $91,030 a year, from O*NET OnLine citing Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data. The state median is $36.62 and $76,160.
IBEW Local 332 publishes its own scale for the Inside Wireman apprenticeship: $40.96 an hour in the first period and $81.93 in the tenth. A journeyman on completion is at $140.78 an hour as a total package, which the local splits as $91.03 in wages and the rest in benefits. Those are the local's agreement figures rather than a survey.
The Bureau's May 2025 metro release puts construction and extraction occupations at 3.4 percent of local employment and $45.42 mean hourly, across the whole group.
Your next move in San Jose
If the apprenticeship route appeals, note the calendar: the Silicon Valley program opens applications for the first three days of the month only, so the algebra transcript and the license need to be ready in advance.
If you would rather start working now, get hired by a C-10 contractor, register as a trainee for $25 and enroll at an approved school. Either way the hours only count when they are worked for a C-10 contractor.
Questions people ask
Does San Jose issue its own electrician license?
No city electrician license appears in the sources cited on this page. The certification card comes from the Department of Industrial Relations and the C-10 contractor license from the Contractors State License Board.
How do I apply to the IBEW Local 332 apprenticeship?
Through the Electrical Training Alliance of Silicon Valley in Milpitas, which opens online applications for the first three days of the month only. Applicants need a diploma or GED, algebra coursework at a C or better, and a valid California driver's license.
How long is the San Jose electrical apprenticeship?
Five years, with ten pay periods, for the Inside Wireman program. IBEW Local 332 also lists Residential Wireman and Sound and Communications apprenticeships.
Where is the nearest contractor test center to San Jose?
Santa Clara, on the Contractors State License Board list, with Union City and San Francisco further north. The state certification exam is scheduled inside the Pearson VUE system, which publishes no California city list.
What do electricians earn in San Jose?
The median for the San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara area is $43.77 an hour and $91,030 a year, from O*NET OnLine citing Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data. That is well above the state median of $36.62.
Which schools near San Jose are state approved for trainees?
San Jose City College is DIR approved school #146. The Institute for Business Technology in Santa Clara, the Center for Employment Training in San Jose and MetroED Silicon Valley CTE also appear on the state list.
Thirty free questions, timed, with the working shown
Every miss comes back with the arithmetic worked out and the code section named, so you learn the trap and not just the answer. No account.
All questions here are original. They are not actual exam questions, and no question bank can promise you a pass.
What this page cites
- IBEW Local 332 apprenticeships Lists the three apprenticeships, the five year length and the local's published wage scale. source
- Electrical Training Alliance of Silicon Valley Sets the entry requirements, the application window and the book and tool costs. source
- San Jose City College electrician trainee Describes the approved partial curriculum and the course areas it covers. source
- CSLB examination FAQ Lists Santa Clara among the contractor test centers and sets the exam rules. source
- O*NET OnLine local wages, 47-2111 Metro median wages for electricians, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data. source
The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.