Electrical Project Manager Salary 2026 by State

The electrical project manager salary you earn depends on three things: the state you work in, the type of project you run, and the license you hold. The spread is wide. The Bureau of Labor Statistics places 10 percent of construction managers below $69,690 a year and 10 percent above $189,440. State medians run from about $86,000 in Arkansas to about $155,000 in New York. This guide shows which lever is worth pulling first and how to read the numbers before you negotiate an offer.

People use the title loosely. Some offices mean the person who runs an electrical construction crew. Others mean the person who manages power and lighting inside a large building. Both jobs sit inside the federal construction manager code, so both draw on the same wage data.

What is the electrical project manager salary range in 2026?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics measured 380,360 construction managers in May 2025. The median was $114,990 a year, or $55.28 an hour. The mean was higher at $124,360, which tells you a small group of high earners pulls the average up.

The middle half of the occupation earned between $88,550 and $151,640. That band is the honest place to start a market conversation. A new electrical manager with a license and a few years of field work sits near the lower end. A manager who has run large commercial work for a decade should look above the upper end.

Job growth is solid. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 9 percent growth for construction managers from 2025 to 2035, far faster than the average for all occupations. That works out to about 49,700 openings each year, and many of them come from people retiring out of the trade.

Which states pay electrical project managers the most?

A state-level view of an electrical project manager salary is where the spread shows up most clearly. The table below uses Bureau of Labor Statistics state medians for May 2025. The last column adjusts each median for state price levels published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2024, so it shows what the pay is worth in national-average dollars.

Texas has the most construction manager jobs at 59,060, and California and Florida follow at 34,750 and 34,010. Jobs are plentiful in Texas, and the pay is average. If you want the highest nominal number, the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest win. If you want the most work, the Sun Belt and the Mountain West win.

Do not skip the labor angle. Our guide to HVAC technician salary by state in 2026 shows the same pattern for a nearby trade, with union-heavy markets paying well above the national line.

Which metro areas pay the most?

State borders blur the real market. Bureau of Labor Statistics metro estimates for May 2025 put the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area at a median of $166,030 for construction managers, the highest of any metro in the country, with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara next at $163,040. Both sit far above the national median of $114,990. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area ranks near the top as well, and New York-Newark-Jersey City stays high because of the sheer volume of commercial work.

Metro pay matters most if you want to work on large institutional projects such as data centers, hospitals, transit systems, and high-rise work. Those jobs need a manager who can read drawings, push a schedule, and get a permit through a real building department.

What moves the number up or down?

Commercial and industrial work pays more than residential

Bureau of Labor Statistics industry medians for May 2025 make this plain. Nonresidential building construction paid $126,690 and heavy and civil engineering construction paid $124,430. Specialty trade contractors, where most electrical contractors sit, paid $104,100, while residential building construction paid $98,390. Moving from residential service work into commercial or industrial work is worth roughly $20,000 to $28,000 a year at the median.

The license is the real lever

That is why an electrical project manager salary carries a license premium. A contractor license lets you pull permits and run a business. A master electrician license lets you supervise apprentices and approve work without a supervisor on site. In Texas, the Department of Licensing and Regulation requires 7,000 hours of on-the-job training under a master electrician before you can test for the journeyman license, and 8,000 hours for full licensure. Maryland law asks for seven years of electrical experience for a master license and four years for a journeyperson. Those thresholds are why the license shows up in the pay, and why a candidate without one negotiates from a weaker spot.

Union markets raise the floor and the ceiling

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in February 2026 that union members earned a median of $1,404 a week in 2025, while nonunion workers earned $1,174. Union membership covered 10.0 percent of all wage and salary workers. Where union presence is strong, the crews you manage cost more and the demand for your management skills is higher. State union rates in 2025 ranged from below 5 percent to nearly 25 percent, with Hawaii the highest at 24.8 percent.

Company size changes the shape of the deal

At a small contractor you carry three or four projects and wear every hat. At a national contractor you run one large job with a support team behind you. Pay follows scope, and so does the paperwork. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also notes that construction managers may earn bonuses, and that their earnings depend on the business they generate. Ask how that bonus is measured before you accept it.

How does this compare with the overall project manager median?

Construction managers earn more than the general project manager median. That is the expected result, because the construction code carries a license requirement and a trade behind the title. We break down the general project manager median, including the state table and the level splits, in our guide to the average project manager salary in 2026.

Do not confuse the two job families. Our product manager versus project manager comparison shows how the title changes what you get paid for. A construction manager owns a budget, a schedule, a permit, and a crew. A product manager owns a roadmap and a backlog.

Some electrical managers come up through the office instead of the field. If that is your route, the project coordinator role is the usual first step, and it is a real step rather than a dead end.

What is the total package worth?

Base pay is only part of the deal. Indeed, which tracks figures from job postings, puts the average base pay for an electrical project manager at $114,186, with a low of $79,410 and a high of $164,190. PayScale reports a lower average base of $98,918 with a range from $73,000 to $133,000, and it adds bonus pay of $1,000 to $18,000 plus profit sharing of $1,000 to $8,000. Salary.com lands much higher, at $179,527 on average with a middle half of $165,045 to $196,531.

That disagreement is worth understanding instead of ignoring. The gap comes from what each site counts. Indeed tracks posted jobs under the title. PayScale tracks people who report their own pay. Salary.com models the title by employer and industry. A national laboratory posting at $229,650 and a national engineering firm at $210,000 sit at the top of the Indeed list, while small regional shops sit near the bottom.

Always ask what the number covers. Ask whether it is base pay, whether a bonus is included, and whether the employer is a small shop or a national contractor. The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures straight-time pay only, without overtime or employer benefit costs.

Certifications add another layer. PMI found in its 2025 salary survey that certified project managers in the United States reported a median of $135,000, compared with $109,157 for peers without the credential, a gap of about 24 percent. PMI lists $425 for members and $675 for non-members to sit the exam, plus 35 hours of project management education. For an electrical manager a license still carries more weight, but national contractors do pay a premium for the PMP.

Licenses cost money, and the same logic applies to other professions. Our piece on real estate appraiser license cost shows the fees for another trade with a state exam gate.

Photo: borevina, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/photos/architect-plan-construction-3979490/)