How to Get an Electrician License in Illinois

Illinois has no statewide electrician license. To get licensed, you apply to the local authority where the work happens: the City of Chicago, Cook County for unincorporated areas, or the municipality covering the job site.

At a glance

• No state license: Illinois electrical licensing is local, not statewide.
• Chicago route: Age 21, two years of qualifying experience, a $150 exam, then a $150 individual license.
• Chicago business route: The electrical contractor license is a separate $150 initial and $150 annual filing naming a supervising electrician.
• Cook County route: $150 initial registration and $75 annual renewal per trade, built on a municipal supervising electrician credential.
• The offer: The Licensing Company can prepare and submit the application for a flat $999 per state application.

This guide walks through who needs a license, the Chicago and Cook County routes in full, what other municipalities require, and how a company qualifies itself once an individual is licensed. For general Illinois contractor licensing beyond electrical work, see the Illinois contractor license guide and the national contractor license guide.

How to get an electrician license in Illinois: who needs one

Anyone performing electrical installation, alteration, repair or maintenance work for pay in Chicago needs the city's supervising electrician credential, or must work under someone who holds it. The same is true in unincorporated Cook County, where the registration requirement sits on top of a municipal electrician license. [1, 2, 6]

Outside those two jurisdictions, the licensing municipality is whichever city, village or township covers the job site. A suburban address does not automatically mean Cook County review applies. Confirm jurisdiction before assuming either the Chicago or county process controls the job. [6, 7]

License types in Illinois

Illinois does not run a statewide apprentice, journeyman and master ladder for electricians. Instead, each local authority sets its own credential names and classes. Chicago and Cook County are the two verified systems with published fees, and they work differently from each other.

Chicago further splits its supervising electrician and electrical contractor credentials into a general track and a low voltage track, each with its own $150 fee schedule. Choose the track that matches the work the applicant or business actually performs. [1, 3]

Experience and education

Chicago requires a supervising electrician applicant to be at least 21 years old and to have at least two years of cumulative experience installing, altering, repairing or maintaining electrical wires and equipment, under the direction of a supervising electrician or an equivalent supervisor. There is no separate classroom education requirement published alongside that experience rule. [1]

The application calls for the names and addresses of current and former employers, the dates of employment with each, and a description of the applicant's duties. Continental Testing's instructions add an employer verification letter, on the letterhead of a Chicago-licensed electrical contractor, stating the applicant's dates and duties and signed by that contractor's supervising electrician. [1, 5]

Cook County does not run its own experience review. It instead requires a current supervising electrician license already issued by an Illinois municipality with an electrical examination commission, so the experience question is answered at the municipal level before the county application is filed. [6]

The exam

Continental Testing Services administers Chicago's supervising electrician examinations on behalf of the Department of Buildings. Two tracks are offered: Supervising Electrician and Supervising Low Voltage Electrician. Pick the one matching the intended work; passing one does not qualify an applicant for the other. [5]

The exam is open book, but only two references are permitted: the Chicago Electrical Code, 2018 Edition, and NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code with Chicago amendments. Tabs for marking sections are allowed; handwritten notes and highlighting are not. The examination fee is $150 and is non-refundable if the applicant does not appear. [1, 5]

Continental Testing publishes exam dates several times a year, each with its own registration deadline. Check the current schedule before planning a test date, since dates and deadlines change every cycle. [5]

Apply for the Chicago individual credential step by step

1. Choose the track. Decide between the Supervising Electrician and Supervising Low Voltage Electrician examinations based on the work planned.
2. Check age and experience. Confirm the applicant is at least 21 and has two years of qualifying supervised experience.
3. Collect employer evidence. Gather the dates, duties and supervising electrician verification the application and Continental Testing both require.
4. Register and pay the $150 exam fee. Follow Continental Testing's current instructions for documents and scheduling.
5. Sit the exam. Bring only the permitted Chicago Electrical Code and NFPA 70 references.
6. Pay the $150 initial license fee. The individual license is a separate payment from the exam fee.
7. Track the annual renewal. The license runs on a calendar year and renews for another $150.

Compare dates and duties across every supporting document before submitting. An employer who cannot confirm the dates on the form creates a problem the city will raise during review, not one this checklist can fix after the fact. [1]

Want the application done for you?

Gathering employer verification letters, matching dates across documents and tracking a licensing board's follow up questions takes time away from running your business. The Licensing Company's License Application Processing service handles that work for you.

The service starts with an eligibility audit before anything is filed, so you know where you stand before paying a state or exam fee. From there, it builds your document checklist and chases the pieces with you, prepares every required form and reviews it line by line, and submits the application the way the licensing authority requires. If the board comes back with questions, those get answered and the application resubmitted, until the board makes its decision.

It is a flat $999 per state application, paid up front. State fees, exam fees, background checks and fingerprinting are paid to the state, not to us. This covers the paperwork, not the outcome: it does not promise approval, does not promise a timeline, and does not include sitting the exam for you. Call 615-219-2110 to talk through whether it fits your application.

If you are not yet eligible on your own experience, a qualifying agent can qualify the company while you build toward your own license. See Hire a Qualifying Agent below.

Chicago electrical contractor business license

A business that wants to contract electrical work in Chicago needs its own electrical contractor license, separate from any individual's supervising electrician credential. The application names the business's supervising electrician, and the license is automatically inactivated if that individual's credential lapses without a replacement named. [2, 3]

The contractor license splits into Class 1 and Class 2. Class 1 covers any work a registration under Chapter 4-290 allows. Class 2 carries the same registration but may not perform that work in a building taller than 55 feet, or in the large assembly occupancy classified under section 13-56-080, before the affected portion of the building reaches initial legal occupancy. [3, 4]

A supervising electrician may be named on only one electrical contractor license at a time. Before proposing a supervisory relationship, confirm the individual is not already carrying another contractor's license. [2]

Cook County electrical contractor registration

Cook County requires its own registration for electrical work in unincorporated areas and the forest preserves, on top of whatever municipal supervising electrician license the individual already holds. Incorporated municipalities inside the county handle their own permitting and are not part of this process. [6, 7]

The supervising electrician license must come from an Illinois municipality with an electrical examination commission. Corporations must also submit proof of good standing with the State of Illinois. The registration fee is $150 per trade initially, with a $75 per trade annual renewal due by December 31. The liability certificate names the Cook County Department of Building and Zoning, 69 W. Washington Street, Suite 2830, Chicago, Illinois 60602, as certificate holder. [6]

Cook County's Building and Zoning Department can be reached by email at electrical.bnz@cookcountyil.gov for questions about a pending application. [6]

Bond and insurance

Neither Chicago nor Cook County publishes a surety bond requirement for an individual supervising electrician or for an electrical contractor license. Cook County's $1,000,000 general liability certificate is an insurance requirement, not a bond, and it applies to the county registration rather than to the Chicago credentials. [2, 3, 6]

If a job calls for a bond beyond what is listed here, that requirement is coming from the property owner, the general contractor or a specific permit type rather than from the city or county electrical licensing rules described in this guide.

Timeline

There is no single published processing time for a Chicago supervising electrician application. The practical timeline runs from registering for the next available Continental Testing exam date, through sitting and passing the exam, to the city issuing the individual license. Build in time around the testing administrator's quarterly-style calendar rather than assuming a same-week turnaround. [5]

Cook County's registration depends on the applicant assembling the affidavit, insurance certificate and entity documents correctly the first time. A file that is missing the liability certificate's exact department language, for example, will come back for correction rather than move forward. [6]

Renewal and continuing education

Chicago's supervising electrician and electrical contractor licenses both run on a calendar year and renew annually for $150. Renewal does not currently carry a published continuing education requirement in Chicago. [1, 2, 3]

Chicago does require reexamination before renewal if the license holder has not worked as a supervising electrician in the city, or has not pulled a Department of Buildings permit, for three continuous years. A license that has simply sat unused briefly is not the same as one that has crossed that three year mark. [2]

Cook County's registration renews annually at $75 per trade, due December 31, and depends on the underlying municipal supervising electrician license staying current. [6]

For any other Illinois municipality, ask its licensing or building department directly about its own renewal cycle, fee and continuing education rule. Chicago's answers do not transfer automatically to a neighboring town.

Qualifying an electrical company

A Chicago electrical contractor license and a Cook County registration both run through a named individual, not just the business name on the application. The business needs that person's credential to open the license and needs it to stay current to keep the license active.

A qualifying agent qualifies the company as its owner or as a full time W-2 employee who supervises the licensed work, not as an outside consultant attached to the paperwork. If your company needs that person and does not have one on staff yet, Hire a Qualifying Agent explains the placement process, and What Is a Qualifying Agent explains the role itself in more depth. There is no published price for that placement here; it depends on the arrangement your company needs.

Licensing outside Chicago and Cook County

For a job in any other Illinois city, village or township, contact that municipality's building or licensing department directly. Ask whether it issues its own electrician credential, accepts a license from another municipality, and what its business license or registration process requires. [6, 7]

Keep a separate record for each jurisdiction your company works in: the credential, the responsible individual, the renewal date and the scope confirmed with that authority. A rule that applies in Chicago or Cook County is not evidence that a neighboring municipality has adopted the same one.

How to verify a licensed electrician

First, confirm the jurisdiction. Use the job address, not the mailing address, to determine whether Chicago, Cook County or another municipality controls the work. [6, 7]

Second, check the individual. Ask for the supervising electrician's name, issuing municipality and credential number, and confirm current status with that authority.

Third, check the business. For Chicago, confirm the contractor's class and its named supervising electrician. For county work, confirm the registration separately from the underlying municipal license.

Fourth, match scope to the job. A Class 2 contractor cannot take on the Class 2 exclusions described above regardless of how long the company has operated.

Finally, resolve any mismatch before relying on the paperwork. A valid individual license from one municipality is not proof that a business registration has been completed somewhere else.

Illinois electrician licensing questions

Does Illinois issue a statewide electrician license?

No. Electrical licensing in Illinois is handled by individual municipalities and, in unincorporated Cook County, by the county itself. There is no single state exam or state credential that covers the whole state. [1, 6]

How much does a Chicago electrician license cost?

The supervising electrician path costs $150 for the exam and $150 for the initial individual license, each renewing at $150 a year. A separate electrical contractor business license costs $150 initial and $150 annual renewal. These are four different payments, not one combined fee. [1, 3, 5]

Does a Chicago supervising electrician license carry over into Cook County automatically?

No. Cook County requires its own registration, built on top of a current municipal supervising electrician license, plus a signed affidavit, a $1,000,000 liability certificate and entity documents where applicable. The initial county fee is $150 per trade. [6]

Can a supervising electrician work for more than one electrical contractor at once?

Not in Chicago. The city's code allows a supervising electrician to be named on only one electrical contractor license at a time. [2]

What happens if I work as an electrician in Illinois without the required local license?

Working without the license required by the authority covering the job site exposes the individual and the hiring business to that authority's own enforcement process. The specific penalty depends on the municipality, so check the relevant code or ask the licensing department directly rather than assuming a fixed citywide or statewide fine. [1, 6]

How long does it take to get licensed in Chicago?

There is no published fixed processing time. The real timeline is set by the next available Continental Testing exam date, the time to pass it, and the city's issuance process after that, so plan around the testing calendar rather than a set number of weeks. [5]

Sources

All sources below were retrieved for this guide's research on October 7, 2026.

1. Chicago Supervising Electrician License, and Chicago Municipal Code section 4-292-020, supervising electrician qualifications.
2. Chicago Municipal Code section 4-292-040, supervising electrician license terms.
3. Chicago Electrical Contractor License, and Chicago Municipal Code section 4-290-030, contractor application.
4. Chicago Municipal Code section 4-290-035, contractor classifications.
5. Continental Testing, Chicago supervising electrician examinations.
6. Cook County contractor registration.
7. Cook County Building and Zoning jurisdiction.

Plan your electrician license application

Identify your jurisdiction, the credential it requires and whether your company needs a qualifying agent before you file anything. The Licensing Company can prepare and submit the application for you for a flat $999 per state application, or help you place a qualifying agent. Call 615-219-2110 or discuss your company's qualifying agent needs.