TradeSalary

Electrician salary in Waterloo, IA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Electricians in the Waterloo–Cedar Falls, IA area earn a median of $63,420 a year, or $30.49 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $83,150. Across all of Iowa, the median is $60,860, so Waterloo pays 4% more than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$63,420
Bottom 10% under$40,160Top 10% over$83,150
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$19.31/hr
Jobs in this area
360
After cost of living
$72,850
Median hourly pay
$30.49/hr
vs U.S. median
0%
vs Iowa median
+4%
Mean (average) pay
$65,360 a year · $31.42 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 47940, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA). Excludes self-employed electricians. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What electricians in Waterloo, IA earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

PercentileHourlyYearly
10th percentile$19.31$40,160
25th percentile$23.10$48,050
Median (50th)$30.49$63,420
75th percentile$38.89$80,890
90th percentile$39.98$83,150

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Waterloo, IA compares

  • Waterloo ranks 3rd of 9 Iowa metro areas for electrician pay.
  • Electricians are less concentrated in the Waterloo area than nationally: 4.3 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.88 times the U.S. share.

Other Iowa metro areas

Other trades in Waterloo, IA

Questions

Do electricians make more in Waterloo or Davenport?
Davenport pays more: the median is $63,420 in Waterloo and $76,950 in Davenport, a 18% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2111 (Electricians), area code 47940 (Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed electricians and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (87.1, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures