TradeSalary

Lineman salary in Cedar Rapids, IA

Updated September 26, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Linemen in the Cedar Rapids, IA area earn a median of $103,080 a year, or $49.56 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $109,980 a year. That's 3% more than the Iowa median of $100,200.

Median yearly pay$103,080
Bottom 10% under$75,970Top 10% over$109,980
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$36.53/hr
Jobs in this area
100
After cost of living
$115,870
Median hourly pay
$49.56/hr
vs U.S. median
+8%
vs Iowa median
+3%
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 16300, Cedar Rapids, IA). Excludes self-employed linemen. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Apprentice and journeyman lineman pay

StageYearly payHourly pay
Apprentice$75,970–$85,230$36.53–$40.98/hr
Journeyman$103,080$49.56/hr
Top earners$106,800–$109,980$51.35–$52.87/hr

Estimated from BLS percentiles (10th–25th, median, 75th–90th); BLS does not report pay by license level.

How Cedar Rapids, IA compares

  • Cedar Rapids has the highest lineman median of the 8 Iowa metro areas with published pay.
  • Linemen are less concentrated in the Cedar Rapids area than nationally: 0.7 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.85 times the U.S. share.
  • The 90th-percentile wage, $109,980, is 1.4 times the 10th-percentile wage, $75,970: a measure of how much pay rises with experience and specialty.

Other Iowa metro areas

Other trades in Cedar Rapids, IA

Questions

How much do linemen make in Cedar Rapids, IA?
Linemen in the Cedar Rapids, IA area earn a median of $103,080 a year, or $49.56 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $109,980 a year.
How much do linemen make an hour in Cedar Rapids, IA?
The median hourly wage is $49.56. The middle half earn between $40.98 and $51.35 an hour. (BLS, May 2025.)
What do apprentice linemen make in Cedar Rapids, IA?
BLS doesn't report pay by license level. The 10th-percentile wage, $36.53 an hour ($75,970 a year), is a reasonable estimate of starting pay; the 25th percentile is $40.98.
How much does a journeyman lineman make in Cedar Rapids, IA?
BLS doesn't report pay by license level, but the median, $103,080 a year ($49.56 an hour), is a fair estimate of typical journeyman pay. Master-level and top earners are closer to the 75th to 90th percentiles, $106,800–$109,980.
Do linemen make more in Cedar Rapids or Waterloo?
Pay is about the same: the median is $103,080 in Cedar Rapids and $102,680 in Waterloo.
How does Cedar Rapids pay compare with the rest of Iowa?
The Cedar Rapids median of $103,080 is 3% more than the Iowa median of $100,200.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 49-9051 (Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers), area code 16300 (Cedar Rapids, IA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed linemen 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 (89.0, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 26, 2026. How we calculate these figures