If you hold a journeyman or master electrician licence in another state, Texas may let you skip the exam entirely. TDLR has reciprocity agreements with seven states for master electricians and ten states for journeymen, and if yours is on the list you apply for the Texas licence by reciprocity instead of sitting the test. If it is not on the list, there is no partial credit: you take the same exam as everybody else.
That is the whole answer, and most people searching for it never get told the second half.
Key facts
- Texas has master electrician reciprocity with seven states: Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio (TDLR, Transfer Your Out-of-State Electrician License to Texas, read 23 September 2026).
- Texas has journeyman electrician reciprocity with ten states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming (same page, read 23 September 2026).
- Journeyman reciprocity requires 8,000 hours under the supervision of a master electrician, a licence obtained by passing that state's statewide exam, and that licence held for at least one year.
- Master reciprocity requires 12,000 hours under the supervision of a master electrician and a journeyman licence held for at least two years, reduced to one year for Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio.
- Louisiana carries a residency condition: you must be a resident of Louisiana to qualify for a Texas master electrician licence through that agreement.
- If your state is not on either list, TDLR offers no reciprocity and no exemption — you sit the Texas exam, which is open book to the 2026 NEC from 1 September 2026.
What reciprocity actually means here
It means TDLR accepts the exam you already passed instead of making you pass theirs. It does not mean your licence is automatically valid in Texas, and it does not mean you skip the application, the fee or the background check. You still apply to TDLR, you still get a Texas licence number, and you still renew it here.
It also runs in one direction at a time. An agreement with Ohio for master electricians does not mean Ohio journeymen can reciprocate, and the two lists above are genuinely different: Alaska, Idaho, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming appear on the journeyman list and not on the master list.
The hours are the part that catches people
Both routes are gated on documented hours under a master electrician, not on how long you have held the licence. Journeyman is 8,000 hours. Master is 12,000 hours, and the journeyman licence behind it has to be two years old in most states.
If you have the licence but cannot document the hours, you are not eligible for the reciprocal route, and the application will come back. That is the single most common reason a reciprocity application fails: the licence is real, the hours are not evidenced.
If your state is not on the list
Then you are taking the exam, and it is worth knowing what that means now rather than after you have paid. The Texas journeyman exam is 80 scored questions with 70 percent to pass, run by PSI, and from 1 September 2026 it is referenced to the 2026 NEC. That edition moved load calculations out of Article 220 into a new Article 120, so a code book you bought three years ago has the right rules under the wrong numbers.
Coming from another state does not make this harder, but it does make it different. Most of what you know transfers. The numbering, the Texas amendments and the blueprint weighting do not.
Common questions
Does Texas have electrician reciprocity with California?
No. California is on neither the master nor the journeyman reciprocity list. A California electrician moving to Texas applies as a new candidate and sits the Texas exam (TDLR out-of-state page, read 23 September 2026).
Can I get a Texas master electrician licence by reciprocity if I only hold a journeyman licence?
No. The master route requires a journeyman licence held for at least two years, in one of the seven master-agreement states, plus 12,000 hours under a master electrician. A journeyman licence on its own qualifies you for journeyman reciprocity, not master.
How many hours do I need for journeyman reciprocity?
8,000 hours under the supervision of a master electrician, and your existing licence must have been obtained by passing that state's statewide exam and held for at least one year.
Do I still have to take the Texas exam if I reciprocate?
No. That is the point of the agreement: TDLR accepts the exam you already passed. You still complete the application and pay the fee, but you do not sit the Texas test.
Why is Louisiana treated differently?
TDLR's page states you must be a resident of Louisiana to qualify for a Texas master electrician licence through the Louisiana agreement. The other six master states carry no residency condition.
Where to go from here
If you are sitting the exam rather than reciprocating, find out where you stand before you book it. The free exam is 20 questions written from the 2026 NEC and weighted the way the real one is, and it tells you which sections are costing you points.