by 
Tampa is a city on Florida’s Western/Gulf coast that was incorporated in 1887, several years after Florida became a state.
Tampa is recognized to be Florida’s third-most populated city – only Miami and Jacksonville have larger populations.
The city is also a part of the larger metro statistical area that includes Tampa, St. Petersburg & Clearwater, which is the second-largest metro area in the state.
Tampa’s economy is multi-faceted and includes the following:
- Finance
- Retail
- Insurance
- Shipping -Air/Sea
- Healthcare
- Tourism
- Professional Sports
- National Defense, among others.
The city is also home to MacDill Air Force Base, which is home to more than 15,000 active uniformed members of the military.
Florida electricians must be licensed to work in the Sunshine State.
There are several paths to electrician licensing in Florida, which is administered by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Electricians can be certified, meaning they can work anywhere in the state as contractors. Registered electrician licenses limit a professional’s work to a specific jurisdiction.
According to federal statistics, in May 2021, Florida (with more than 41,000 professional electricians) ranked as the nation’s third-highest employment level for professional electricians.
The median annual salary in 2021 for Florida electricians was $49,080.
In the greater Tampa metro area, in 2021, there were more than 6,000 electricians earning a median salary of $49,110 per year.
1 Tampa Area Electrical JATC
Tampa Area Electrical JATC operates as a partnership with the IBEW Union 915 and the Florida West Coast Chapter of NECA.
The JATC Chapter’s mission is to recruit and train electrical apprentices for various jobs in office building shopping centers, industrial plants, and factories in the greater metropolitan Tampa.
The JATC’s electrician training program requires a five-year commitment as it involves a comprehensive, in-depth program that covers all types of electrical work.
Students receive classroom training plus several days each week of on-the-job training in the electrical industry.
Address: 5625 Old Harney Rd, Tampa, FL 33610
2 Erwin Technical College
Erwin Technical College is a member school of the Hillsborough County Public School district.
Erwin Technical College offers a 14-month electricity training program that prepares graduates for work in the electrical industry’s residential, industrial, and commercial areas.
Qualified grads of this Erwin Tech program have the option to enroll in a Tampa area-approved program that will allow further progress toward a state-issued journeyman electrician license.
This Erwin Technical College program includes daily lectures and hands-on lab simulations in the areas of conduit/cable installation, motors, the national electrical code, solid-state application, theory, and transformers.
Address: 2010 E Hillsborough Ave, Tampa, FL 33610
3 Southern Technical College
Southern Technical College operates several campuses across the state of Florida.
Southern Tech offers a comprehensive associate’s degree program in Electrical Trades Technology (ETT) from its Tampa location.
This STC electrician training program can be completed in as few as eighteen months. Southern Technical College is ACICS-accredited.
Students have the option to attend classes during the day or evening – all taught by industry professionals with decades of professional experience.
This program from Southern Tech offers the potential of financial aid to those students who qualify.
Career options for STC’s electrician training program graduates include electrical testers, electrical maintenance, electrical contractor, or line installers/repairer.
Address: 3910 Riga Blvd, Tampa, FL 33619
4 Hillsborough Community College
Hillsborough Community College offers an electrician training apprenticeship program that is federally structured as a training system.
During this program, students work full-time for a sponsoring employer while attending classroom instructions on weekends or evenings.
The total electrician training program includes 720 clock hours and 8,000 hours of job training.
Students complete this apprenticeship program over four years.
Applicants to the program must be 18 or older, hold a driver’s license, be physically able to perform the training tasks, and have a high-school diploma or GED equivalent.
The apprenticeship is sponsored by the IEC Florida West Coast Chapter and the ABC Gulf Coast Chapter.
Address: • 4001 W Tampa Bay Blvd, Tampa, FL 33614
5 Florida Technical College
Florida Technical College (FTC) offers an Electrical Diploma Program that prepares grads for entry-level work and employment in the electrical trade.
Florida Technical College’s nine-month program requires students to complete 200 lecture hours plus an additional 520 lab hours.
These clock hours are equivalent to 45 quarter-credit hours.
Sample classes for Florida Technical College’s electrician training program include electrical services/transformers and the fundamentals of emergency and renewable.
In addition, the school also offers a 12-month electrician training program that requires 900 hours of electrical training but includes a specialty in Programmable Logic Controllers.
Address: 1111 North West Shore Blvd. Suite 200 Tampa, FL 33607
Schools Summary Table
| Rank | School | |
|---|---|---|
|
#1 | Tampa Area Electrical JATC |
|
#2 | Erwin Technical College |
|
#3 | Southern Technical College |
|
#4 | Hillsborough Community College |
|
#5 | Florida Technical College |
Read the full guide: How to Become an Electrician
Electrician Schools by City
Electrician Schools by State