Northland Community and Technical College Electrician Training (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Electrical and Power Transmission Installers
- Public college
- Thief River Falls, MN
- About 22 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northland Community and Technical College electrician training graduates earn about what electrician training graduates earn nationally, $41,802 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $12,000 in federal loans, more than at 78% of electrician training programs in the country. Several Minnesota programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Minnesota and national columns are the medians across all electrician training certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Northland Community and Technical College graduates earn more than the national figure and about the same as the Minnesota median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Minnesota electrician training program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Minnesota medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 58% between the first and fifth year. Electricians in Minnesota earn a median of $78,160 across all experience levels, which shows how much room there is to grow after the first few years.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate. BLS figures cover electricians at every experience level.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $127 a month, or 3.6% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the parts of Minnesota outside metro areas are about 14% below the national average, so a $41,802 salary here buys what about $48,691 buys in a typical US city.
The median Minnesota electrician earns $78,160, compared with a national median of $63,190. After adjusting for Minnesota prices, that pay is worth about $79,253, which puts Minnesota ahead.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to electrician training, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers
$97,610Median pay in Minnesota. 13,580 people work in this job in Minnesota. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 67,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Electricians
$78,160Median pay in Minnesota. 14,350 people work in this job in Minnesota. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 72,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers
$87,160Median pay in Minnesota. 9,110 people work in this job in Minnesota. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 48,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers
$104,180Median pay in Minnesota. 2,190 people work in this job in Minnesota. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
About Northland Community and Technical College
Electrician Training ranks 3rd of 3 certificate programs at Northland Community and Technical College by first-year earnings. The others are Practical Nursing ($44,017) and Vehicle Maintenance and Repair ($43,254).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $41,802 one year after graduating and $66,149 five years after. Electricians in Minnesota earn a median of $78,160 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $12,000, which ranks 5th lowest of 9 electrician training certificate programs in Minnesota. That works out to about $127 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 29% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 22%. Compare the cost with other Minnesota programs before deciding.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Minnesota comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the electrician training program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024