Which California electrician training program has the lowest debt?

Summit College reports the lowest median federal debt, $7,600, with first-year pay of $37,990.

How much do electrician training graduates earn in California?

The median across 8 California electrician training certificate programs is $39,409 in the first year after graduating and $57,759 five years after. Electricians in California earn a median of $76,160 across all experience levels.

How many electrician training certificate programs are in California?

8 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 6 of them also report federal debt.

Electrician Training (Certificate) Programs in California, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

8 programs report first-year pay
6 also report federal debt
Certificate in Electrical and Power Transmission Installers

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California electrician training certificate program pays its graduates $39,409 in their first year, $415 more than the national median. Los Angeles Trade Technical College reports the highest first-year pay ($50,745), and Summit College the lowest median debt ($7,600).

Median first-year pay$39,409National $38,994

Median pay after 5 years$57,759National $50,941

Median federal debt$9,885National $9,250

Debt-to-earnings25%National 22%

All 8 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Los Angeles Trade Technical CollegeLos Angeles · public	$50,745	$68,289	Not reported	Not reported
2	San Joaquin Valley College-VisaliaVisalia · private for-profit	$43,388	Not reported	$12,727	29%
3	Independent Training & Apprenticeship ProgramSacramento · private for-profit	$42,896	Not reported	$9,500	22%
4	InterCoast Colleges-West CovinaWest Covina · private for-profit	$40,101	$46,523	$11,725	29%
5	Southern California Institute of TechnologyAnaheim · private for-profit	$38,716	$58,044	$10,270	27%
6	Summit CollegeSan Bernardino · private for-profit	$37,990	Not reported	$7,600	20%
7	Institute for Business and TechnologySan Jose · private for-profit	$36,261	$57,474	$8,867	24%
8	Baldwin Park Adult & Community EducationBaldwin Park · public	$35,016	$47,692	Not reported	Not reported

Los Angeles Trade Technical College and Baldwin Park Adult & Community Education report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every California electrician training program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 6 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Los Angeles Trade Technical College$50,745
San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia$43,388
Independent Training & Apprenticeship Program$42,896
InterCoast Colleges-West Covina$40,101
Southern California Institute of Technology$38,716

Lowest median debt

Summit College$7,600
Institute for Business and Technology$8,867
Independent Training & Apprenticeship Program$9,500
Southern California Institute of Technology$10,270
InterCoast Colleges-West Covina$11,725

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

What electricians earn in California

Pay for electricians in California, across all experience levels, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Electricians

$76,160

Median pay in California. 73,310 people work in this job in California. 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.

Bottom 10%: $46,800Top 10%: $140,340

Common questions

Los Angeles Trade Technical College in Los Angeles reports the highest median first-year pay, $50,745.

Electrician Training (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked143 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 California rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the electrician training certificate programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024