Lineman School Registry: 92 US Lineworker Programs With Cost, Length and Outcomes

Every US lineworker program in the federal record (CIP 46.0303, 2023-24)

Checked yearly, when NCES posts a new completions file, and when College Scorecard updates. Last checked 2026-10-27. Entries are neutral records of public data; each links to its source record.

Where lineman schools are: 92 institutions in 32 states

The IPEDS completions file lists 92 institutions with a Lineworker (CIP 46.0303) program for 2023-24; 74 of them conferred at least one award. Public two-year colleges dominate, and five states account for 44.9% of awards.

CIP 46.0303 Lineworker: The federal Classification of Instructional Programs code for programs that prepare people to install, operate and repair overhead and underground power lines. This report counts only 46.0303; electrician programs (46.0302) are covered in electrician school cost.

Texas leads with 476 awards in 2023-24 (17.4% of the US total), and one institution, Texas State Technical College, conferred 421 of them (15.4% of all US lineworker awards). Wisconsin (213), Georgia (210), Minnesota (165) and Michigan (163) follow.

Public two-year colleges run 58 of the 92 programs and conferred 2,006 awards (73.5%) in 2023-24. Public four-year institutions account for 19 programs and 530 awards, and public career centers below the two-year level (mostly Ohio and Oklahoma) for 13 programs and 166 awards.

Certificates of 1 to under 2 years made up 55.4% of 2023-24 lineworker awards, certificates under 1 year 28.4% and associate degrees 16.1%. The newer 2024-25 figures on College Navigator show 2,821 awards at the same institutions, 3.3% more than the 2,731 in 2023-24.

How much lineman school costs: $1,708 to $16,793 in tuition and fees

Published tuition and fees for 24 lineworker programs at 23 institutions have a median of $7,365. Georgia's one-term certificates sit at the low end; Ohio career centers and the one for-profit program sit near the top.

The lowest published figure is $1,708 for a 12-credit, one-semester certificate at Southern Regional Technical College (Georgia); the highest is $16,793.28 for the 68-credit associate degree at Minnesota State Community and Technical College. Among programs of about one year, the median is $7,047.30 (n=17).

Public two-year colleges post a median of $6,441 (n=15); public career centers below the two-year level post $10,720.50 (n=6), measured as IPEDS 2023-24 charges for clock-hour programs of 250 to 900 hours. Short programs are not always cheaper: one-term programs have a median of $8,038 because the group includes a 30-credit single semester in Montana and a four-month for-profit program.

Per week of instruction, the 13 programs with a stated or derived length cost a median $229.01, from $143 to $864.16. Wisconsin's technical colleges list 32 to 48 weeks, at 12 to 40 hours a week, which pulls their weekly price down.

Lineworker-only programs: median first-year earnings of $63,673

College Scorecard reports earnings for 15 institution and credential pairs that trained only lineworkers within CIP 46.03. Their median first-year earnings are $63,673, $19,204 above the national median for all 46.03 certificates.

First-year medians range from $48,705 at York Technical College to $116,975 at Brookdale Community College (associate degree), and Kennedy-King College in Chicago reports $112,442 for its certificate. The national Scorecard median for every CIP 46.03 certificate, electricians included, is $44,469. Five years after completion, the 12 lineworker-only programs with data show a median of $103,538, for older cohorts.

Debt is low where it is reported. The median federal loan debt across the 9 programs with unsuppressed data is $5,500 (range $4,892 to $12,000), about 8.6% of the median first-year earnings. Scorecard counts only federal aid recipients who worked and were not enrolled, so these figures do not describe every graduate. Full lineman pay data is in lineman salary.

School or apprenticeship: 32 weeks of class against 2.25 to 4.4 years of paid training

A lineman school certificate is usually the step before a registered apprenticeship, not a replacement for it. Federal apprenticeship standards for line work run 2.25 to 4.4 years, and apprentices are paid a rising share of the journeyworker rate while they learn.

The NECA and IBEW national standards for outside line apprenticeships, approved by the Department of Labor on 2025-01-13, require 7,000 hours of on-the-job training and 432 hours of related classroom training before an apprentice is reclassified as a journeyman lineman. At 40 hours a week that is 175 weeks, 5.5 times the 32-week median of the priced school programs.

Wage schedules in the Quanta Services standards start at 70% (an example schedule) of the journeyworker rate for transmission apprentices and 60% for line maintainers, rising to 95% and 90%. The NECA-IBEW schedule is set locally. Dollar rates by state and union scale are in lineman salary.

The NECA-IBEW standards let line college or line school graduates qualify for direct entry after an interview, and where a local committee adopts the industry-experience route, an applicant with 1,750 documented hours of line construction work can skip the aptitude-test requirement. The Department of Labor does not publish a downloadable count of registered line apprentices by occupation; its public dashboards show apprentices by state and program totals only.

How to become a lineman: the steps in the public record

Federal rules and registered standards set the floor: a minimum age, a Class A commercial driver's license, a DOT medical certificate, climbing, and an apprenticeship of several thousand hours.

• Finish high school. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry education; employers may prefer algebra and trigonometry.
• Meet the age floor. Registered apprenticeships may start at 16 (29 CFR 29.5), but schools and sponsors set higher limits: Atlanta Technical College's lineworker certificate requires applicants to be 18. To drive a commercial vehicle across state lines, the federal driver qualification rule requires age 21 (49 CFR 391.11).
• Get a Class A CDL and a DOT medical card. Class A covers combinations of 26,001 pounds or more towing over 10,000 pounds (49 CFR 383.91). Since February 7, 2022, first-time Class A applicants must complete entry-level driver training from a registered provider (49 CFR 380.600 and 380.609), and drivers must carry a medical examiner's certificate (49 CFR 391.41).
• Learn to climb. BLS describes climbing poles and towers with heavy tools as part of the job, and the NECA-IBEW standards require work on the ground and aloft, including climbing, before probation ends.
• Complete an apprenticeship. BLS says apprentices reach journey level after 3 or 4 years of work; the NECA-IBEW standard is 7,000 hours. A lineman school certificate may qualify a graduate for direct entry.

Line schools outside the federal record

Some widely advertised line schools do not report to IPEDS under CIP 46.0303, so federal cost and outcome data do not exist for them. Their own published prices are higher than the registry median.

The Southeast Lineman Training Center itemizes $17,470 in tuition plus fees, manual, boots and tools and a Class A CDL, for a published total of $23,995. That is 3.3 times the $7,365 median of the federal-record programs, although the federal-record median mostly excludes tools and CDL fees.

Counts from the ledger

Get the calculations (CSV)

The numbers that matter

1. 92 US institutions reported a CIP 46.0303 Lineworker program in 2023-24, and 74 conferred at least one award.^[1]
2. Lineworker programs conferred 2,731 awards in 2023-24 across 31 states.^[1]
3. Texas accounted for 476 lineworker awards in 2023-24, 17.4% of the US total.^[1]
4. Five states (Texas, Wisconsin, Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan) conferred 44.9% of 2023-24 lineworker awards.^[1]
5. Certificates of 1 to under 2 years were 55.4% of 2023-24 lineworker awards; associate degrees were 16.1%.^[1]
6. College Navigator shows 2,821 lineworker awards in 2024-25 at the same institutions, up 3.3% from 2023-24.^[7][1]
7. Published tuition and fees for 24 lineworker programs range from $1,708 to $16,793.28 (2023-24 to 2026-27 prices), with a median of $7,365.15.^{[3][17][18][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}
8. Lineworker programs cost a median $229.01 in tuition and fees per week of instruction (13 programs).^[3][17]
9. Lineworker-only programs show median first-year earnings of $63,673 (15 programs, AY2020-21 and AY2021-22 completers, 2024 dollars).^[4][5]
10. The national Scorecard median one year after any CIP 46.03 certificate is $44,469, $19,204 below the lineworker-only median.^[4]
11. Median federal loan debt at the 9 lineworker-only programs with data is $5,500.^[4]
12. The NECA-IBEW line apprenticeship standard requires 7,000 hours of on-the-job training and 432 hours of related instruction (approved 2025-01-13).^[9]
13. Quanta Services' transmission line apprenticeship runs 2.25 to 3.75 years with an example wage schedule of 70% to 95% of the journeyworker rate (approved 2026-05-26).^[10]
14. BLS projects 10,900 openings a year for power-line installers from 2025 to 2035; 2023-24 lineworker awards equal 25.1% of that.^[8][1]

In short

• The federal record lists 92 lineworker programs in 32 states for 2023-24, with 2,731 awards.
• Texas State Technical College alone conferred 15.4% of US lineworker awards.
• Published tuition and fees for 24 programs have a median of $7,365; tools, boots and the CDL usually cost extra.
• 83.9% of lineworker awards are certificates under two years; the priced programs with a week count have a median of 32 weeks.
• Lineworker-only programs show median first-year earnings of $63,673 and median federal debt of $5,500.
• Registered line apprenticeships run 2.25 to 4.4 years, or 7,000 hours under the NECA-IBEW standard, with pay rising from 60% or 70% of the journeyworker rate.
• A Class A CDL and a DOT medical card are required for most line jobs and are built into some programs.

Common questions

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• All electrical contractor data

How we built this report

Scope. The registry is every institution with a CIP 46.0303 (Lineworker) row in the NCES IPEDS 2023-24 Completions file (C2024_A), the newest completions file posted on 2026-10-27; the 2024-25 file (C2025_A) returned HTTP 404. Counts are first-major awards at all award levels. Institution names, cities and sectors come from the IPEDS 2024-25 directory (HD2024). Entries are ordered by state, then name. No school is ranked or recommended, and Electrical Contractors and Wiring is not affiliated with any school, union or contractor named here.

2024-25 update. College Navigator already displays 2024-25 completions, so the Lineworker row of each registry institution's Navigator page was read on 2026-10-27 (scripts/navigator.py). These are display values that may change when NCES posts the bulk file, and they do not capture institutions that began reporting CIP 46.0303 in 2024-25.

Prices. Program prices come from three kinds of source, in this order of preference: IPEDS program-reporter charges for 2023-24 (IC2023_PY, clock-hour programs), state eligible training program lists (Wisconsin DWD for all seven Wisconsin programs; Arizona for Yavapai College, archived 2024-12-07), and school cost sheets, catalogs and calculators dated 2025-26 to 2026-27. Each figure is tuition and required fees as published; where a school lists components, they were added and the components are shown. Books, tools, boots, housing and CDL fees are excluded unless the source bundles them. Figures are nominal and not inflation adjusted. 23 of the 92 institutions had a usable published program price; most community colleges publish per-credit rates only, and several pages were blocked or empty (see excluded.md).

Conflicts. Lansing Community College's PDF and HTML cost pages share a revision date (2025-08-26) but differ; the HTML page ($6,060 tuition, $10,115.50 total in-district) was used. Northcentral Technical College's own page shows 2026-27 tuition and fees of $8,298, above the $7,047.30 on the Wisconsin ETPL; the ETPL figure was used so that all Wisconsin programs share one basis. Program weeks come from the source; where IPEDS gives only months to complete, weeks = months x 52/12.

Outcomes. College Scorecard reports field of study at the 4-digit CIP 46.03, which mixes electricians and lineworkers. A Scorecard row is attributed to lineworker training only when IPEDS shows that every 46.03 first-major award at that institution and credential level was a 46.0303 award in each of 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 (with at least one lineworker award). One-year earnings cover AY2020-21 and AY2021-22 completers measured in CY2022 and CY2023 in 2024 dollars; four- and five-year earnings cover older cohorts; debt covers AY2022-23 and AY2023-24 completers who borrowed. Scorecard counts only federal aid recipients who worked and were not enrolled. Medians of program medians are unweighted.

Apprenticeship. Terms, hours and wage schedules come from Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship bulletins for national guideline standards covering O*NET 49-9051 (NECA-IBEW area-wide JATCs; Quanta Services). Local programs registered from these templates may differ. Hours were converted to weeks at 40 hours a week. Apprenticeship.gov does not offer a keyless download of registered apprentices by occupation, so no count of line apprentices is given. Pay is limited to percent-of-journeyworker schedules; dollar pay is in the sibling report on lineman salary.

Last updated 2026-10-27. All sources were opened on that date; archived copies are labelled with their capture date. Derived metrics are in derived_metrics.csv and reproducible with the scripts in scripts/ (extract.py, parse_etpl.py, navigator.py, compute.py, build_report.py).

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources by tier

Tier 1: primary and official sources (19)

• [1] U.S. Department of Education, NCES. IPEDS Completions 2023-24 (C2024_A complete data file). Awards conferred July 2023 to June 2024. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [2] U.S. Department of Education, NCES. IPEDS Institutional Characteristics: Directory 2024-25 (HD2024). 2024-25. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [3] U.S. Department of Education, NCES. IPEDS program-reporter charges 2023-24 (IC2023_PY). 2023-24 published tuition and fees. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [4] U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Most Recent Cohorts Field of Study data (release of October 15, 2026). Earnings of AY2020-21 and AY2021-22 completers measured in CY2022 and CY2023; debt of AY2022-23 and AY2023-24 completers. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [5] U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Field of Study data documentation and data dictionary (cohort map). Version October 2026. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [6] U.S. Department of Education, NCES. IPEDS Completions 2021-22 and 2022-23 (C2022_A and C2023_A, revised files). Awards conferred July 2021 to June 2023. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [7] U.S. Department of Education, NCES. College Navigator institution pages, completions 2024-2025. 2024-25 completions as displayed on 2026-10-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [8] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook: Line Installers and Repairers. Last modified August 27, 2026; employment 2025, projections 2025 to 2035. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [9] U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship. Bulletin 2025-39: Revised National Guidelines for Apprenticeship Standards, Area-wide JATCs (NECA and IBEW), Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers. Approved January 13, 2025; bulletin dated January 21, 2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [10] U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship. Bulletin 2026-61: Revision to Appendix A, National Guidelines for Apprenticeship Standards, Quanta Services (Transmission Power Line Installer). Approved May 26, 2026; bulletin dated May 27, 2026. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [11] U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship. Bulletin 2025-156: Revised National Guidelines for Apprenticeship Standards, Quanta Services (Line Maintainer; Underground Electrical Lineworker). Approved August 6, 2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [12] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 29 CFR 29.5, Standards of apprenticeship. Text as of 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [13] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 49 CFR 391.11, General qualifications of drivers. Text as of 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [14] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 49 CFR 380.600 and 380.609, Entry-level driver training. Text as of 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [15] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 49 CFR 383.91, Commercial motor vehicle groups. Text as of 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [16] eCFR, Office of the Federal Register. 49 CFR 391.41, Physical qualifications for drivers. Text as of 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [17] Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Eligible Training Program List: Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers programs. Listings as displayed on 2026-10-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [18] Arizona Job Connection (Arizona Department of Economic Security). ARIZONA@WORK eligible training provider listing 22758 (Yavapai College, archived copy). Internet Archive copy of 2024-12-07. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [19] U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship.gov. Data and Statistics. Dashboards as displayed on 2026-10-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.

Tier 2: trade bodies, market research, company data (12)

• [20] Mitchell Technical College. Power Line Construction & Maintenance (program page, archived copy). Internet Archive copy of 2026-06-10. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [21] Horry-Georgetown Technical College. Electrical Line Worker Technician Certificate cost sheet 2026-2027. 2026-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [22] Highlands College of Montana Tech. Pre-Apprentice Line Program. 2025-26 tuition and fees. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [23] Minnesota State Community and Technical College. M State Tuition Calculator: Electrical Line Worker Technology diploma and AAS. Calculator as displayed on 2026-10-27 (programs 220 and 222). Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [24] Lansing Community College. Estimated Program Cost: Electrical Utility/Lineworker C.A.. Fall 2025 to Spring 2026, revised 2025-08-26. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [25] Southern Regional Technical College. College catalog: Electrical Lineworker (archived copy). Internet Archive copy of 2026-03-17. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [26] Atlanta Technical College. 2025-2026 College Catalog: Electrical Lineworker. 2025-26 catalog. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [27] Bismarck State College. Lineworker (Electrical) estimated costs, academic year 2025-2026. 2025-26. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [28] Northcentral Technical College. Electrical Power Distribution technical diploma. Page as displayed on 2026-10-27 (2026-27 rates). Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [29] Southwest Wisconsin Technical College. Electrical Power Distribution (archived copy). Internet Archive copy of 2026-04-18. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [30] Moraine Park Technical College. Electrical Power Distribution (archived copy). Internet Archive copy of 2026-04-20. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [31] Southeast Lineman Training Center. Lineman School Cost: What You Need to Know. Page as displayed on 2026-10-27, undated. Accessed 2026-10-27.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (1)

• [32] Climb Credit. How Much Does Lineman School Cost. 2021 blog post. Accessed 2026-10-27.