I'm a journeyman distribution lineman at a Midwest investor-owned utility. My base rate is $62.30 an hour. Last year I grossed $195,000.
Read that again if you need to. No degree. No student loans. A four-year apprenticeship where I was paid the entire time — and seven years into the trade, I out-earn most of the people I graduated high school with, including the ones who went to college and took on debt to get there.
Now the honest part, because the internet is full of lineman pay hype and I'm not adding to it: that $195k is not a 40-hour number. My straight-time base — $62.30 × 2,080 hours — is about $129,600. The other $65k came from overtime, storm restoration, callouts, and premiums. I worked for that money, sometimes 16-hour days in weather you wouldn't put your dog out in. Anyone who shows you the big number without telling you that part is selling something.
| Piece | Roughly | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Base wage | ~$130k | $62.30/hr straight time. Union scale, negotiated, predictable. |
| Scheduled OT | $15–25k | Planned work that runs long, weekend jobs — time-and-a-half. |
| Storm & callout | $25–45k | The big swings. Ice storms, summer blowdowns, travel restoration. Double time territory. |
| Premiums | $3–8k | Standby pay, shift differentials, meal allowances. |
Two linemen on the same crew at the same rate can be $40k apart at year-end purely on how much storm and callout they take. Chase the work and the number gets big. Protect your weekends and it's smaller — still excellent, but smaller. That choice is yours every year, and honestly, it's one of the best features of the trade.
Nobody starts at journeyman scale. Here's the realistic arc at a union utility in the Midwest:
| Stage | Years | Realistic gross |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-apprentice / groundman | 0–1 | $50–70k |
| Apprentice (stepped raises) | 1–4 | $70–110k, rising every 6–12 months |
| Journeyman | 4+ | $130k base; $150–200k+ with OT |
| Foreman / crew lead | 8+ | Higher rate, plus the same OT math |
Compare that to a four-year degree: while a college student is paying tuition for four years, an apprentice in this trade earns roughly $300–400k gross over the same stretch. That head start, invested, is brutal math to beat — run it yourself in the calculator and watch.
I'd be lying if I left this out. The money is real and so is the price: nights and weekends on call, missed holidays when the lights go out, physical work in the worst weather the year has, and genuine danger that demands respect every single day. Most of us think the trade is more than worth it — the pay, the pension, the brotherhood, the fact that the work matters. But go in with open eyes, not just a screenshot of someone's storm check.
Our free Wealth Calculator compares lifetime earnings, student debt, investment growth, and net worth — any trade vs any degree, side by side.
Run the Wealth Calculator →The exact steps to apply and get accepted — written by a working journeyman lineman. Instant access.