If you’ve been online lately, you may have seen a viral video of television host Mike Rowe on Fox News talking about three young electricians working on data centers in Texas who are pulling down $260,000 a year with no college debt.
“That’s what’s going on in certain parts of the country in the electric game right now,” Rowe said, adding that the electricians he’d talked to had been “poached” several times.
“It’s like the draft in the Major Leagues,” he said.
It may sound unbelievable, but Wyoming electricians say those kinds of salaries are possible in some parts of the country, though they’re probably not the norm, even in Texas.
Even so, six-figure salaries are very attainable in Wyoming, but those big paychecks come with big trade-offs and a lifestyle most people wouldn’t want, they say.
“It’s a lifestyle if you want that kind of money,” IBEW Local 322 Business Manager Jerry Payne told Cowboy State Daily. “You become a slave to that money.”
Good Crews Are Worth It
A $200,000-plus salary means working basically every hour, IBEW Local 415 Business Manager Fred Morrow agreed.
“I’d be a hero if I could get our guys making $260,000 a year,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
Most people, Morrow added, don’t want to live the nomadic lifestyle it would take — chasing premium jobs across states and living out of a fifth wheel.
While few Wyoming electricians are clearing $260,000, many in the state are earning six figures once they become journeymen.
Casper-area journeymen are averaging around $120,000 with benefits, Payne said. And he expects salaries to range between $150,000 to $175,000 for those working on the TerraPower Natrium nuclear power plant near Kemmerer.
Morrow, meanwhile, does know of a crew whose salaries have reached $190,000, including benefits and per diem.
“They’re still journeymen electricians,” he added. “It’s just that the company had bid that they wanted to maintain the same workforce. Once you get a good crew, you want to keep that crew doing the same work.”
Help Wanted: Thousands Of Electricians
In the western two-thirds of the state from Casper on, Payne expects a need for 500 to 800 electricians for TerraPower’s Natrium plant, depending on whether the company decides to run one shift or two during construction.
After that, there are two more big jobs on the drawing board which may require 400 electricians each.
If realized, that will put the need for electricians in Payne’s area between 1,300 to 1,600.
In Morrow’s district, meanwhile, he expects to keep 500 or so electricians very busy for the next five to six years.
“These data centers are pretty savvy on how the manpower works,” he said. “So, what we’re seeing is that they stagger the data center builds so one doesn’t start until the other one finishes.
"I think, comfortably, we can keep 400 to 500 guys working consistently for a while.”
There’s also the Sentinel missile replacement based at F.E. Warren in Cheyenne to consider, as well as some other potential jobs that may boost his figure.
He expects to train at least 100 new apprentices a year through the end of the decade to meet all the demand.
That kind of demand is bound to put upward pressure on salaries, Morrow acknowledged, regardless of whether a shop is union or not.
“So, you might not be making ($260,000), but you will be making more,” he said. “And we just got a $3 an hour raise for everybody in town, so that puts pressure on the wages. We’ll all be making significantly more than what we’re used to.”
Not A Consolation Prize
One of the points Rowe wanted to make in his report is that trades should no longer be considered some kind of “consolation” prize.
“Sixteen years ago this month, I was in D.C.,” Rowe said in the video. “I testified before both houses of Congress about the need for some kind of national effort to reinvigorate the trades. That was the first time I said those words out loud.”
Rowe wants to see less emphasis on four-year university degrees.
“When we said that was the best path for most people, we implicitly suggested that anyone with the temerity to embark upon a different path was indeed the proud owner of something second class,” he said. “That’s when the wheels started to come off the bus.
"I can’t believe it’s been 16 years, but the chickens have come home to roost, for sure.”
AI Proofing A Career
Laramie County Community College Trades and Technical Studies Program Director Caleb Perriton agrees with Rowe that it’s time to stop talking about trade programs like they’re a plan B.
“I think the conversation with what Mike Rowe is saying is that the narrative should be shifting to, ‘If you want to be successful, seek out the trades first,’ versus general education, university pathways,” he said.
Perriton also believes trades are the best place for students who want to future-proof their careers.
“I don’t want to say anything is AI-proof, because I don’t think I know enough about that to say that,” he said. “But these are jobs that are very sustainable, and they don’t look like they’re going away anytime soon.”
But he would prefer not to see such inflated salaries pitched for the career field.
“We see a lot of turnover because someone’s been told, ‘Hey, being an electrician is a great salary,’” he said. “But there has to be the ability to do the work. There’s got to be an aptitude. … I mean, we’re dealing with science. We’re dealing with life and death here, with high voltage.
"We’re dealing with fire suppression, potentially, so we can’t just — we need the best students in these programs.”
A more realistic starting salary that doesn’t overplay the sector, Perriton said, is more like $50,000 for a first-year apprentice with little to no experience.
That’s still a great proposition for an 18- or 19-year-old, he added. And a more aspirational salary in the $100,000 range is readily attainable after achieving journeyman status, which typically takes about four to five years to attain.
Demand for LCCC’s for-credit electrician program has surged beyond capacity, even though the community college doesn’t yet have an apprenticeship associated with it.
“There’s kind of an unlimited demand out there right now,” Perriton said. “But we can only take so many students in a year. So, with the waiting list of students, we try to get them into other programs that would suit them or work with them to get into the workforce.”
He is also working on expanding availability to meet demand but worries that out-sized figures like the one Rowe has been touting will encourage the wrong students for such programs.
Another Path To Staying In Wyoming
With data centers, nuclear plants, and defense projects on deck, Wyoming’s need for electricians is poised to remain high for years.
While few electricians might be making $260,000, the true picture is still bright for students who have the aptitude and interest in becoming electricians.
Demand is exploding, creating opportunity for thousands.
The projects those electricians will be working on range from data centers to nuclear facilities, work that will shape America’s future for generations.
With the right mix of aptitude and grit, many Wyoming youth now have an opportunity to shape their own futures at home. There are thousands of six-figure jobs within their grasp, without ever leaving the Cowboy State.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
