As part of our ongoing focus on electrical safety, we annually update our report that assigns a grade to each of the U.S. states for state-wide adoption of electrical standards.

What State-wide standards

• The NEC^® edition adopted [2014 NEC became effective 8/21/13]
• Licensing requirements for Apprentices, Journeymen, Master/Contractors, Inspectors, and Engineers
• Continuing Education requirements for license renewal

What‘s not included in our report

• County and Municipality adoptions. There would be too much data to include in this report, but we recognize that there are many municipalities and counties that adopt the most recent building and electrical codes ahead of their State’s adoption,for example in Missouri. 
• Partial adoption*. We deduct a partial point from a state that has adopted the Code only partially, for example only for commercial or government buildings). *First time this is reflected in our report.
• Effectiveness or enforcement of the standards adopted. There is no way for us to track how these standards are enforced on a state-wide level.

Congratulations to the following states

A+ [HIGHEST] RANKING - Arkansas, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Wyoming

A RANKING -  Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Washington

We acknowledge and congratulate all those states, counties and local municipalities that continue to set high standards in electrical safety.

How the points are assigned

States can earn up to 12 points overall to qualify for an A+ rating. Here is how it breaks down:

• One point for having an Apprenticeship program
• One point for each licensing type, Journeyman, Master/Contractor, Engineer, Inspector
• One point for continuing education requirement for renewal of each license type
• Points for NEC. This year 2014 NEC=3 points, 2011 NEC=2 points, 2008 NEC=1 point and local adoption = -1 point; minus 0.5 points if it is a partial adoption.

We’d appreciate your feedback

If you have any updated information that you feel would change our rankings on this year’s report, please post your comment – we appreciate your feedback to help keep this analysis accurate and current.

The following chart shows the current grading.

For details of how the grade is calculated, and for history Click Here.

Historical data since 2007