November 2026 study
Data center technician pay against the union electrician rate
Posted data center technician pay ran $35.00 to $58.00 an hour in our October 2026 reading, one national range. The union electrician base rate on the federal wage determination runs from $37.45 in San Antonio to $57.75 in Chicago. In Hillsboro and Northern Virginia the union rate is above the top of the posted technician range before a dollar of fringes is counted.
By Czarina Tabayoyong, Founder, Critical Path Hiring. Former Amazon, AWS and Google recruiter.
Last reviewed · First published
Determinations are re-read when a local's line date changes. Posted ranges refresh monthly.
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Findings
- The union electrician base rate is above the $35.00 low end of posted data center technician pay in 8 of the 8 metros with a union line, and at or below it in 0.
- In Hillsboro ($63.50) and Northern Virginia ($59.50) the base rate is above the $58.00 high end of the posted range. A technician posting at the national range starts below the hall's rate in those markets and never catches it.
- Commissioning technician postings ran $38.00 to $60.00 (5 postings). The union base is above the $38.00 low end in 7 of 8 metros.
- Fringes are on top of every union base rate, from $12.19 to $42.89 an hour. Posted data center ranges are base pay; benefits are not stated.
- Dallas County carries no union line. Its electrician rate, $21.51 with $3.69 fringes, is a Department of Labor survey rate dated July 21, 2014, carried forward since. The Local 20 agreement rate is not on the determination and is not compared here.
Rates
- Base rate
- Fringes
| Metro | County | Line | Local | Base $/hr | Fringes | BLS median | Tech low vs base | Tech high vs base |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Cook County, IL | ELEC0134-001 June 2, 2025 | IBEW Local 134 | $57.75 | $42.89 | $49.21 | -$22.75 | +$0.25 |
| Hillsboro | Multnomah County, OR | ELEC0048-009 January 1, 2025 | IBEW Local 48 | $63.50 | $29.73 | $50.53 | -$28.50 | -$5.50 |
| Northern Virginia | Loudoun County, VA | ELEC0026-003 June 2, 2025 | IBEW Local 26 | $59.50 | $23.06 | $36.50 | -$24.50 | -$1.50 |
| Columbus | Franklin County, OH | ELEC0683-007 June 2, 2025 | IBEW Local 683 | $43.00 | $26.37 | $31.11 | -$8.00 | +$15.00 |
| Salt Lake City | Salt Lake County, UT | ELEC0354-001 June 11, 2025 | IBEW Local 354 | $41.23 | $17.66 | $30.11 | -$6.23 | +$16.77 |
| Phoenix | Maricopa County, AZ | ELEC0640-002 July 1, 2025 | IBEW Local 640 | $39.09 | $15.53 | $29.43 | -$4.09 | +$18.91 |
| Atlanta | Fulton County, GA | ELEC0613-004 March 3, 2025 | IBEW Local 613 | $38.65 | $12.75 | $28.20 | -$3.65 | +$19.35 |
| San Antonio | Bexar County, TX | ELEC0060-004 May 26, 2025 | IBEW Local 60 | $37.45 | $12.19 | $27.41 | -$2.45 | +$20.55 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas County, TX | SUTX2014-017 July 21, 2014 | Survey rate | $21.51 | $3.69 | $28.37 | +$13.49 | +$36.49 |
Base and fringes as written on the determination's electrician line (the general inside classification; low voltage and communication lines are left out). BLS median is the metro electrician median, May 2025. The gap columns are the posted technician low and high ends ($35.00 and $58.00) minus the union base, so a negative number means the posting starts or ends below the hall's rate.
Reading
The BLS median counts every electrician in the metro, union and open shop, residential and industrial. The union rate is what a journeyman inside wireman on a signatory job is paid by agreement, and it is the number an experienced electrician in Chicago or Portland compares a data center posting with. In Hillsboro and Northern Virginia that comparison fails at the top of the posted range, which is one reason a technician posting at a national rate draws fewer applicants from the trade in those markets.
Every union base in this set is above the $35.00 posted low end, so a technician posting at the national range starts below the hall's rate in all eight metros; the gap runs from $2.45 in San Antonio to $28.50 in Chicago. Fringes widen it: a $37.45 base with $12.19 in fringes is $49.64 an hour of cost, and data center postings do not state what sits on top of base.
Method and limits
- Source: the current Davis-Bacon general wage determination for Building construction in the county that holds each metro's data center cluster, read on SAM.gov on November 4, 2026. The determination number, modification, classification line and line date are in the table.
- A union classification line reflects the local agreement in force on the line date. Agreements change, usually in June; the line date says which rate this is.
- Dallas County carries a 2014 survey rate, so the Dallas-Fort Worth row is a prevailing wage figure, not a union rate.
- Hillsboro is in Washington County, Oregon. Its building determination was not retrievable on the read date, so the Multnomah County (Portland) line from the same IBEW Local 48 is shown.
- Posted data center pay is national and comes from the operations and commissioning pay pages, median low and high ends of the postings that stated hourly pay. Metro percentiles for the same comparison are on the pay premium study.
Questions
Is data center technician pay above the union electrician rate?
It depends on the metro. Posted data center technician pay ran $35.00 to $58.00 an hour nationally in our October 2026 reading (5 postings). The union electrician base rate on the federal Davis-Bacon determination is above the $35.00 low end in 8 of the 8 metros with a union rate, and above the $58.00 high end in 2: Hillsboro ($63.50) and Northern Virginia ($59.50).
What is the IBEW journeyman electrician rate in each data center market?
As carried on the Davis-Bacon building determination for the county, base rate before fringes: Chicago $57.75 (IBEW Local 134, line dated June 2, 2025), Hillsboro $63.50 (IBEW Local 48, line dated January 1, 2025), Northern Virginia $59.50 (IBEW Local 26, line dated June 2, 2025), Columbus $43.00 (IBEW Local 683, line dated June 2, 2025), Salt Lake City $41.23 (IBEW Local 354, line dated June 11, 2025), Phoenix $39.09 (IBEW Local 640, line dated July 1, 2025), Atlanta $38.65 (IBEW Local 613, line dated March 3, 2025) and San Antonio $37.45 (IBEW Local 60, line dated May 26, 2025). Dallas County carries a $21.51 survey rate from 2014 and no union line.
Where does the Davis-Bacon rate come from?
The U.S. Department of Labor publishes a general wage determination for each county and construction type. Where a union agreement rate prevailed in the Department's last survey, the determination carries that agreement's rate and fringe benefits under a classification code that names the local (ELEC0134 is IBEW Local 134). Where no union rate prevailed, it carries a survey rate, which can be years old. Federal construction contracts must pay at least these rates.
Related
Pay premium
Posted commissioning pay against local electrician and engineer pay in nine metros.
Operations pay ranges
Posted pay for critical facilities engineers, chief engineers and technicians, updated monthly.
Construction labor gap by metro
Tracked capacity under construction against the local construction workforce.
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Czarina Tabayoyong
Founder and principal recruiter, Critical Path Hiring. Czarina recruits commissioning, MEP, power and critical facilities people for data center builds. She previously recruited cloud and data center architecture talent at AWS Professional Services, and PMO and project delivery talent for hyperscale data center campuses in Texas and Virginia.