Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05
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Which NEC Edition Is on the Florida Exam: 2023 Book
The department's approved reference list settles it: NFPA 70, 2023 edition, is what the electrical questions reference. The 2026 edition already has a date on the same list, and county journeyman exams can be on something else entirely.
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The short answer
The approved reference list carries NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code, 2023 edition, as reference RN9. It's marked for UE, RE, AI, AII, LE, SS, LM and UL, which is every technical area.
The same entry names 2026 as the future edition with an effective date of August 21, 2027. Until that date the 2023 book is the one to buy and the one to tab.
County exams can be on a different book
Florida has no state journeyman exam, so the journeyman paper you sit belongs to a county. Those exams set their own references.
Miami-Dade County's exam description document ties its Journeyman Electrician and Journeyman Sign Electrician exams to the 2017 National Electrical Code, alongside the American Electrician's Handbook. That's three cycles behind the state contractor exam.
Ask your county which edition its exam references before you buy anything. The county exam page has what each county publishes.
What moved between the 2023 and 2026 editions
Our study material is written to the 2026 numbering, and Florida's contractor exam is on the 2023 book. These are the address changes that matter when you read a worked answer here and go looking in your own book.
- Branch circuit, feeder and service load calculations sit in Article 120 in the 2026 book. They're Article 220 in the 2023 edition this exam uses.
- Energy management systems sit in Article 130 in the 2026 book. They're Article 750 in the 2023 edition.
- Transformer overcurrent protection is 450.5 in the 2026 book. It's 450.3 in the 2023 edition.
- Protection against physical damage in the Chapter 3 wiring methods is 300.6 in the 2026 book. It's 300.4 in the 2023 edition.
- Wire bending space and deflection of conductors is 312.9 in the 2026 book. It's 312.6 in the 2023 edition.
- The bar on re-bonding the neutral to ground downstream is 250.24(B) in the 2026 book. It's 250.24(A)(5) in the 2023 edition, and the lettered subsections behind it each shifted one letter.
- Branch circuit, feeder and service material for systems over 1000 volts is spread across Articles 265 through 268 in the 2026 book. Informative Annex L maps all four of those back to Article 235 in the 2023 edition. Grounding and bonding over 1000 volts is Article 270 in the 2026 book, and that one came from Part X of Article 250 in the 2023 edition, not from Article 235.
- The total degrees of bend allowed in one run of EMT is 358.24(B) in the 2026 book. It's 358.26 in the 2023 edition.
- Switch connections, including three way and four way switching, are 406.30 in the 2026 book. They're 404.2 in the 2023 edition.
- Grounding of snap switches and their faceplates is 406.40(B) in the 2026 book. It's 404.9(B) in the 2023 edition.
- Use of white or gray insulation, which the code reserves for the grounded conductor, is 200.8 in the 2026 book. It's 200.7 in the 2023 edition.
- Fire pump voltage drop is 695.8 in the 2026 book. It's 695.7 in the 2023 edition.
- Voltage drop for sensitive electronic equipment is 647.5(D) in the 2026 book. It's one section up, at 647.4, in the 2023 edition, and it keeps subdivision (D).
- Fixed electric space-heating equipment counted as a continuous load is 424.5 in the 2026 book. It sits inside 424.4 in the 2023 edition.
Several of those old addresses are still occupied in the 2026 book, which is the expensive kind of change. In the direction that matters for you, reading a 2026 citation and looking it up in a 2023 book, the risk is landing on the wrong rule and not noticing.
What didn't move
Most of the book is where you left it. Ampacity is still Article 310 with the table at 310.16. Overcurrent is still Article 240. Grounding and bonding is still Article 250, with the grounding electrode conductor table at 250.66. Boxes are still Article 314 with box fill at 314.16. Motors are still Article 430. Chapter 9 still holds the tables.
Our record of the moves has no entry for any of those, which is why a tab set built on them survives the edition change.
The habit that solves it
When a worked answer here gives you a section number, find the rule by subject in your own 2023 book and write the number it carries there in the margin. Do that ten times and the list above stops being something you have to remember.
The practice hub names the twenty question sets where this comes up, so you know which ones to read carefully.
We're not a training provider, an approved course or an examination vendor, and nothing here is endorsed by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board or Pearson VUE. We're independent of all three.
Questions people ask
Which NEC edition is the Florida electrical contractor exam on?
The 2023 edition of NFPA 70, listed as reference RN9 on the department's approved reference list, for every technical area.
When does the exam move to the 2026 NEC?
The reference list gives August 21, 2027 as the effective date for the 2026 edition, along with several other titles that change on the same day.
Do county journeyman exams use the same edition?
Not necessarily. Miami-Dade's exam description document ties its journeyman electrician exams to the 2017 National Electrical Code.
Can I use a 2026 code book on the exam?
The list names the 2023 edition until August 21, 2027. Buy the edition the list names rather than the newest printing.
What changed between the 2023 and 2026 editions?
Load calculations moved from Article 220 to Article 120, energy management from 750 to 130, transformer overcurrent from 450.3 to 450.5, physical damage from 300.4 to 300.6 and wire bending space from 312.6 to 312.9, among a short list of others.
Does the code edition the state enforces match the exam?
They're separate questions. The exam reference list names the 2023 NEC, while the state building code adopts NFPA 70 through the Florida Building Code, which our code edition page covers.
Thirty free questions, timed, with the working shown
Every miss comes back with the arithmetic worked out and the code section named, so you learn the trap and not just the answer. No account.
All questions here are original. They are not actual exam questions, and no question bank can promise you a pass.
What this page cites
- Approved reference list, electrical contractors The list of books allowed in the room, by reference number and edition, with the certification areas each one applies to and the dates future editions take over. Read 5 September 2026. source
- NEC 2026 renumbering, article by article Our own record of the article and section numbers that changed address between the 2023 edition and the 2026 edition, each one read in the 2026 text before it went on the list. source
- Miami-Dade exam descriptions The county's exam description document, which ties its journeyman electrician exams to the 2017 National Electrical Code. Read 5 September 2026. source
- Florida Electrical Contractors candidate information booklet The booklet marked effective February 2026. Source for the question counts, the time limits, the 75 percent pass mark, the tab rule, the identification rule and the retake rule. Read 5 September 2026. source
- DBPR electrical examinations page The department's own page on the electrical contractor examinations: Pearson VUE delivers them, the exam has a technical and safety part and a business part, and approval to schedule lands within 72 hours. Read 5 September 2026. source
The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.