Required Lighting Outlets and Switch Locations

Why this matters

Nobody forgets to put a light in a bedroom. What gets missed is the control: a basement stair with a switch only at the bottom, an attic air handler lit by a pull chain 25 ft from the hatch, a kitchen lit only by a switched receptacle, a stair dimmer at one end and a plain toggle at the other. Each passes the eye test at trim and fails 210.70 (NEC 2023, 2020 where the section moved, as adopted, local amendments checked), and the fix is usually a new switch leg fished through finished walls. This card owns where a dwelling needs a lighting outlet and where its control has to be. How to wire the multi-location control is owned by 'Three-Way + Four-Way Switch Wiring'; whether the switch box needs a neutral is in 'Reidentifying a White Conductor in Cable'.

Adding a switch leg or a fixture to an existing house is work in boxes that may hold more than one circuit. Breaker off, locked and tagged, and absence of voltage verified on every conductor with a CAT III or better meter proven on a known live source before and after (NFPA 70E Article 120, current edition; 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2)). When the work is made up and covered, close the breaker standing to the side of the panel and prove the light from every control location. In an attic or crawl space, check the box you are reaching for before you put your weight on the framing beside it, and do not crawl through blown insulation over a ceiling you have not found the joists of.

Habitable rooms, kitchens and bathrooms

The rule (210.70(A)(1), in substance): at least one lighting outlet controlled by a listed wall-mounted control device in every habitable room, kitchen and bathroom, with the control on a wall near an entrance to the room.

The two exceptions that matter:

• Switched receptacles instead of a lighting outlet, in rooms other than kitchens and bathrooms. A living room or bedroom may be lit by a lamp plugged into a switched receptacle. A kitchen or bathroom may not: it gets a lighting outlet.
• Occupancy sensors, either in addition to the wall control or located at the customary switch location with a manual override that lets the sensor work as a wall switch.

What "listed wall-mounted control device" excludes: an app, a voice assistant or a handheld remote as the only means of control in a habitable room. A smart switch on the wall qualifies; a smart bulb in a fixture with no wall control does not.

Hallways, stairs, garages and outdoor entrances

From 210.70(A)(2), in substance:

• Hallways, stairways, attached garages, and detached garages with power each get at least one lighting outlet controlled by a listed wall-mounted control device.
• Outdoor entrances and exits with grade-level access, at the dwelling and at attached and detached garages with power, get at least one wall-switch-controlled lighting outlet on the exterior side. A garage vehicle door is not an outdoor entrance for this rule; the person door beside it is.
• Interior stairways with six risers or more between floor levels get a wall control at each floor level, and at each landing level that includes an entryway, for the stair lighting.
• Dimmers on those stairs must provide the full range of dimming at each control location. A dimmer at the top and a plain three-way toggle at the bottom fails, because the bottom location cannot dim.
• Exception: in hallways, on stairways and at outdoor entrances, remote, central or automatic control is permitted. A photocell or a motion sensor may run the porch light; a timer may run the hall.

What the stair rule does not say. A stair with five risers between levels still needs its lighting outlet, but one control location is enough. A long hallway with doors at both ends needs a wall control, but the code does not require one at each end; the second switch is a design choice that customers notice when it is missing.

Attics, crawl spaces, utility rooms and basements

From 210.70(A)(3), in substance: where an attic, underfloor space, utility room or basement is used for storage or contains equipment requiring servicing, it gets at least one lighting outlet that contains a switch or is controlled by a wall switch, with at least one point of control at the usual point of entry, and the lighting outlet at or near the equipment requiring servicing.

Three conditions do the work:

1. The trigger is storage or equipment. An unfloored attic with nothing in it, or a crawl space carrying only pipes and ducts and nothing to service, has no requirement. Add a furnace, a water heater, an air handler, a sump pump or a floored storage area, and it does.
2. Control at the point of entry. A pull-chain lampholder satisfies "contains a switch" only if it is at the entry. A pull chain next to an air handler 25 ft from the hatch leaves a tech crawling 25 ft in the dark to reach it.
3. Light at the equipment. One switch at the hatch controlling one lampholder at the hatch does not light the air handler 25 ft away. The usual answer is a switch at the entry controlling a lampholder near the equipment, and a second lampholder at the entry on the same switch if the path is long.

The receptacle that 210.63 requires near HVAC equipment is a separate rule with its own conditions; do not count the light as satisfying it or the reverse.

Worked example: walking a two-story house

The house. Two stories over an unfinished basement, under the 2020 edition as locally adopted. The main stair has 14 risers between the first and second floors. The basement stair has 13 risers from the kitchen hall down to the basement, and the basement holds the furnace, the water heater and shelving. The attic is reached by a pull-down stair in the second-floor hall and holds an air handler 25 ft from the hatch. The crawl space under a one-story addition carries only drain and supply piping. The attached two-bay garage has a person door to the side yard at grade.

The tally. Twelve locations checked; ten pass, two fail (rows 7 and 9).

The fixes.

• Row 7: make the basement stair light a three-way pair, top and bottom. Row 8's furnace light can stay on the top switch alone, since the stair rule covers the stair lighting and the equipment rule needs one control at the usual point of entry, which here is the top of the stair.
• Row 9: add a switch at the hatch (on the attic framing beside the opening, in reach from the ladder, or a wall switch in the hall below it) controlling a lampholder near the air handler, and replace the pull-chain fixture with a keyless one so the switch is the only control. With 25 ft between them, add a second keyless lampholder at the hatch on the same switch.

The one that looks wrong and is right. Row 10, the crawl space with no light. It owes none until someone puts a dehumidifier or a sump pump down there.

What moves the answer

Each of these changes a different input to the same house:

• The owner wants a dimmer on the main stair, row 6. A dimmer at one end and a three-way toggle at the other fails the full-range-of-dimming condition. Use a listed multi-location dimmer system with a companion at the other end.
• The basement stair has five risers instead of 13, as in a split-level. It still needs a lighting outlet, but one control location is enough, and row 7 passes with its single switch at the top.
• The attic is floored for storage but the air handler is in the garage instead. The storage alone triggers the rule: a light controlled from the hatch, placed to light the storage area.
• The kitchen in row 2 is lit only by a switched receptacle for a lamp. The switched-receptacle exception does not reach kitchens. Fail.

When to catch it

These are rough-in decisions. Mark every switch location on the plan before the first cable is pulled, walk the stairs counting risers, and stand at every hatch and crawl access asking where the switch is and what the light will show. After drywall, the missing control in row 7 is a cable fished down a finished stair wall.

References

• NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, 210.70 and 210.63 (NEC 2023, 2020 where the section moved), as adopted by your jurisdiction.
• NFPA 70E, Article 120 (current edition); 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2).
• See related: Three-Way + Four-Way Switch Wiring; Reidentifying a White Conductor in Cable; Dwelling Receptacle Spacing: The 6 and 12 Foot Rule.