Dwellings — 210.8(A)
| Location | GFCI | Rule | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bathroom | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Every receptacle. |
| Kitchen countertop | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Countertop receptacles since 1987; 2023 extends to every kitchen receptacle in many adoptions. |
| Within 6 ft of a sink | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Measured from the top inside edge of the bowl. |
| Laundry area | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Since 2014. |
| Garage and accessory buildings | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | The old exemptions for a dedicated freezer or garage-door receptacle are gone. |
| Outdoors | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Receptacles; and since 2020 outdoor outlets generally (210.8(F)). |
| Unfinished basement | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Finished basements: the rooms' own rules apply. |
| Crawl space | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | At or below grade. |
| Within 6 ft of a bathtub or shower | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Outside the bathroom too. |
| Boathouse | Required | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | |
| Pool, spa, hot tub, fountain | Required | NEC Article 680 — pools, spas, hot tubs, fountains | Pump motors, lighting, receptacles within 20 ft. |
| Living room, bedroom, hallway | Not by 210.8 | NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Not required by 210.8 (AFCI protection is, in most adoptions — a different device). |
| Construction site temporary power | Required | OSHA 29 CFR 1926.404(b)(1) — construction | OSHA, not the NEC: GFCI or an assured grounding program. |
| Commercial kitchen, sink area, rooftop, service bay | Required | NEC 210.8(B) — other than dwelling units | Non-dwelling list; check the edition your jurisdiction adopted. |
Since the 2020 edition the dwelling list covers receptacles from 125 V through 250 V at 50 A or less, so a 240 V receptacle in a garage or a laundry is included; before that it was 125 V, 15 A and 20 A only.
Other buildings — 210.8(B)
Bathrooms, kitchens and any area with a sink, rooftops, outdoors, indoor damp and wet locations, locker rooms with showers, garages and service bays, crawl spaces, unfinished basements and laundry areas. Broadened in 2017 and 2020; commercial kitchens have been on it since 2008.
Appliances — 422.5
Some appliances carry the requirement themselves, wherever they are installed: automotive vacuums, drinking-water coolers and bottle fillers, high-pressure spray washers, tire inflators, vending machines, sump pumps, and since 2020 dishwashers in dwellings. The maker builds the protection into the cord or requires it on the circuit.
Outdoor outlets — 210.8(F)
New in 2020: outdoor outlets (not just receptacles) at dwellings, which reached hard-wired air-conditioning condensers and produced enough nuisance trips that a Tentative Interim Amendment gave HVAC equipment a reprieve most states adopted. Check your jurisdiction.
The rules behind the table
| Rule | What it covers | Since |
|---|---|---|
| NEC 210.8(A) — dwelling units | Receptacles (125 V through 250 V, 50 A or less since 2020) in bathrooms, garages and accessory buildings, outdoors, crawl spaces, unfinished basements, kitchens, sinks (within 6 ft), boathouses, bathtubs and showers (within 6 ft), laundry areas, and indoor damp or wet locations. | Bathrooms 1975; outdoors 1973; kitchens 1987; basements 1990; laundry 2014; 250 V receptacles 2020 |
| NEC 210.8(B) — other than dwelling units | Bathrooms, kitchens and areas with sinks, rooftops, outdoors, indoor damp or wet locations, locker rooms with showers, garages and service bays, crawl spaces, unfinished basements, laundry areas. | Commercial kitchens 2008; broadened 2017 and 2020 |
| NEC 210.8(F) — outdoor outlets, dwellings | Outdoor outlets supplied by single-phase branch circuits 150 V to ground or less, 50 A or less — including hard-wired equipment such as air-conditioner condensers (with a temporary exception for HVAC that most jurisdictions adopted). | 2020 |
| NEC Article 680 — pools, spas, hot tubs, fountains | Pump motors (2020: all, cord-connected or hard-wired), underwater luminaires above the low-voltage limit, receptacles within 20 ft of the water, spa and hot-tub equipment. | Pool receptacles 1968 (the first GFCI rule); pump motors broadened 2020 |
| NEC 422.5 — appliances | Certain appliances rated 150 V to ground or less and 60 A or less: automotive vacuums, drinking-water coolers and bottle-fill stations, high-pressure spray washers, tire inflators, vending machines, sump pumps, dishwashers (2020), and others as listed. | Vending machines 2005; dishwashers 2014; broadened 2017 / 2020 |
| NEC 406.4(D)(2) — replacements where no ground exists | A non-grounding receptacle may be replaced with a GFCI receptacle (or a grounding-type one protected by a GFCI) marked "No Equipment Ground" — the Code's route to protection in two-wire homes. | 1993 (as 210-7(d)) |
Your local Code
States and cities adopt NEC editions on their own schedule — 2017, 2020 and 2023 are all in force somewhere today — and some amend the list. The inspector's edition is the one that binds; this page is written to the 2020 edition with notes on what 2023 changed. The interactive version is at where GFCI is required.