Today, the New York Building Congress released its annual “Building Congress Across America” report, highlighting its members’ recently completed, in progress, and upcoming construction and development projects in all 50 states.
The Building Congress, which represents over 500 organizations with more than 250,000 skilled professionals and tradespeople nationwide, surveyed its members to provide a snapshot of the billions of dollars of construction and development activity members are leading. The report identifies over 26,000 projects valued at $852 billion.
“The New York Building Congress plays a tremendous role in shaping our country’s infrastructure and built environment, far beyond the tri-state area,” said Carlo A. Scissura, Esq., President and CEO of the New York Building Congress. “We are proud to represent and advocate for such an extraordinary and hardworking group. From developing clean water infrastructure in rural communities to transforming large international airports in major cities, our members work on diverse projects in every community in America. What our members build fuels economies, creates hundreds of thousands of jobs and generates billions of dollars in economic growth nationwide.”
The report provides an overview of the Building Congress’ impact across multiple industries throughout the country, highlighting both geographic and project data from surveyed members.
Key insights from the report include:
- 83% of surveyed organizations are performing work outside of New York State, and over 67% work outside of the Northeast.
- Total private industry payroll-based construction workforce nationally is 7.89 million, with 12% sbeing union workers.
- The majority of member projects are located in the Northeast, valued at $277 billion.
- Private construction spending is over $1.3 trillion annually nationwide, with private industry owners holding the largest share of project value at 61%, followed by local government at 22%.
- Non-residential projects, driven by commercial offices, reflect 54.5% of nationwide projects.
- Infrastructure projects, resulting largely from roadwork and paving projects, reflect 34.9% of nationwide projects.
- Amid a nationwide housing crisis, residential projects are showing the lowest share of project count, reflecting almost 22% of nationwide project value. The average per-project cost to construct an apartment building over 4 stories was $15 million in the last year, compared to offices at just $4 million.
- The Honolulu Rail project, which is expected to be complete in 2031, is the highest-value project at $10 billion.
