Industry · NAICS 236

Construction of buildings

The United States has 254,630 employer establishments in construction of buildings (7.6 per 10,000 residents), employing 1,621,439 people at an average annual pay of $82,433, plus 1,013,607 nonemployer businesses.

In the United States

Establishments
254,630
1,013,607 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
7.6
Paid employees
1,621,439
Average annual pay
$82,433

Places ranked by residents per establishment

Places ranked by residents per establishment: more residents for each business, fewer competitors per resident. A count, not a measure of demand: retirement areas, low incomes or tourism change what a business needs.

Places
State
Size
Construction of buildings by residents per establishment
#Placevs US
1Hanford-Corcoran, CA153,197324,7872.10.28×213$75,704130
2Gadsden, AL103,227254,1292.40.32×188$44,968310
3Wildwood-The Villages, FL151,889383,9972.50.33×450$138,307203
4El Centro, CA180,683483,7642.70.35×454$62,727392
5Lumberton, NC118,005333,5762.80.37×204$61,108582
6McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX901,0962633,4262.90.39×1,239$58,3086,875
7Springfield, OH135,342403,38430.39×240$47,758246
8Corbin, KY149,593453,32430.40×238$53,105406
9Texarkana, TX-AR145,972443,31830.40×330$60,930309
10Laredo, TX271,942843,2373.10.41×394$55,5581,315
11Odessa, TX165,946523,1913.10.41×406$81,869694
12Florence, SC200,022633,1753.10.42×306$76,248351
13Albany, GA145,548473,0973.20.43×305$63,033308
14Memphis, TN-MS-AR1,342,3864343,0933.20.43×3,683$81,8343,226
15Hammond, LA138,101453,0693.30.43×264$58,322484
16Bakersfield-Delano, CA917,5993023,0383.30.44×2,009$69,8031,647
17Dalton, GA145,315483,0273.30.44×170$46,488582
18Tupelo, MS132,351452,9413.40.45×217$59,585430
19Sumter, SC104,396362,9003.40.46×213$61,934244
20Battle Creek, MI133,331462,8993.50.46×136$62,162326
21Lawton, OK127,338442,8943.50.46×161$40,050232
22Rome, GA100,193352,8633.50.46×134$56,351364
23Anniston-Oxford, AL116,341412,8383.50.47×225$60,022245
24Mansfield, OH124,863462,7143.70.49×258$62,926345
25Longview, TX294,1611092,6993.70.49×517$61,333968

1–25 of 398 places

Sources: County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024).

  • Residents per establishment is the place's population estimate for 2023 divided by its establishments; more residents per business means fewer competitors per resident. Places with fewer than the minimum establishments are left out because a handful of businesses makes the ratio jump around.
  • Metro areas are made of whole counties and their figures are the exact sums of those counties'. A metro area is listed under its principal state.
  • This compares counts of businesses with counts of residents. It does not measure demand, spending power, visitors, the size or quality of the businesses, or whether a market is open. Employment and payroll carry the Census Bureau's noise infusion.
  • County Business Patterns 2023 uses NAICS 2017 codes; the nonemployer figures use NAICS 2022. Industries are matched by name between editions.
  • Growth needs a second reference year of County Business Patterns in the same industry classification; only 2023 is loaded, so there is no growth column yet.

Federal contracts in this industry

Federal agencies obligated $51B on contracts under NAICS 236 in fiscal year 2026, nationwide (16,972 awards, each counted once per county where it was performed).

Metro areas

  1. Nogales, AZ$2.9B5.7%
    9 awards
  2. El Paso, TX$2.7B5.3%
    75 awards
  3. Rio Grande City-Roma, TX$2.5B4.9%
    7 awards
  4. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA$1.9B3.7%
    193 awards
  5. Laredo, TX$1.8B3.5%
    18 awards
  6. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ$1.7B3.4%
    69 awards
  7. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$1.7B3.3%
    1,897 awards
  8. El Centro, CA$1.7B3.2%
    22 awards
  9. Tucson, AZ$1.4B2.7%
    92 awards
  10. Del Rio, TX$1.2B2.4%
    11 awards

Counties

  1. Brewster County, TX$6.5B13%
    6 awards
  2. Santa Cruz County, AZ$2.9B5.7%
    9 awards
  3. Starr County, TX$2.5B4.9%
    7 awards
  4. San Diego County, CA$1.9B3.7%
    193 awards
  5. Hidalgo County, NM$1.8B3.5%
    1 award
  6. Webb County, TX$1.8B3.5%
    18 awards
  7. Maricopa County, AZ$1.7B3.4%
    65 awards
  8. Imperial County, CA$1.7B3.2%
    22 awards
  9. El Paso County, TX$1.6B3.2%
    70 awards
  10. La Salle County, TX$1.5B2.9%
    5 awards

Cities and towns

  1. Laredo city, TX$1.6B3.2%
    18 awards
  2. Tempe city, AZ$1.6B3.2%
    2 awards
  3. El Paso city, TX$1.6B3.1%
    41 awards
  4. Tucson city, AZ$1.4B2.7%
    78 awards
  5. San Diego city, CA$930.6M1.8%
    140 awards
  6. Edinburg city, TX$609.5M1.2%
    6 awards
  7. Washington city, DC$524.9M1.0%
    816 awards
  8. Bethesda CDP, MD$476M0.9%
    501 awards
  9. North Charleston city, SC$431M0.8%
    98 awards
  10. Brownsville city, TX$411M0.8%
    20 awards

Where the work was performed, as agencies report it (often the contractor's office). Metro areas are the exact sums of their counties. Cities are estimated: each action's county money split by the share of its ZIP code's land inside the city, so a city's figure is part of its county's.

USAspending.gov, prime award contract transactions (FPDS)