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Construction Spending

Construction spending has historically been utilized as a measure of the country’s overall economic health, helping indicate downturns and upswings (Forbes 2023). In addition, construction spending (also known as value of construction put in place) trends allow us to better contextualize trends in overall employment, seen in the Employment Trends dashboard.

After falling drastically in the onset of the 2008 recession, private construction spending has continued to rise over the past decade, returning to levels not seen since 2006.This interactive dashboard highlights construction spending trends, including information by sector, year, and type of construction.  The dashboard-level filter, Year, updates both the charts and the bold and underlined key findings. In addition, there is a chart-level filter, Sector, which allows Spending by Type to be filtered by construction sector.

Following the interactive dashboard, you will find more information on the data source, definitions, chart notes, a downloadable data file, and recommended citation. This interactive data dashboard corresponds to the relevant chapter in the PDF version of the Construction Chart Book, 7th edition.

If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected].

About the Data

U.S. Census Bureau. Value of Construction Put in Place Survey 2002-2025. https://www.census.gov/construction/c30/historical_data.html.

Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. State of the Nation’s Housing Report 2026. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2026.

Definitions
  • Construction spending/Value of Construction Put in Place – A measure of the value of construction installed or erected at the site during a given period. For an individual project, this includes:
    • Cost of materials installed or erected.
    • Cost of labor and a proportionate share of the cost of construction equipment rental.
    • Contractor’s profit.
    • Cost of architectural and engineering work.
    • Miscellaneous overhead and office costs chargeable to the project on the owner’s books.
    • Interest and taxes paid during construction (except for state and locally owned projects).
  • Type of construction – The classification of construction according to the U.S. Census scheme. For more information on classification, see the U.S. Census construction spending definitions page: https://www.census.gov/construction/c30/definitions.html.
  • Improvements – Includes remodeling, additions, and major replacements to owner-occupied residential properties subsequent to the completion of the original building.
Recommended Citation and Data File

Recommended Citation
CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training. [2026]. Construction Spending [dashboard].

Data File
The Data File contains an average of all years included and annual data. If interested in additional year combinations, please contact us at: [email protected].