U.S. construction spending ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,210.2 billion in May 2026, 1.5 percent below a year earlier, according to the Census Bureau. Contractor sentiment has cooled with it: 63 percent of firms report a project postponed, scaled back, or canceled in the past six months.
How much construction work is being put in place in 2026?
The Census Bureau's monthly Value of Construction Put in Place series is the industry's scoreboard. For May 2026 it estimated total spending at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,210.2 billion, essentially flat against April (up 0.1 percent) and 1.5 percent below the May 2025 rate of $2,244.4 billion. Over the first five months of 2026, spending totaled $858.4 billion, 2.7 percent behind the same period in 2025.
The split matters more than the total. Private construction ran at $1,669.0 billion, of which residential was $930.2 billion and nonresidential $738.7 billion. Public construction was $541.2 billion and rising, up 0.5 percent on the month, with highway work at $150.6 billion and educational construction at $113.4 billion. Public money is currently holding the total up while private nonresidential drifts down.
Why do contractors expect a tougher 2026?
The AGC of America and Sage 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook surveyed 951 firms across 49 states and the District of Columbia between November 4 and December 15, 2025. Its headline finding is narrower optimism: five of 17 market segments now carry negative net readings, against just two a year earlier.
Hiring plans softened but stayed positive. 63 percent of firms expect to add headcount in 2026, down from 69 percent in the 2025 survey, while 15 percent expect to cut, up from 10 percent. Finding the people remains the hard part: 82 percent report difficulty filling hourly craft positions and 80 percent report the same for salaried openings — a higher share than at any point in the previous three years.
Which segments are growing and which are shrinking?
Data centers lead by a distance, with a net reading of 57 percent — the only segment to post a double-digit gain over the prior year. Power projects follow at 34 percent, then non-hospital healthcare at 24 percent, hospitals at 20 percent, water and sewer at 16 percent, and manufacturing at 15 percent.
At the other end, retail construction fell 13 points to -18 percent, private office declined to -14 percent, and lodging slipped to -7 percent. Segments that stayed positive mostly did so at much lower levels: warehouse dropped to 5 percent, federal work to 5 percent, multifamily to 4 percent, and public buildings to 1 percent. If you build for one of the five negative segments, the national spending total is telling you less than your own bid pipeline is.
How contractors bridge the gap between payroll and payment
The most striking number in the AGC survey for a contractor thinking about capital is this: of the 63 percent whose work was delayed or canceled, 37 percent cited reduced or uncertain funding, and 34 percent said funding was unavailable or too expensive. Financing conditions are now a scheduling problem, not just a finance-department problem.
That cuts both ways for the roughly 919,000 construction establishments in the U.S., which together employ about 8.0 million people and put in place close to $2.1 trillion of structures a year. Most are small firms carrying payroll and materials for 30 to 90 days before a draw clears. A business line of credit is usually the better tool for that timing gap than a lump-sum note, because you draw only what a specific job needs and repay when it pays. For machinery, construction equipment financing is secured by the asset itself, and our roundup of the best contractor funding companies compares how funders treat retainage and progress billing.
The Broker Shop is a funding broker, not a funder — we put more than 50 lenders in competition for one application instead of lending money ourselves. That means you see the structures you actually qualify for side by side and pick the payment schedule that matches how the money comes back in. It is free to apply, and checking your options won't affect your credit score.
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See What I Qualify For →The bottom line: Construction spending is running about 1.5 percent below last year with public work propping up the total, so in 2026 the firms that hold margin are the ones in the growing segments — data centers, power, healthcare, water and sewer — with credit arranged before the draw schedule slips, not after.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau — Monthly Construction Spending, May 2026 (release CB26-112) · AGC of America and Sage — 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook · AGC of America — Construction Data (establishments and employment)
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