Metro construction employment grew in 177 of 360 areas between August 2025 and August 2026, according to an Associated General Contractors of America analysis released Sept. 30, and the gains were anything but evenly spread. Four metros added 48,700 jobs between them. The next seven on the list added 39,000.
That works out to 49% of metros gaining, 35% losing and 57 areas flat. It’s the third straight month AGC’s tally has come in under half.
Where metro construction employment rose
Houston added the most, 14,100 jobs for a 6% gain to 269,000, per the AGC release. Baton Rouge was next at 13,300, and since it started from 45,800 that’s a 29% jump, the largest percentage gain in the country. St. Louis added 11,200 (14%) and Columbus, Ohio, added 10,100 (16%).
After that the numbers fall off quickly: Minneapolis-St. Paul and Phoenix at 6,800 each, Charlotte at 6,600, the Chicago division at 5,400, Indianapolis at 5,000, and San Jose and Fort Worth at 4,200 apiece.
Louisiana stands out. Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lafayette and New Orleans are four of the nine fastest-growing construction markets by percentage, which fits the 12.7% statewide gain in AGC’s state data two weeks ago.
Where construction jobs fell
The Atlanta metro division lost the most, 4,900 jobs or 4%, followed by Riverside-San Bernardino (4,600), Jersey City-White Plains (4,300) and Oakland (4,000). Pittsburgh and New Jersey’s Lakewood-New Brunswick division each dropped 3,500, a 6% decline.
California has four of the 10 largest losses in AGC’s ranking tables. Riverside, Oakland, San Diego and Sacramento shed 14,200 jobs combined, while San Jose, about 40 miles south of Oakland, added 4,200. Northern Virginia’s Arlington-Alexandria-Reston division lost 2,800.
Reading AGC’s metro data with care
AGC credits data centers, power projects and advanced manufacturing for the gains. The tables don’t show project type, so that’s the association’s read and not a measured result. One detail cuts against the simple version of it. Atlanta and Northern Virginia are two of the busiest data center markets in the country, and both lost construction jobs. A hyperscale campus can’t carry a metro where housing and everything else is shrinking.
The data has limits, too:
- Nothing here is seasonally adjusted, which is why AGC compares August with August.
- For most metros, BLS publishes construction only in combination with mining and logging.
- Small areas move in increments of 100. The steepest percentage decline in the country, Walla Walla’s 8%, is 100 jobs.
- Metro estimates come from a sample and get benchmarked later, so a 1% or 2% move in a mid-size market may not survive revision.
Nationally, AGC’s tables put construction employment up 1.5% over the same 12 months, seasonally adjusted. That average, like the 0.9% rise in August construction spending, hides a lot of ground.
A contractor in Columbus and a contractor in Pittsburgh are both inside that national figure. One market grew 16%. The other shrank 6%.