Largest Construction Companies Market Share: Commercial Building Concentration vs Small Firms, 2022

Largest construction companies market share vs small firms: the 2022 side-by-side

In commercial and institutional building, small firms dominate the count and large firms take a larger slice of the money, but neither end dominates employment. The 226 largest firms by headcount hold 30.8% of receipts; the 31,014 firms under 20 employees hold 16.1%.

Statistics of U.S. Businesses counted 37,402 employer firms in NAICS 236220 in 2022, with 618,523 employees, $57.0 billion in annual payroll and $582.7 billion in receipts (Census SUSB 2022).

Firms with fewer than 20 employees were 82.9% of those firms. They held 24.6% of employment, 18.9% of payroll and 16.1% of receipts in 2022.

Firms with 500 or more employees were 0.6% of firms. They held 22.8% of employment, 28.2% of payroll and 30.8% of receipts in 2022.

The middle of the industry carries the most weight. Firms with 20 to 499 employees were 16.5% of firms and held 52.6% of employment and 53.2% of receipts in 2022.

Revenue per worker rises with firm size. Receipts per employee were $616.8 thousand at firms under 20 employees and $1,267.9 thousand at firms with 500+. Receipts are gross operating revenue, including work a builder subcontracts to other firms, so this ratio is not a productivity measure.

Enterprise employment size: SUSB sorts firms by the employment of the whole enterprise across all industries, measured in the pay period including March 12. A company with 600 employees counts as 500+ even if only part of its staff works in commercial building (SUSB glossary).

State-level counts of commercial builders are covered separately in commercial builders by state; this report stays at the national level and focuses on how the industry splits by firm size.

How much revenue do the 4, 8, 20 and 50 largest commercial builders hold?

Census concentration ratios show a long tail: the top 4 firms held 6.8% of 2022 revenue and the top 50 held 25.4%, leaving 74.6% to every other firm in the industry.

The 2022 Economic Census ranked commercial and institutional builders by revenue. The 4 largest held 6.8%, the 8 largest 10.5%, the 20 largest 17.6% and the 50 largest 25.4% of $585.6 billion in industry revenue (Census EC2200SIZECONCEN).

In dollars, the 4 largest firms took $39.8 billion, about $9.95 billion each. The mean commercial builder took $14.8 million.

Employment is less concentrated than revenue. The 4 largest firms employed 3.8% of the industry's 656,625 employees in 2022 and the 50 largest employed 13.1%.

Concentration ratio (CR4, CR50): The share of industry revenue earned by the 4 (or 50) largest firms in that industry. Census does not name the firms.

Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI): The sum of squared market shares, from near 0 for an atomized market to 10,000 for a single firm (2023 Merger Guidelines). Census computes it on the 50 largest firms only.

Construction industry concentration vs other industries

Commercial building sits in the least concentrated tenth of U.S. industries: 91.6% of six-digit industries have a higher top-4 share. Several of its material suppliers are far more concentrated.

Of 897 six-digit industries with a published 2022 top-4 share, 822 were more concentrated than commercial building. The median top-4 share was 30.6%, against 6.8% for commercial building.

The materials side is concentrated. In 2022 the 4 largest firms held 84.1% of gypsum product revenue, 51.7% of cement manufacturing revenue and 98.0% of home center revenue.

Within construction, homebuilding is more concentrated than commercial building. For-sale homebuilders had a top-4 share of 24.6% in 2022; industrial building 13.1%; heavy and civil engineering 7.2%; specialty trade contractors 1.8%.

The firm-size split tells the same story. Across all U.S. industries, enterprises with 500+ employees held 54.1% of 2022 employment and those under 20 held 16.2%. In commercial building the two groups were close: 22.8% and 24.6%.

Construction as a sector is more small-firm heavy than commercial building alone: firms under 20 employees held 35.0% of construction employment in 2022, driven by specialty trade contractors at 36.4%.

Where the dollars concentrate: the $100 million receipts tier

Sorting by receipts instead of headcount shows where the money sits: 955 firms with $100 million or more took 60.2% of 2022 receipts, while 42.4% of firms had under $1 million.

In 2022, 2.6% of commercial builders had enterprise receipts of $100 million or more. Those firms held 60.2% of industry receipts and 38.7% of employment (SUSB receipts size table).

The comparison with the wider economy is again lopsided. Across all U.S. industries, firms with $100 million or more were 0.55% of firms and held 74.8% of 2022 receipts; across construction they were 0.44% and held 41.2%.

Read together with the concentration ratios, the pattern is a wide upper tier rather than a few giants: the top 50 firms held 25.4% of revenue, while the 955-firm $100 million tier held 60.2%. The two figures come from different tables and are not additive.

Small-business status depends on receipts. SBA's size standard for NAICS 236220 is $45.0 million in average annual receipts (13 CFR 121.201). In 2022, 35,098 firms (93.8%) had receipts under $40 million and 35,559 (95.1%) under $50 million. Context on SBA lending to contractors is in SBA loans for construction companies.

Is commercial construction consolidating? 2017 vs 2022

Slightly. The top-4 share rose 1.0 point and the top-50 share 1.9 points between the last two Economic Censuses, a small shift next to the industry's fragmentation.

From 2017 to 2022, the top-4 share in commercial and institutional building went from 5.8% to 6.8%, the top-50 share from 23.5% to 25.4%, and the 50-firm HHI from 19 to 23.1 (Census EC1700SIZECONCEN).

Industry revenue grew from $433.0 billion to $585.6 billion, a nominal rise of 35.2%, and the firm count from 37,892 to 39,454.

Other construction industries moved differently. Industrial building's top-50 share fell from 52.5% to 48.4%, while specialty trades rose from 6.7% to 7.1%.

Two data points are not a trend. Census publishes concentration only for Economic Census years, twice per decade, and the 2022 figures appeared in April 2025, so the 2027 Economic Census will be the next reading (Federal Reserve FEDS Note).

Self-employed builders: nonemployers vs employer firms

Counting businesses without employees makes the industry look even more fragmented by number, but not by money: nonemployers were 72.4% of nonresidential building businesses and 2.4% of receipts in 2022.

Nonemployer Statistics counted 105,622 nonresidential building businesses without paid employees in 2022, against 40,344 employer firms, or 2.6 nonemployers per employer firm.

Their 2022 receipts were $15.1 billion, an average of about $143,100 per business. By 2024 the count had reached 115,827, with $16.6 billion in receipts (Census NES 2024).

Across construction, nonemployers were 78.6% of businesses and 7.5% of receipts in 2022; across all industries 82.3% and 3.3%.

Nonemployer Statistics are published only to the 4-digit level for this group, so these figures cover all nonresidential building (2362), which includes commercial and institutional building (37,402 of the 40,344 employer firms in 2022). Survival odds for small builders are covered in construction business failure rate.

Who the largest builders are: public reference points

Census does not name its largest firms. Public rankings and filings identify them, but company revenue spans several industries and countries, so it is context, not a market-share measure.

ENR's 2026 Top 400 Contractors list, ranked by 2025 construction revenue, places Turner Construction first, Bechtel second, STO Building Group third, Kiewit fourth and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. fifth; MasTec, DPR Construction, HITT Contracting, Fluor and Mortenson complete the top 10 (ENR). The ranking covers all construction types.

Turner, part of HOCHTIEF and the ACS Group, reported 2025 revenue of $29.2 billion and a year-end backlog of $44.3 billion (Turner).

Tutor Perini, a listed builder, reported 2025 revenue of $5.54 billion, of which $1.85 billion came from its Building segment (10-K). Its 2022 Building segment revenue of $1.24 billion equalled 0.21% of 2022 commercial and institutional building revenue.

Company revenue is a weak guide to industry concentration. A Federal Reserve note found low correlations between concentration measured from public-company data and Census concentration ratios. Owners weighing firm size in contractor selection can see how to choose a commercial contractor.

Why concentration estimates differ: enterprise size, firm size and local markets

Census publishes two firm-size views that give similar but not identical shares, and both are national. Readers should match the measure to the question.

SUSB places 226 commercial builders in the 500+ class by whole-enterprise employment, holding 30.8% of 2022 receipts. The Economic Census, sizing firms by employees in this industry only and counting firms that operated all year, finds 94 such firms with 28.7% of revenue (EC2200SIZEEMPFIRM).

Firm counts differ too: 37,402 in SUSB and 39,454 in the concentration table, because the programs use different frames and reference rules.

National ratios do not measure local markets. Antitrust analysis defines markets by product and geography (2023 Merger Guidelines); a national industry total is not such a market, and concentration within one metro or one building type can be higher than the national ratio.

The very largest companies are a small slice. Enterprises with 5,000 or more employees were 0.12% of commercial building firms in 2022 and held 6.3% of employment and 7.9% of receipts.

Ratios behind the comparison

Download the calculations (CSV)

Where the numbers diverge

1. The 4 largest firms held 6.8% of U.S. commercial and institutional building revenue in 2022; the 8 largest 10.5%, the 20 largest 17.6% and the 50 largest 25.4%.^[7]
2. The 4 largest commercial builders had combined 2022 revenue of $39.8 billion, an average of $9.95 billion each, against a mean of $14.8 million across all 39,454 firms.^[7]
3. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index for the 50 largest commercial builders was 23.1 in 2022; the 2023 Merger Guidelines treat markets above 1,800 as highly concentrated.^[7][16]
4. Commercial building's top-4 share (6.8%) is below industrial building (13.1%), residential building (11.4%) and for-sale homebuilders (24.6%), and above specialty trade contractors (1.8%), 2022.^[7]
5. In 2022, 82.9% of commercial and institutional building firms (31,014) had fewer than 20 employees and 49.5% had fewer than 5.^[1]
6. Firms with 500+ employees held 22.8% of commercial building employment in 2022, compared with 54.1% across all U.S. industries and 19.3% across construction.^[1]
7. Average 2022 receipts per firm were $792.81 million at commercial builders with 500+ employees and $3.02 million at those under 20, a ratio of 262 to 1.^[1]
8. Payroll per employee was $113.7 thousand at 500+ employee commercial builders and $70.9 thousand at firms under 20 employees in 2022.^[1]
9. The 955 commercial builders with 2022 enterprise receipts of $100 million or more (2.6% of firms) held 60.2% of industry receipts; across all industries the $100 million tier held 74.8%.^[4]
10. 42.4% of commercial builders had 2022 receipts under $1 million, together holding 0.9% of receipts.^[4]
11. Between the 2017 and 2022 Economic Censuses, the top-4 share in commercial building rose from 5.8% to 6.8% and the top-50 share from 23.5% to 25.4%, while industry revenue rose 35.2% in nominal terms.^[7][8]
12. Nonemployer businesses were 72.4% of nonresidential building businesses in 2022 (105,622 nonemployers vs 40,344 employer firms) but 2.4% of combined receipts.^[1][12]
13. Between 93.8% (receipts under $40 million) and 95.1% (under $50 million) of commercial builders fell below the SBA's $45.0 million receipts standard in 2022, measured on one year of receipts rather than SBA's five-year average.^[4][14]

Summary

• The 4 largest commercial and institutional builders took 6.8% of the industry's $585.6 billion in 2022 revenue, and the 50 largest took 25.4% (2022 Economic Census).
• 822 of the 897 six-digit industries with a published 2022 top-4 share (91.6%) are more concentrated than commercial building; the median top-4 share is 30.6%.
• Firms with fewer than 20 employees are 82.9% of the 37,402 employer firms but hold 24.6% of employment and 16.1% of receipts (SUSB 2022).
• The 226 firms with 500 or more employees (0.6% of firms) hold 22.8% of employment, 28.2% of payroll and 30.8% of receipts.
• Mid-size firms with 20 to 499 employees are the employment core: 52.6% of jobs and 53.2% of receipts.
• Dollars concentrate in a broad upper tier rather than at the very top: 955 firms with $100 million or more in receipts hold 60.2% of receipts.
• Concentration edged up between Economic Censuses: the top-4 share rose 1.0 point and the top-50 share 1.9 points from 2017 to 2022.
• Self-employed builders are 72.4% of nonresidential building businesses but take 2.4% of receipts (2022).

Frequently asked questions

Related guides, services and research

• How to Choose a Commercial Contractor: Checks, Red Flags and a Scorecard
• Commercial Contractor Leads From Owners Ready to Compare Bids
• Commercial Construction Services: Find the Right Builder for the Work
• Commercial Construction Companies by State: Establishments, Jobs and Pay, 2025
• Best States for Commercial Construction: The 2026 Commercial Builder Opportunity Index
• Construction Business Failure Rate: 1, 5 and 10-Year Survival in U.S. Data

Methodology

Source selection. Firm-size shares come from Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) 2022, the latest year released (April 10, 2025) and the only recent SUSB year with receipts, because receipts are collected in Economic Census years. Concentration ratios come from the 2022 Economic Census Concentration of Largest Firms table (released April 24, 2025) and the 2017 table for change. Self-employed counts come from Nonemployer Statistics 2022 (year-matched) and 2024 (latest, posted September 29, 2026). All Census files were downloaded as bulk files because the Census Data API now requires a key.

Inclusion and exclusion. The core industry is NAICS 236220, commercial and institutional building construction. Comparison industries were chosen to span construction subsectors, construction suppliers and familiar service and retail industries. Company figures (Tutor Perini 10-K filings, a Turner company statement, ENR's public ranking page) are Tier 2 context and are never combined with Census data into a market-share estimate, except one labelled scale reference for a year-matched segment figure. ENR's paywalled revenue table was not used. Market research estimates were excluded.

Conflicting numbers. SUSB and the Economic Census give different firm counts (37,402 and 39,454) and different large-firm shares, because SUSB sizes firms by whole-enterprise employment and the Economic Census by employment in the industry. Both are reported and labelled; neither is adjusted. Concentration ratios use Economic Census revenue; firm-size shares use SUSB receipts.

Derived metrics. Shares divide a size class by the industry total in the same table. Averages divide receipts or payroll by firms or employees. The HHI upper bound adds to the Census 50-firm HHI the largest possible contribution of firms ranked below 50: (CR50 minus CR20) divided by 30, times 100 minus CR50. The industry percentile counts six-digit industries with a published 2022 CR4 above 236220's. Every formula and input row is in derived_metrics.csv and the fact sheet.

Limitations. Concentration ratios are national and do not describe local or project-type markets. Enterprise size can place a diversified company in the 500+ class on the strength of non-building staff. SUSB cells include noise infusion; most cells used here carry the low-noise flag. Receipts are nominal and include subcontracted work. Nonemployer data exist only at 4-digit NAICS (2362). The SBA comparison uses one year of receipts, while SBA averages five years and counts affiliates.

Last updated 2026-10-08. The next concentration data will come from the 2027 Economic Census; the next SUSB release with receipts will cover 2027.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (17)

• [1] U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022: number of firms, establishments, employment, payroll and receipts by state, industry and enterprise employment size (6-digit NAICS). 2022 (released 2025-04-10). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [2] U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022: detailed enterprise employment sizes. 2022 (released 2025-04-10). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [3] U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022: large enterprise employment sizes by NAICS sector. 2022 (released 2025-04-10). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [4] U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022: firms, employment, payroll and receipts by industry and enterprise receipts size. 2022 (released 2025-04-10). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [5] U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022: large enterprise receipts sizes by NAICS sector. 2022 (released 2025-04-10). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [6] U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics of U.S. Businesses glossary (enterprise, firm, receipts definitions). Current page. Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [7] U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 Economic Census: Concentration of Largest Firms for the U.S. (EC2200SIZECONCEN). 2022 (released 2025-04-24). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [8] U.S. Census Bureau. 2017 Economic Census: Concentration of Largest Firms for the U.S. (EC1700SIZECONCEN). 2017. Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [9] U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 Economic Census: Employment Size of Firms for the U.S. (EC2200SIZEEMPFIRM). 2022 (released 2025-04-24). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [10] U.S. Census Bureau. Census Bureau releases new Establishment and Firm Size Statistics from the 2022 Economic Census (CB25-TPS.28). Released 2025-04-24. Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [11] U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics 2024, U.S. file (nonemp24us). 2024 (file dated 2026-09-29). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [12] U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics 2022, U.S. file (nonemp22us). 2022. Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [13] U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 NAICS descriptions file. NAICS 2022. Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [14] Office of the Federal Register / U.S. Small Business Administration. 13 CFR 121.201, small business size standards by NAICS code (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-05). In force 2026-10-05. Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [15] U.S. Small Business Administration, Federal Register. Small Business Size Standards, proposed rule, 91 FR 53741 (2026-08-20). Published 2026-08-20; comments closed 2026-09-21. Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [16] U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. Merger Guidelines (2023). December 2023. Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [17] Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. A note on industry concentration measurement (FEDS Notes). 2023-02-03. Accessed 2026-10-08.

Tier 2: trade bodies, market research, company data (4)

• [18] Tutor Perini Corporation via SEC EDGAR. Tutor Perini Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025. FY2025 (filed 2026-02-26). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [19] Tutor Perini Corporation via SEC EDGAR. Tutor Perini Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal year 2022. FY2022 (filed 2023-03-15). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [20] Turner Construction Company. Turner Achieves Record Revenue and Backlog in 2025. 2025 (posted 2026-03-03). Accessed 2026-10-08.
• [21] Engineering News-Record. ENR 2026 Top 400 Contractors (public ranking page). 2025 construction revenue, 2026 edition. Accessed 2026-10-08.