KEY POINTS
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The US Expansion Index reached 1.16 in November 2025, indicating a 16% increase in planned construction investment compared to November 2024.
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This represents the fourth consecutive month of expansion, continuing steady growth in year-over-year ideated construction spending.
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The November Expansion Index shows a divided construction landscape. While headline numbers suggest strength, several verticals and regions continue to experience prolonged declines in ideated investment.
Overall Performance
The US Expansion Index reached 1.16 in November 2025, indicating a 16% increase in planned construction investment compared to November 2024. This represents the fourth consecutive month of expansion, continuing steady growth in year-over-year ideated construction spending.
Select Sector Results
The Industrial sector once again leads in expansion, recording a 2.60 reading for November. This indicates that ideated industrial construction dollars are over two and a half times higher compared to the same month last year, as firms try to expand domestic production capacity.
Military and Commercial were the only other two construction project verticals to see expansion, with each having readings above 1.22.
In contrast, the Residential, Community, and Medical sectors recorded levels below 0.85, indicating notable contraction in ideated construction dollars compared to November 2024. These verticals have recorded several consecutive months of contraction, suggesting potential weakness in their ideated project pipelines.
The ConstructConnect Expansion Index for November 2025 was 1.16, indicating a 16% increase in planned construction investment compared to November 2024. Image: ConstructConnect
Geographic Highlights
Fourteen states had Expansion Index readings above 1.0 in November, primarily concentrated in the Southern and Western United States. Arizona once again recorded the highest reading at 5.26, followed by readings of 3.02 in Wyoming and 1.77 in North Dakota.
On the other hand, 36 states experienced contractions in their ideated construction spending, with 9 states exceeding 20% declines. Regionally, the Northeast and Midwest posted the lowest average Expansion Index reading, with both regions averaging contractionary levels.
Trend Watch
The November Expansion Index shows a divided construction landscape. While headline numbers suggest strength, several verticals and regions continue to experience prolonged declines in ideated investment.
This divergence highlights the importance of understanding construction dynamics and trends when developing future business plans. Firms positioned in growth sectors and geographies could see stronger construction project pipelines, while those in contracting markets may face steady competition related to a shrinking pool of potential projects.
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What is the ConstructConnect Expansion Index?
The ConstructConnect Expansion Index compares the total dollar value of construction projects in planning for the current month to the value of projects in planning for that same calendar month in the prior year.
The Expansion Index measures the dollar volume of pre-bid projects in ConstructConnect’s extensive database for states and metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) across the United States and Provinces/Territories and census metropolitan areas (CMAs) in Canada. This reflects all stages of preparation prior to construction field-work at the beginning of any given month this year, versus what was calculated at the same time last year. The types of structures included in these calculations are multi-family residential, nonresidential building, and civil/heavy engineering.
An index value less than 1.0 indicates a market potential that is flat or declining, while an index value above 1.0 speaks of market potential that is increasing. An Index value of 2.0 or more indicates the market potential is significantly greater than a year ago.
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