March 2026 Total Nonresidential Construction Starts — the sum of Nonresidential Building and Civil Construction — were $74.6 billion, up $22.5 billion from February’s revised reading of $52.1 billion.
The latest year-to-date (YTD) results continue to point to widespread geographic growth for the industry with seven of nine divisional areas reporting positive results.
The greatest growth is occurring east of the Mississippi river led by the East North Central, or “rust belt” states, which are seeing 117% greater spending, followed by the Middle Atlantic and South Atlantic divisions which are higher by 43% and 38%, respectively.
ConstructConnect announced that March 2026 Total Nonresidential Construction Starts — the sum of Nonresidential Building and Civil Construction — were $74.6 billion, up $22.5 billion from February’s revised reading of $52.1 billion.
March’s starts marked a considerable rebound from the prior month and nearly matched the 12-month moving average of $72.2 billion.
The latest year-to-date (YTD) results continue to point to widespread geographic growth for the industry with seven of nine divisional areas reporting positive results.
The greatest growth is occurring east of the Mississippi river led by the East North Central, or “rust belt” states, which are seeing 117% greater spending, followed by the Middle Atlantic and South Atlantic divisions which are higher by 43% and 38%, respectively.
The map of Total Nonresidential Construction Starts shows the year-to-date percentage change through March 2026, compared to the same period one-year ago, by US Census Divisions. From The Construction Economy Snapshot, April 2026. Image: ConstructConnect
Looking westward, and excluding the West Coast, conditions are less impressive with the Western Plains and Mountain divisions growing far more tepidly at between 1% and 13%.
Strong Nonresidential Building (NRB) starts powered much of the above mentioned growth, especially along the South Atlantic and East North Central divisions where NRB spending is higher by 60% and 255% respectively.
NRB spending is also providing a disproportionate amount of the industry’s growth along the West Coast where spending is 33% higher.
In contrast, the Mountain, East South Central, and New England divisions reported contracting NRB activity through March. New England reported the greatest contraction at 27%.
Civil starts activity has been more inconsistent in the YTD period with exceptionally strong growth in the Mountain and Middle Atlantic regions, which are presently higher by 42% and 127%, respectively.
Excluding the West South Central division, which is up 8%, all other central divisions from North Dakota through Ohio and south to Alabama are down by between 11% and 8%.
Along the coasts, conditions vary, with the West Coast doing better with 15% growth while the Eastern Seaboard varies between a 10% contraction in New England, strong growth in the Middle Atlantic, and almost no change along the South Atlantic division.
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