The construction industry in the U.S. has no shortage of demand these days.
The intense real estate market of the last two-plus years highlighted the shortage of housing stock in the United States. Construction companies have been trying to catch up: earlier in 2022, housing starts reached their highest levels in more than 15 years. Meanwhile, funds from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed in 2021 are now working their way to contractors and construction businesses. While increased costs for labor and materials, rising interest rates, and recession fears are causing concern in the industry, the long-term outlook for the field is promising.
These recent trends could continue an upward trajectory for construction spending in the U.S. The construction industry faced lean years after the Great Recession, but has grown steadily since. Annual spending in the sector fell by more than a third from a peak of $1.21 trillion in 2006 to $758 billion in 2011. But over the ensuing decade, spending more than doubled. As of June 2022, construction spending in the U.S. totaled $1.76 trillion per year.
But with high demand in the field, construction companies have struggled to find enough labor to meet their needs. Associated Builders and Contractors, an industry trade association, estimates that the field will face a total shortage of 650,000 workers in 2022. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 334,000 openings for construction jobs as of June.
And in the search for construction labor, the industry is increasingly drawing on a segment of the population that has historically been underrepresented in the field: women.
Women still represent a significant minority of the field’s workforce, but the ranks of women construction workers have grown in recent decades. In the 1960s, only around 6% of construction workers were women. This figure had doubled by the early 1990s, and after remaining flat for much of the 1990s and 2000s, the share of women in construction-specific occupations has been trending upward again in the years since the Great Recession. Today, more than 14% of construction workers are women.
However, women’s presence in the field of construction varies by specific occupation. Nearly one in 10 painters and paperhangers are women, and women also represent 7.4% of solar and photovoltaic installers—one of the fastest-growing occupations in the U.S. But in some other construction roles like cement masons, boilermakers, and brickmasons, women still represent less than 1% of the workforce.
One reason why women have become a larger part of the construction workforce is compensation. The median wage for women construction workers exceeds the median wage for all women in 43 states. And some locations are especially favorable for women construction workers, including 11 states where the cost-of-living-adjusted median wage tops $50,000 for women in the field.
To find the best-paying states for women in construction, researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Researchers at Construction Coverage ranked states according to the median annual wage for women in the construction industry, adjusted for cost of living. Researchers also calculated the median annual wage for women in all occupations and the share of construction industry employment accounted for by women.
The analysis found that women represent 11.5% of the construction industry in Colorado, and earn an adjusted median annual wage of $47,973. Here is a summary of the data for Colorado:
- Median annual wage for women in the construction industry (adjusted): $47,973
- Median annual wage for women in the construction industry (actual): $49,348
- Median annual wage for women in all occupations (actual): $48,348
- Female share of total construction industry employment: 11.5%
For reference, here are the statistics for the entire United States:
- Median annual wage for women in the construction industry (adjusted): N/A
- Median annual wage for women in the construction industry (actual): $46,773
- Median annual wage for women in all occupations (actual): $44,344
- Female share of total construction industry employment: 10.2%
For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Construction Coverage’s website: https://constructioncoverage.com/research/best-paying-states-for-women-in-construction-2022
