Total construction spending in the United States was down 3,2% in June compared with the same month a year earlier, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released on Monday and cited by Construction Dive. Spending for the month was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2,167 billion dollars, essentially flat from May. Private nonresidential construction spending rose 0,1% month to month but fell 4,7% year over year, according to analysis from Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). Spending declined in eight of the 16 categories that ABC tracks.
Data centers remain the main exception to an otherwise softening market. ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said private nonresidential construction spending, excluding data centers, fell 0,6% in June 2026 and is down 7,9% year over year. Basu noted that despite the ongoing data center construction boom, private nonresidential construction spending has declined to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 745,3 billion dollars since its April 2025 peak, a drop exceeding 7%. He added that the 13% of ABC members with data center contracts on their books have 11 months of backlog, two and a half months more than the 87% of members without such contracts.
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) pointed to broader signs of strain. "We're beginning to see weakness spread across much of the construction market," said Macrina Wilkins, the association's director of market insights. She warned that "the largest public category, highway construction, is at risk of a sharp decrease if Congress fails to renew federal funding before the current law expires at the end of next month." Manufacturing construction spending has dropped 22% over the past 12 months, while commercial construction fell 5,3%, healthcare declined 4,6% and educational construction decreased 4,3% from a year earlier, per AGC's analysis of the same Census Bureau report.
Public construction spending held flat from May but stood 1,7% higher than a year earlier, with highway and street construction down 0,1% for the month yet up 3,1% year over year, according to AGC. Private residential construction fell 0,3% from May and 4,7% year over year, with single-family construction down 3,3% and multifamily construction down 1,5% from June 2025.