North Carolina · NAICS 23 · Annual, 2025

Construction in North Carolina

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 23 in North Carolina, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Construction (NAICS 23) employed about 279,000 people in North Carolina across roughly 37,283 establishments, with average annual pay of $77,660.

Employment in Construction in North Carolina grew 21.6% from 2020 to 2025. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 279,000. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for North Carolina are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 279,000Employment, 2025
  • 37,283Establishments
  • $77,660Avg. annual pay
  • 5.7%Share of North Carolina jobs
  • 1.04Location quotient

The 2025 figures above are a DTG estimate: Estimated · 1.00. † Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Construction in North Carolina, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 219,700 to 279,000.0100K200K300K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 219,700; 2005 232,300; 2006 244,900; 2007 254,800; 2008 236,400; 2009 192,500; 2010 176,600; 2011 173,800; 2012 172,100; 2013 173,500; 2014 179,000; 2015 189,400; 2016 200,600; 2017 208,700; 2018 220,700; 2019 231,700; 2020 229,400; 2021 238,400; 2022 247,900; 2023 261,400; 2024 272,100; 2025 279,000.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025279,00537,283$77,664 2.5%est. · 1.00
2024272,14736,187$74,318 4.1%est. · 1.00
2023261,42736,233$70,582 5.5%pub.
2022247,86133,449$66,208 4.0%pub.
2021238,39130,472$61,519 3.9%pub.
2020229,36929,231$59,177 1.0%pub.
2019231,73927,974$56,974 5.0%pub.
2018220,69226,741$54,587 5.8%pub.
2017208,66226,057$52,372 4.0%pub.
2016200,56925,393$50,074 5.9%pub.

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

By subsector, 2025

3-digit NAICS · 3 shown

CodeSubsectorEmploymentShare of constructionLQSource
236Construction of Buildings63,27422.7%1.07pub.
237Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction42,59915.3%0.98est. · 1.00
238Specialty Trade Contractors173,13262.1%1.05pub.

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

Where these numbers come from

Reading these figures

The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.

How this figure was built

Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.

Estimated by Data Tactical Group from BLS QCEW, with CES/SAE and projection inputs described in the methodology. Method: Disclosure, Industry.

Notes

Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.

Construction in North Carolina, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for construction in North Carolina. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.

County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.