EL7.AI
Macro EconomyMedium•2 November 2026•
3 min read

U.S. Construction Spending Falls 1.9% in September to $2,186,145 Million

Key Facts

1Construction spending in September was $2,186,145 million, down 1.9% month over month and 2.7% year over year.
2Residential spending fell 5.4% month over month and 8.8% year over year, while nonresidential spending rose 0.6% and 1.8%, respectively.
3Private spending fell 2.4% month over month and 3.8% year over year; public spending declined 0.1% month over month and rose 1.0% year over year.
4Data center spending was $96,462 million at an annual rate, up 90.3% from September 2025.

U.S. construction spending fell in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,186,145 million, down 1.9% from August, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The year-over-year comparison showed a 2.7% decline from September 2025. The figures came in the September report, which was scheduled for release on November 2 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time, according to the bureau’s schedule. The report’s details show a divergence among spending components: the monthly decline came from the residential sector, while nonresidential spending increased. Private and public spending also declined month over month, though their year-over-year trends differed.

The August spending estimate was revised to $2,227,374 million, the level against which September’s figure is compared, according to bureau data. In the previous release, total spending in August was $2,203.1 billion, up 0.9% month over month from the revised July estimate of $2,184.5 billion. But the prior August estimate was 1.7% below its level a year earlier, when it stood at $2,242.0 billion. Across the first eight months of 2026, spending reached $1,450.4 billion, down 3.1% from $1,496.6 billion in the same period of 2025. That puts September’s decline within a period when cumulative spending was below its year-earlier level, despite the monthly increase recorded in August.

The decline was concentrated in residential construction, where spending fell 5.4% from August and 8.8% from September 2025. By contrast, nonresidential spending rose 0.6% month over month and 1.8% year over year, according to Census Bureau tables. Private-sector spending fell 2.4% during the month and 3.8% from a year earlier. Public spending declined 0.1% month over month but remained 1.0% above its September 2025 level. These comparisons show that the monthly decline covered both private and public spending, while the year-over-year readings for nonresidential and public spending remained positive.

Trends in private nonresidential spending varied by type: office spending rose 39.5% year over year, while manufacturing spending fell 17.9%. Data center construction spending reached $96,462 million at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in September, up 90.3% from the same month in 2025. Data centers are included in private office construction in the bureau’s table, and recorded an annual increase alongside a decline in manufacturing spending. Among the economic releases listed for the following day was the September Job Openings and Labor Turnover report, scheduled for November 3, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The Census Bureau also listed the full September report on shipments, inventories and orders for November 3 at 10:00 a.m., a separate release from the construction spending data.