Cities That Rely the Most on Foreign Construction Workers

Federal immigration enforcement has escalated over the last several months, weakening the labor pool for industries that heavily rely on workers born outside of the U.S. The construction sector is one of these industries, with immigrants making up 26% of the construction workforce nationwide. However, according to a recent report from Construction Coverage, that share extends to more than half of the workforce in cities with large immigrant populations.

Foreign-born workers make up the largest share of the construction workforce in states found on the West Coast, Southwest, and Northeast. In California, for instance, there are 521,249 construction workers who were born outside of the U.S., which accounts for 41.5% of the state’s total construction workforce. Texas follows closely behind with 491,132 immigrant workers, or 40.2% of the state’s construction workforce.

Meanwhile, Mountain West and New England states have much smaller shares of construction workers who were born outside the U.S. In Montana, Maine, and Vermont, less than 3.5% of construction industry employees are immigrants.

These statewide trends are even more pronounced at the metro level. In several large urban areas, foreign-born workers make up more than half of all construction industry employment. The share is highest in Miami (66.2%), followed by Los Angeles (53.7%), Washington, D.C. (51.7%), and Houston (51.4%). Other major metros with high immigrant concentrations include New York (48.9%), San Francisco (47.0%), and San Jose (47.0%). These patterns reflect the geographic clustering of immigrant populations, the scale of urban construction activity, and the deep integration of foreign-born labor into local building trades.