Foreign-born workers now constitute a record 26.3% of the U.S. construction labor force as of 2024, with their presence surging to 1 in 3 workers when looking at construction craft workers.

According to new data published Monday by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the industry’s reliance on immigrant labor is heavily concentrated in specific trades and geographies. The report, authored by Natalia Siniavskaia, assistant vice president for housing policy research at NAHB, highlights how this demographic shift serves as a crucial buffer against the industry’s severe labor deficits.

Based on the government’s occupational classification system cited in the report, the broader construction industry consists of about 390 occupations. However, just 28 of these are considered “construction trades.” Despite this narrower classification, these craft workers account for approximately 60% of the total construction labor force.

Within these essential home building trades, reliance on foreign-born labor is quite pronounced. Immigrants now make up more than half of the workforce in several key areas, including drywall and ceiling tile installers (57%), plasterers and stucco masons (56%), roofers (53%), and carpet, floor and tile installers (51%), according to the NAHB report.

Additionally, 43% of construction laborers and 35% of carpenters — the two most prevalent construction occupations, accounting for a quarter of the industry’s workforce — are foreign-born. 

More than half (52%) of the nation’s 3 million immigrant construction workers reside in just four states: California, Texas, Florida and New York. California and Texas each employ over half a million foreign-born construction workers. In California, immigrants comprise 42% of the construction workforce, followed closely by Florida (41%), Texas (39%) and New York (37%).

However, the data shows that heavy reliance on foreign-born labor is expanding beyond these traditional gateway states. Nevada recorded the fourth-highest share of immigrant construction workers in 2024 at 38%, with New Jersey and Maryland following closely behind at 37%.

Conversely, several states, including New Hampshire, Montana, Alaska, West Virginia and Vermont, maintain immigrant construction workforce shares below 5%.

The NAHB report is one of the latest explorations of an ongoing trend. The U.S. housing and remodeling sectors have been contending with widespread labor deficits for more than a year and new construction spending has decreased.

As Scotsman Guide reported in June, the construction industry is losing approximately $10.8 billion per year due to a lack of skilled workers, according to a NAHB study jointly conducted with the University of Denver and the Home Builders Institute.