Concrete Industry Statistics.
42 statistics on the concrete industry — market size, production volume, employment, sustainability, and record-setting projects. Every number is cited to its original source: USGS, BLS, NRMCA, the Census Bureau, EPA, and other primary data. Free to use with a link back to this page.
Market Size & Growth
Concrete is one of the largest materials markets on Earth. These figures cover the global and US concrete economy — note that market-size estimates vary by research firm, so each is attributed inline.
Estimated global concrete market size in 2024, projected to reach $2.28 trillion by 2030 at a 3.8% CAGR (2025–2030), per Grand View Research.
Source: Grand View Research (2024)
The global ready-mix concrete market was estimated at $1,031.3 billion in 2025, projected to reach $1,965.1 billion by 2033 (8.4% CAGR), per Grand View Research.
Source: Grand View Research (2025)
US concrete contractors industry revenue in 2025, per IBISWorld estimates.
Source: IBISWorld (2025)
The US cement and concrete industry contributes roughly $130 billion to the economy and supports about 577,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Source: American Cement Association (2024)
Annual revenue of the US ready-mixed concrete industry.
Source: NRMCA State of the Industry (2023)
Estimated value of US cement shipments — roughly 100 million tons — in 2025.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025 est.)
Average US mill unit value of cement in 2025 — up from $127 in 2021, a 26% rise in four years.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025 est.)
Production Volume & Scale
The sheer scale of concrete production is hard to overstate: it is the most-used man-made material on the planet, and the second-most-consumed substance overall after water.
Roughly 30 billion tonnes of concrete are used globally each year, making it the most-used man-made material on Earth.
Source: Nature (2021)
About 14 billion cubic meters of concrete are consumed annually, projected to reach roughly 20 billion m³ by 2050 per the industry's own net-zero roadmap.
Source: GCCA Concrete Future 2050 Roadmap (2021)
Roughly three tonnes of concrete are consumed each year for every person on the planet — concrete is the second-most-consumed substance on Earth after water.
Source: MIT Office of Sustainability (2020s)
Total world cement production in 2025 (3.9 billion metric tons in 2024).
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025 est.)
China produced about 1.7 billion metric tons of cement in 2025 — roughly 45% of world output. India is #2 at about 470 million tons.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025 est.)
US portland and blended cement production in 2025 (84 million tons in 2024).
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025 est.)
About half of all human-made mass on Earth is concrete — and in 2020, total anthropogenic mass surpassed all living biomass for the first time in history.
Source: Elhacham et al., Nature (2020)
US Industry Structure
The American concrete industry is enormous but highly fragmented — no single company holds more than 5% of the contractor market.
Approximately 7,500 ready-mix concrete plants operate nationwide.
Source: NRMCA Benchmarking Survey (2024)
Roughly 70,000 ready-mix mixer trucks operate on US roads.
Source: NRMCA Benchmarking Survey (2024)
400 million cubic yards of ready-mixed concrete were delivered in the US in 2023, at an average selling price of about $160 per cubic yard.
Source: NRMCA Benchmarking Survey (2023)
The number of US concrete contractor businesses in 2025, projected at 93,960 for 2026 — a highly fragmented industry with no company holding over 5% market share, per IBISWorld.
Source: IBISWorld (2025–26)
97 cement plants across 34 states and Puerto Rico produced US cement in 2025, down from 99 the prior year.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025)
Texas, Missouri, California, and Florida together produce about 44% of US cement. Texas, Florida, and California are also the top consuming states.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025)
70–75% of all US cement is sold to ready-mixed concrete producers; only ~8–10% goes directly to contractors.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025 est.)
About 23 million tons of cement were imported in 2025 — led by Turkey (32%), Canada (20%), and Vietnam (13%) over 2021–24.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025 est.)
Total US construction spending reached $2,194.8 billion in 2024, with 2025 running at a $2.1–2.2 trillion seasonally adjusted annual rate.
Source: US Census Bureau (2024–25)
Employment & Wages
Concrete work employs hundreds of thousands of Americans, from finishers on residential crews to plant operators at ready-mix facilities.
US employment of cement masons and concrete finishers in 2024.
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (2024)
Median annual wage for cement masons and concrete finishers as of May 2024; the top 25% earned $65,840 or more.
Source: BLS OEWS (47-2051) (May 2024)
Cement mason and concrete finisher employment is projected to grow from 206,700 to 210,400 jobs between 2024 and 2034.
Source: BLS Employment Projections / O*NET (2024–34)
Total employment across US concrete contractor businesses in 2026, per IBISWorld.
Source: IBISWorld (2026)
People employed in US ready-mixed concrete manufacturing in 2025, per IBISWorld.
Source: IBISWorld (2025)
Direct employment at US cement mines and mills.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025 est.)
Median annual wage for the broader masonry workers category as of May 2024, with about 20,700 job openings projected per year this decade.
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2024)
Sustainability & CO2
Cement's carbon footprint is one of the biggest decarbonization challenges in heavy industry — and the shift to lower-carbon blended cements is happening fast.
Cement production accounts for roughly 8% of global CO2 emissions, with over 4 billion tonnes of cement produced each year.
Source: Chatham House (2018)
Cement CO2 emissions more than doubled from 700 million tonnes in 2000 to 1.6 billion tonnes in 2022 — if the cement industry were a country, it would be the world's third-largest emitter.
Source: World Economic Forum (2022)
40 of the world's leading cement and concrete producers — about 80% of the industry outside China — committed to net-zero concrete by 2050, with a 25% CO2 cut by 2030.
Source: Global Cement and Concrete Association (2021)
Roughly 140 million tons of concrete are recycled in the US each year into aggregate and roadbase.
Source: EPA WARM model (EPA archive)
The US generated 600 million tons of construction and demolition debris in 2018 — more than double municipal solid waste — with concrete and asphalt concrete making up ~85% of it.
Source: US EPA (2018)
63% of US cement shipments were blended (lower-carbon) cement in 2025 — and about 95% of that was portland-limestone cement (Type IL), a rapid decarbonization shift.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (2025)
Engineering Records & History
From the Pantheon to the Burj Khalifa, concrete's history is written in record-setting numbers.
The Hoover Dam and its powerplant contain 4.36 million cubic yards of concrete (3.25 million in the dam alone) — enough to pave a 16-foot-wide highway from San Francisco to New York. Engineers embedded 582 miles of pipe circulating ice water to cool the pour.
Source: US Bureau of Reclamation (1935)
China's Three Gorges Dam used about 28 million cubic meters (~37 million cubic yards) of concrete — the largest concrete structure ever built, roughly 8x the Hoover Dam.
Source: Britannica (2006)
Rome's Pantheon, built around 126 A.D., is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome at 142 feet in diameter — tapering from 20 feet thick at the base to 7.5 feet at the oculus.
Source: Monolithic Dome Institute (126 A.D.)
The world record for vertically pumped concrete — 606 meters — was set at the Burj Khalifa in 2008. The tower used over 165,000 m³ of high-strength concrete.
Source: Putzmeister / Pumps & Systems (2008)
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate Highway System spans over 46,000 miles, with a final cost estimate of $128.9 billion — versus the original 1955 estimate of $27 billion.
Source: FHWA Highway History (1991 est.)
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https://www.localconcretecontractor.com/concrete-statisticsThis page is maintained by Local Concrete Contractor and reviewed against the latest USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, BLS occupational data, and NRMCA industry surveys. Spot a stat that needs updating? Let us know.