The construction industry has for many years been a male-dominated field, with women making up just 11.5% of the workforce. However, with an ongoing labor shortage, hiring women has become more crucial than ever before. According to a recent report from Construction Coverage, the share of women in construction has increased over the past several years, but still only 1.3 million women are employed in the construction industry, compared with more than 10 million men. In some areas, though, there is a much higher percentage of women in the field.
Alaska and Hawaii lead the nation in female construction employment, with women making up 13.8% and 13.4% of the industry’s workforce, respectively. These states likely benefit from the relatively high wages offered in the construction sector, which can be an attractive factor for women entering the field. States in the Pacific Northwest, such as Washington (12.7%) and Oregon (12.5%), and parts of the South Atlantic, including Florida (13.3%) and Maryland (12.4%), also report female representation above the national average of 11.5%.
Similar trends can be observed at the metropolitan level. Metros like Jacksonville, FL (17.4%), Orlando, FL (16.1%), and New Orleans, LA (14.4%) rank among the top metros for female construction employment. At the opposite end of the spectrum, several locations in Texas, California, and the Northeast report concentrations of women in construction below 9.5%. In McAllen, TX, just 6.7% of construction industry workers are female—the lowest of any major U.S. metropolitan area. Read more