Which States Have Seen the Biggest Declines in Construction Activity?

OxBlue, a job site camera technology company, has used artificial intelligence to estimate how COVID-19 has affected construction activities in each state.

The company used AI to analyze more than 150,000 job site photos from thousands of commercial construction sites across all 50 states. Using this data, OxBlue prepared a report outlining which states have seen most (and least) decline in construction activities.

According to the report, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington have been the most impacted. Only six states (Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, Vermont) have deemed construction nonessential.

Michigan was the most impacted, with an 81 percent decrease in construction activity since construction was labeled non-essential on March 24. Pennsylvania comes in at number two, with a 69 percent drop since construction was declared non-essential March 19.

Other states with traditionally high construction volumes experiencing significant change include Massachusetts (58 percent decline), New York (48 percent decline), Washington (45 percent decline), and Colorado (27 percent decline). Although California’s 14 percent decline in construction activities didn’t top the list, it’s still a notable decline, as well.

Thirty-three states have seen a minimal impact of a 5 percent decline (or less) of construction activities.

“Under normal circumstances, it would be expected to see construction activity increase in spring in some parts of the country, but we see no such increase,” reads the report. “It is possible that this has been offset by the pandemic.”