Short answer
Louisiana had 8,900 construction establishments with paid employees in 2023, employing 148,741 people with $10.61 billion in annual payroll, according to Census County Business Patterns: 1.09% of the US total and 30th among states. Heavy and civil engineering firms employ 59,988 people, 40.3% of the state's construction workforce. The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors requires a commercial license from $50,000, a residential license from $50,000 and home improvement registration above $7,500.
- 8,900 construction establishments and 148,741 employees in Louisiana in 2023; 30th among states by establishments.
- Establishments average 16.7 employees, against 9.4 nationally, and 14 have 1,000 or more employees, third behind Texas and California.
- Heavy and civil engineering firms employ 40.3% of Louisiana's construction workers, against 13.7% nationally.
- Metro Baton Rouge has 1,810 establishments but 63,452 employees, an average of 35.1.
- Electrical, mechanical and plumbing work on commercial projects needs a state license above $10,000; asbestos and hazardous waste work from $1.
On this page
- Louisiana construction by the numbers
- An industrial construction state
- Size: fourteen very large establishments
- Where: Baton Rouge carries the payroll
- What's being built
- License thresholds in Louisiana
- Vetting a Louisiana contractor
- Prospecting Louisiana's contractors
- Sources for names
- Sources
- Questions people ask
This report is for anyone working with construction companies in Louisiana: plant owners and developers looking for contractors, general contractors finding subcontractors, job seekers comparing employers, and B2B sellers planning a Gulf Coast territory.
Louisiana construction by the numbers
US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, construction sector (NAICS 23), State of Louisiana:
| Measure | Louisiana, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Construction establishments | 8,900 |
| Employees (week of March 12) | 148,741 |
| Annual payroll | $10,611,760,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 16.7 |
| Average annual pay | $71,344 |
| Share of US construction establishments | 1.09% (of 814,557) |
| Rank among states by establishments | 30th |
CBP counts establishments (locations) with paid employees, not companies. Industrial contractors often run several yards and offices, so one company can appear many times, and the count excludes self-employed contractors with no payroll.
An industrial construction state
| Type of work (NAICS) | Establishments | Employees | Average here | Average in US |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy and civil engineering (237) | 783 | 59,988 | 76.6 | 27.2 |
| Utility systems, including pipelines (2371) | 408 | 50,177 | 123.0 | 31.2 |
| Highway, street and bridge (2373) | 182 | 6,213 | 34.1 | 34.0 |
| Industrial building (236210) | 57 | 3,142 | 55.1 | 22.3 |
| Commercial and institutional builders (236220) | 675 | 7,953 | 11.8 | 16.4 |
| Plumbing, heating and air conditioning (238220) | 1,623 | 14,032 | 8.6 | 10.9 |
| Electrical contractors (238210) | 1,046 | 18,512 | 17.7 | 12.2 |
| Residential remodelers (236118) | 990 | 3,604 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
US averages are calculated from the CBP 2023 state files summed across all states; the Census Bureau marks the utility systems employee count as moderate noise (changed by 2% to 5% for confidentiality). The 145 oil and gas pipeline contractors (237120) and 110 power and communication line contractors (237130) have employee totals the Census Bureau flags as high-noise (noise changed them by 5% or more), so they aren't reported here.
Heavy and civil firms are 8.8% of Louisiana's establishments but employ 40.3% of its construction workers; nationally the figure is 13.7%. Building-equipment trades (electrical, plumbing, HVAC and other equipment installation) are 31.3% of establishments, against 24.9% nationally.
Size: fourteen very large establishments
| Employees per establishment | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 5,304 |
| 5 to 9 | 1,571 |
| 10 to 19 | 984 |
| 20 to 49 | 657 |
| 50 to 99 | 216 |
| 100 to 249 | 116 |
| 250 to 499 | 27 |
| 500 to 999 | 11 |
| 1,000 or more | 14 |
7,859 establishments (88.3%) have 1 to 19 employees, 873 (9.8%) have 20 to 99 and 168 (1.9%) have 100 or more. Only Texas (43) and California (22) have more construction establishments with 1,000 or more employees. Given the industry mix above, many of the largest are industrial and pipeline contractors.
Where: Baton Rouge carries the payroll
| Metro area | Establishments | Employees | Average size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baton Rouge | 1,810 | 63,452 | 35.1 |
| New Orleans-Metairie | 1,759 | 22,914 | 13.0 |
| Lafayette | 983 | 11,410 | 11.6 |
| Shreveport-Bossier City | 761 | 7,018 | 9.2 |
| Slidell-Mandeville-Covington | 713 | 8,686 | 12.2 |
| Lake Charles | 496 | 6,056 | 12.2 |
| Monroe | 454 | 4,619 | 10.2 |
| Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux | 373 | 4,918 | 13.2 |
Metro Baton Rouge has 20.3% of the state's establishments and 42.7% of its construction employees. East Baton Rouge Parish alone has 928 establishments employing 47,760 (51.5 each; the Census Bureau marks that employee count as moderate noise), and Ascension Parish, in the industrial corridor along the Mississippi, has 290 employing 9,636. Jefferson Parish has the most establishments of any parish (1,038). St. Tammany Parish is its own metro area (Slidell-Mandeville-Covington) in the current delineations, so it isn't in the New Orleans figure.
What's being built
The Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey shows 14,380 new housing units authorized in Louisiana in 2025, against 14,536 in 2024. Single-family units fell from 12,246 to 11,376, while units in buildings of five or more rose from 1,760 to 2,504.
Housing is a small part of the story here. Louisiana Economic Development's project page says SpaceX is investing $100 billion in a launch facility in Vermilion Parish, with five launch complexes, propellant production and employee housing, and 3,000 direct jobs expected over ten years. Industrial projects like that are the main driver of demand for the state's heavy civil and industrial contractors.
License thresholds in Louisiana
The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC) publishes its thresholds in "Licensing Requirements for Contractors in Louisiana":
| Work | License needed |
|---|---|
| Commercial projects of $50,000 or more | Commercial license; subcontracts of that value need a licensed subcontractor |
| Electrical, mechanical or plumbing work on commercial projects above $10,000 | Commercial license for that classification |
| Asbestos, hazardous waste, lead-based paint and underground storage tanks | Commercial license from one dollar |
| Residential construction or home improvement of $50,000 or more, or any structural work | Residential Building Contractor license |
| Home improvement above $7,500 and up to $50,000 | Home improvement registration or a license |
| Mold remediation of $7,500 or more | Mold remediation license |
Commercial and residential applicants show a net worth of at least $50,000, complete a business and law course and pass a trade exam where applicable; residential applicants also carry at least $100,000 of general liability insurance plus workers' compensation. Commercial purpose means any project except residential buildings of up to four units.
Vetting a Louisiana contractor
- Search the LSLBC database for the company and confirm the license type and classification cover your job and its value.
- For industrial work, ask for the safety record and prequalification your site requires, and check references from similar plant projects.
- Get certificates of insurance and check the limits against the board's minimums and your contract.
- Tie payments to completed work, with lien waivers from the contractor and its main subcontractors.
Prospecting Louisiana's contractors
| Size band | Establishments | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 19 employees | 7,859 | The owner |
| 20 to 99 employees | 873 | Owner with an operations or project manager |
| 100 or more | 168 | Operations, safety, equipment, procurement and site managers |
The 168 large establishments matter more here than almost anywhere: they're the plant and pipeline contractors that buy equipment, safety services, crew transport and staffing in volume, often on a turnaround calendar. Our guide to enterprise account research covers how to map them.
Illustrative example. The company, rates and assumptions are invented; the counts are CBP 2023.
River Parish Scaffold (riverparish.example) rents and erects industrial scaffolding for plant turnarounds. Its targets are the state's 57 industrial building contractors, 182 highway and bridge contractors and the 168 establishments of any type with 100 or more employees; allowing for overlap, it estimates 300 accounts. If 20% book one turnaround a year with an average scaffolding package of $350,000, that's 60 jobs and $21.0 million of work; winning a quarter of them is $5.25 million a year. Knowing which contractor holds which plant's maintenance contract is the slow part; Bebop researches each account and suggests the angle to open with.
Sources for names
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| LSLBC contractor search | Licensed commercial, residential, home improvement and mold remediation contractors |
| LAGC member directory | More than 600 members of the Baton Rouge based AGC chapter, across building and industrial, highway, utility, and federal, heavy and coastal divisions |
| ABC Pelican Chapter directory | Merit-shop contractors in the Baton Rouge based ABC chapter |
| Louisiana Economic Development | Announced economic development projects since 2024 |
| Census Building Permits Survey | Housing permits by state, metro and parish |
No SEC-registered listed construction company has its business address in Louisiana in our data file. For other Louisiana industries, see oil and gas companies in Louisiana and the Baton Rouge construction companies report.
Next step: build the list with the construction companies industry guide.
Sources
- County Business Patterns 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Licensing Requirements for Contractors in Louisiana, Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, June 2025, accessed 30 October 2026
- Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, LSLBC, accessed 30 October 2026
- Building Permits Survey, annual state data for 2025 (st2512y), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- SpaceX in Louisiana, Louisiana Economic Development, undated, accessed 30 October 2026
- Louisiana Associated General Contractors, LAGC, accessed 30 October 2026
- ABC Pelican Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors, Pelican Chapter, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many construction companies are in Louisiana?
The US Census Bureau counted 8,900 construction establishments with paid employees in Louisiana in 2023, employing 148,741 people with $10.61 billion in payroll. That's 1.09% of the US total and 30th among states. Establishments are locations, not companies, and self-employed contractors with no employees aren't counted, so more businesses than this do construction work.
When do you need a contractor license in Louisiana?
The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors requires a commercial license for commercial projects of $50,000 or more, or above $10,000 for electrical, mechanical and plumbing work, and from $1 for asbestos and hazardous materials work. Residential projects of $50,000 or more, or any structural work, need a residential license; home improvement work above $7,500 needs a registration.
Why are Louisiana construction companies so large?
Louisiana's construction establishments averaged 16.7 employees in 2023, against 9.4 nationally, because so much of the work is industrial. Heavy and civil engineering firms employ 59,988 people, 40.3% of the construction workforce, and utility system contractors, including pipeline builders, average 123 employees. Fourteen establishments have 1,000 or more employees, the third most of any state.
Where are the most construction jobs in Louisiana?
In metro Baton Rouge, which had 63,452 construction employees in 2023 across 1,810 establishments, 42.7% of the state's construction jobs. East Baton Rouge Parish alone had 47,760. The New Orleans-Metairie metro had 1,759 establishments but 22,914 employees. Jefferson Parish had the most establishments of any parish, with 1,038.