Short answer
Texas had 56,287 construction establishments with paid employees in 2023, employing 791,588 people with $59.7 billion in annual payroll, according to the US Census Bureau's County Business Patterns. That's 6.91% of the US total and third among states, behind California and Florida. Most are small: 49,351 have fewer than 20 employees. The largest publicly traded construction companies headquartered in Texas include D.R. Horton, Quanta Services and Fluor.
- 56,287 construction establishments and 791,588 employees in Texas in 2023; third by establishments, second by employment.
- 1,225 establishments have 100 or more employees, and 43 have 1,000 or more.
- Four metros (Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio) hold 68% of establishments and 74% of construction jobs.
- Texas licenses trades such as electrical, air conditioning and plumbing, but not general contractors; cities set their own registration rules.
- Nine public construction and engineering companies headquartered in Texas reported more than $3 billion each in their latest annual reports, led by D.R. Horton and Quanta Services.
On this page
This report is for anyone sizing up construction firms in Texas: owners and developers looking for a contractor, companies looking for partners or acquisitions, and B2B sellers planning a Texas territory. It covers the statewide count, the largest firms that publish their numbers, the licensing patchwork and the public sources for names.
Texas construction by the numbers
From the US Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (CBP) for 2023, construction sector (NAICS 23), State of Texas:
| Measure | Texas, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Construction establishments | 56,287 |
| Employees | 791,588 |
| Annual payroll | $59,748,235,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 14.1 |
| Average annual pay | $75,479 |
| Share of US construction establishments | 6.91% (of 814,557) |
| Rank among states by establishments | 3rd |
How Texas compares with the other large states, from the same CBP state file:
| State | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| California | 86,763 | 870,789 |
| Florida | 68,008 | 561,420 |
| Texas | 56,287 | 791,588 |
| New York | 51,349 | 371,275 |
Florida has 11,721 more construction establishments than Texas, but Texas has 230,168 more construction employees.
Firm size
| Employees | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 34,136 |
| 5 to 9 | 9,348 |
| 10 to 19 | 5,867 |
| 20 to 49 | 4,090 |
| 50 to 99 | 1,621 |
| 100 to 249 | 851 |
| 250 to 499 | 239 |
| 500 to 999 | 92 |
| 1,000 or more | 43 |
That's 49,351 establishments with 1 to 19 employees (87.7%), 5,711 with 20 to 99 (10.1%) and 1,225 with 100 or more (2.2%).
Types of contractor
| Type of work (NAICS) | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Specialty trade contractors (238) | 35,485 | 479,699 |
| Including building equipment: electrical, plumbing, HVAC (2382) | 15,820 | 223,843 |
| Construction of buildings (236) | 16,334 | 133,451 |
| Including residential building (2361) | 12,354 | 67,347 |
| Including nonresidential building (2362) | 3,980 | 66,104 |
| Heavy and civil engineering (237) | 4,468 | 178,438 |
| Including utility system construction (2371) | 2,621 | 126,977 |
| Including highway, street and bridge (2373) | 806 | 38,778 |
Utility system contractors, the firms that build pipelines, power lines and water systems, average 48 employees each and employ almost as many people as every residential and nonresidential builder in the state combined.
Where they are
| Metro area | Establishments | Employees | Average pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | 15,353 | 218,866 | $80,414 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | 12,022 | 223,170 | $79,129 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos | 6,153 | 77,222 | $78,236 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels | 4,789 | 70,423 | $73,476 |
| El Paso | 1,244 | 11,911 | $52,239 |
| Lubbock | 924 | 8,178 | $61,113 |
| Corpus Christi | 818 | 16,222 | $75,434 |
Houston has fewer establishments than Dallas-Fort Worth but more construction employees, with an average of 18.6 per establishment against 14.3. Local reports cover Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and Lubbock.
What CBP counts: establishments (locations) with paid employees, not companies; a contractor with five Texas offices counts five times. It excludes self-employed people with no payroll, and it covers sector 23 only, not engineering firms or suppliers. Employment is for the pay period including March 12. The Census Bureau withholds figures that could identify one employer; none of the statewide figures here are withheld.
The largest construction companies in Texas
Private contractors don't publish revenue, so the only company-level figures you can check come from public companies' annual reports filed with the SEC. These are the publicly traded construction and engineering companies headquartered in Texas with more than $3 billion in revenue in their latest Form 10-K:
| Company | Headquarters | Main business | Revenue, latest fiscal year |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.R. Horton | Arlington | Homebuilding | $34.25 billion (year to 30 Sept 2025) |
| Quanta Services | Houston | Electric power and utility infrastructure contracting | $28.48 billion (2025) |
| AECOM | Dallas | Infrastructure design, consulting and construction management | $16.14 billion (year to 30 Sept 2025) |
| Fluor | Irving | Engineering, procurement and construction | $15.50 billion (2025) |
| Jacobs Solutions | Dallas | Engineering, consulting and project delivery | $12.03 billion (year to 26 Sept 2025) |
| Comfort Systems USA | Houston | Mechanical and electrical contracting | $9.10 billion (2025) |
| KBR | Houston | Engineering, technology and government services | $7.79 billion (year to 2 Jan 2026) |
| Primoris Services | Dallas | Utility and energy infrastructure contracting | $7.57 billion (2025) |
| IES Holdings | Houston | Electrical and infrastructure contracting | $3.37 billion (year to 30 Sept 2025) |
These are company-wide figures, and most of the revenue is earned outside Texas. AECOM, Jacobs and KBR earn much of theirs from design, consulting and government services rather than building. The list also leaves out large private Texas contractors, which trade-press rankings and local business journals cover. Headquarters and revenue are from each company's SEC filings.
What Texas licenses, and what it leaves to cities
| Who | Regulator |
|---|---|
| General contractors and homebuilders | No state license. In the City of Austin's words, "anyone can be a General Contractor" in Texas |
| Electricians, air conditioning and refrigeration contractors, elevator, boiler and water well contractors | Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) |
| Plumbers | Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE) |
| Highway and bridge contractors bidding TxDOT work | TxDOT prequalification, renewed annually |
Cities fill the gap differently. Austin registers all general and trade contractors before they can be assigned to a permit. San Antonio registers residential builders and remodelers but has "no license or registration requirements for commercial general contractors." El Paso requires an annual registration with insurance and a construction bond, and Lubbock requires registration with $100,000 of liability insurance or a $20,000 compliance bond. Check the rule in each city where you work.
Statewide sources for names
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| TDLR license search | Licensed electrical and air conditioning contractors |
| TSBPE | Licensed plumbers and responsible master plumbers |
| TxDOT prequalified contractor list | Firms qualified to bid state highway work |
| CMBL and VetHUB vendor search | Vendors registered to bid on state contracts, searchable by commodity code |
| TDLR TABS | Building projects of $50,000 or more, with owner and design firm |
| Comptroller franchise tax search | Whether a company is in good standing |
| AGC of Texas and ABC Texas | Highway and heavy contractors; merit-shop commercial contractors through eight chapters |
| Texas Association of Builders | Homebuilders and remodelers through local associations |
A statewide prospecting plan
- Split the state by metro and segment. The seven metros in the table above hold most of the market; treat rural Texas as its own territory.
- Choose the segment that fits your offer. Heavy civil and utility contractors (few, large, visible through TxDOT and AGC), commercial builders (TABS and association directories) or trades (TDLR and TSBPE lookups).
- Match people to company size. Owners decide at the 49,351 establishments under 20 employees. At the 1,225 with 100 or more, go to preconstruction, procurement, equipment or safety leaders. Our guide to finding decision makers shows how.
- Research before you write. A TxDOT letting, a new permit or a new office is a better opener than a generic pitch. At statewide volume, this research is the slow part; Bebop does it for each account in the list.
Worked example: sizing a Texas territory
Illustrative example. The company and the assumptions are invented; the establishment counts are from CBP.
Bluebonnet Estimating (bluebonnet.example) sells estimating software to commercial contractors with 20 to 99 employees. Statewide there are 5,711 establishments in that band. Assuming a third do commercial building or specialty work that bids from drawings, that's about 1,900 accounts. If DFW and Houston hold roughly half of the state's mid-sized contractors, two reps can each cover about 475 accounts there, and a third rep covers Austin, San Antonio and the rest of the state. At 40 new accounts touched per rep per week, the first pass through the territory takes about 12 weeks.
For more on building the list itself, see the construction companies industry guide.
Next step: go local with the Houston construction companies market report, the state's largest construction workforce.
Sources
- County Business Patterns 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 26 October 2026
- County Business Patterns Methodology, US Census Bureau, accessed 26 October 2026
- D.R. Horton, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 19 November 2025
- Quanta Services, Inc. Form 10-K for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 19 February 2026
- Fluor Corporation Form 10-K for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 17 February 2026
- Comfort Systems USA, Inc. Form 10-K for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 19 February 2026
- Primoris Services Corporation Form 10-K for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 24 February 2026
- AECOM Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 19 November 2025
- Jacobs Solutions Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 26, 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 20 November 2025
- KBR, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2026, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 26 February 2026
- IES Holdings, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 21 November 2025
- Contractor Registration, City of Austin Development Services Department, accessed 26 October 2026
- Building & Home Improvement contractor licensing, City of San Antonio Development Services Department, accessed 26 October 2026
- Contractor prequalification, Texas Department of Transportation, accessed 26 October 2026
- Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation programs, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, accessed 26 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Last updated .
Questions people ask
How many construction companies are there in Texas?
The US Census Bureau counted 56,287 construction establishments with paid employees in Texas in 2023, employing 791,588 people. That's 6.91% of the US total and the third-highest count among states, after California and Florida, though Texas ranks second for construction employment. Establishments are locations rather than companies, and self-employed contractors with no employees aren't included.
What are the largest construction companies in Texas?
Among public companies headquartered in Texas, the largest construction businesses by revenue in their latest annual reports were D.R. Horton of Arlington ($34.25 billion), Quanta Services of Houston ($28.48 billion), Fluor of Irving ($15.50 billion) and Comfort Systems USA of Houston ($9.10 billion). Engineering groups AECOM and Jacobs, both in Dallas, also report more than $12 billion. Large private contractors don't publish revenue.
Do you need a license to be a general contractor in Texas?
No. Texas has no state license for general contractors or homebuilders. Trades are licensed: electricians and air conditioning contractors by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, plumbers by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. Many cities, including Austin, El Paso and Lubbock, require general contractors to register locally before pulling permits.
Which Texas city has the most construction companies?
By metro area, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington had the most construction establishments in 2023 with 15,353, followed by Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands with 12,022. Houston had slightly more construction employees, 223,170 against 218,866, because its establishments are larger on average. Austin (6,153) and San Antonio (4,789) follow. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston together hold nearly half of the state's construction establishments.
How do I find construction companies that bid on Texas state work?
Use TxDOT's prequalified contractor list for highway and bridge work, and the Texas Comptroller's CMBL and VetHUB vendor search for firms registered to bid on state agency contracts. TDLR's TABS registry shows building projects of $50,000 or more with their owners and design firms, which helps you see public projects before they're built.