Engineering firms in NYC: 805 offices, the borough split and the rules that drive the work

This report is for building owners, developers, contractors and agencies hiring an engineering firm in New York City, engineers comparing employers, and B2B sellers whose customers are design firms. It gives the Census count by borough, what the state's license data adds, the entity rules a New York firm must follow, the city laws that generate demand, and a prospecting example.

The count by borough

County Business Patterns 2023 reports NAICS 541330 (Engineering Services) for each of the five counties that make up New York City:

Average pay is our calculation from CBP payroll. The Census Bureau published Staten Island's employment and payroll but flagged them as high-noise (the noise it adds for confidentiality changed them by 5% or more), so we leave them out, and the city total with them. The four boroughs with reported figures employ 18,530 people. NYC's 805 offices are 1.27% of the 63,233 in the US.

Citywide, 439 offices have 1 to 4 employees and 99 have 10 to 19; the Census Bureau doesn't publish the other size classes for the five counties combined. Manhattan's own figures show where the large firms sit:

The Census Bureau doesn't publish Manhattan's 1,000-or-more cell; the 1 shown is the total less the published cells. Outside Manhattan, engineering offices are small: Brooklyn's 129 average 4.3 employees. These are establishments with paid employees, so a firm with offices in Manhattan and Queens counts twice, and the count leaves out engineers working alone. The SEC lists no engineering services company (SIC 8711) headquartered in the city; the large Manhattan offices belong to private firms or to public companies based elsewhere.

Where the engineers live

The New York State Education Department publishes the number of licensed professional engineers by the county of their mailing address. As of 1 July 2026:

New York State as a whole has 16,273 licensees with in-state addresses and 19,501 elsewhere in the US, out of 35,949, so more than half of New York's licensed PEs live out of state. The state issued 1,985 new PE licenses in 2025. Queens has the most licensed engineers but fewer than half as many engineering offices as Manhattan: the workforce commutes in. Registration doesn't mean a licensee is practicing, the department notes.

The rules a New York engineering firm must follow

New York restricts who can offer engineering. Under section 7210 of the Education Law, every professional practice entity providing engineering in the state must hold a certificate of authorization from the State Education Department, and it can't get one until the entity itself is registered with the department. The permitted entities are:

For a buyer, this gives a quick check: a New York engineering firm should be able to show its entity registration and certificate of authorization, and the engineer of record's license, all verifiable in the state's verification search. A general business corporation "offering engineering" without that standing is a red flag.

The city laws that create the work

Local Law 97, the city's building emissions law, applies emissions limits to most buildings over 25,000 square feet from 2024, with stricter limits from 2030, aiming to cut emissions from the city's largest buildings 40% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Owners must file an annual emissions report by May 1, and the report must be certified by a registered design professional. That puts mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineers and energy consultants in a recurring, deadline-driven role every spring, on top of retrofit design.

How to choose an engineering firm in NYC

1. Define the work by discipline. Structural, MEP, geotechnical and facade work usually need different firms, and the scope should say which filings the firm will prepare.
2. Verify the entity and the engineer in the state's verification search, and ask for the certificate of authorization.
3. Ask for comparable buildings in the same borough, with the filing and approval history.
4. For LL97 work, ask how many annual reports the firm certified last cycle and who signs them.
5. Compare exclusions, especially construction-phase visits and DOB objections, before comparing fees.

Selling to NYC engineering firms

Illustrative example. The company, rates and results are fictional, to show the method.

Hudson Drafting Partners (hudsondrafting.example) supplies BIM modelers and drafters on contract to engineering firms that are short-staffed at deadline.

• Manhattan offices with 10 to 49 employees: 64 + 48 = 112.
• It adds Queens offices with 10 to 49: 12 + 9 = 21, for 133 in all.
• It assumes a third do MEP or energy work with spring LL97 peaks: about 44 firms.
• If ten each buy 1,000 contract hours a year at a $35 gross margin an hour, that's $350,000.

It contacts the principal or the operations manager at each firm, and times outreach to February and March, before the May 1 reporting deadline. Sorting the 133 offices by discipline, and finding who decides on outside production help, is the research Bebop does for each account.

Subject: Production help before May 1

Hi [first name],

Most MEP firms we work with in Manhattan hit the same wall every spring: LL97 reports and retrofit drawings land at once, and your engineers end up drafting.

We supply experienced Revit modelers who work to your standards, remotely or in your office, by the week. Would two profiles and our rates for March be useful?

[Your name], Hudson Drafting Partners

Next step: for the city's wider business base, read companies in New York City.