The "home services" industry — the contractors, trades, and crews that build, repair, maintain, and improve where we live — is one of the largest and most fragmented sectors of the U.S. economy. But how large depends entirely on how you draw the lines. This report pins down what's actually verifiable, separates authoritative data from marketing-firm guesswork, and shows where the industry is heading.
Every figure below is cited to a primary source, and you can download the full dataset to check the math yourself.
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The honest headline: U.S. homeowners spend roughly $509 billion a year improving and repairing owner-occupied homes (Harvard JCHS), and total home improvement-and-maintenance spending tops $600 billion when rentals are included. Beyond that, "home services market size" estimates from commercial research firms vary so widely ($90B to $870B+) that no single number is trustworthy — so we anchor on the primary data and flag the rest as estimates.
The headline numbers
$509Bannual U.S. home improvement & repair spending (owner-occupied)
$600Btotal annual home improvement + maintenance spend (incl. rentals)
500000skilled construction workers the industry is short
1.6MU.S. construction-laborer jobs (2024)
How big is the market, really?
The most authoritative figure comes from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS), whose Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) pegs owner-occupied home improvement and repair spending at about $509 billion in 2025, rising to a record $524 billion in early 2026. Including rental properties, JCHS's Remodeling Futures Program reports the U.S. spends over $600 billion annually on home improvement and maintenance.
Commercial market-research firms publish much larger — and wildly inconsistent — "home services market" numbers, because each defines the category differently (some include cleaning, lawn care, pest control, and on-demand apps; others don't).
U.S. home services market size — estimates vary by definition
Why you should anchor on primary data, not a single headline number
Source: Harvard JCHS (LIRA); commercial estimates from Mordor Intelligence and MarketResearch.com, 2025
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Read market-size reports with skepticism. When four "U.S. home services" estimates span $543B to $870B+ for the same year, the differences are definitional, not factual. We treat the JCHS spending figures as the reliable anchor and label everything else as an estimate.
A fragmented, aging-housing-driven industry
The home services industry is defined by fragmentation — millions of small operators rather than a few giants. IBISWorld estimates the U.S. handyman services industry alone at roughly $365 billion in 2026, and counts 50,979 building-finishing-contractor businesses generating about $23 billion in 2025.
Demand is structurally supported by an aging housing stock: a large share of U.S. homes are decades old, and older homes need more plumbing, electrical, roofing, and structural work. That steady replacement-and-repair demand is what makes home services relatively recession-resistant compared with new construction.
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The workforce behind the industry
Home services runs on skilled labor — and that labor is in short supply. The Associated Builders and Contractors estimates the construction industry is short roughly 500,000 skilled workers and needs to attract 439,000 new workers in 2025 alone. Meanwhile the trades themselves employ millions and pay solidly.
Skilled-trade wages & projected growth (2024–2034)
Median annual wage by trade; bar = wage, growth noted in label
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2024 wages)
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2024):
Electricians earn a median $62,350, with employment projected to grow 9% through 2034 and about 81,000 openings per year.
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters earn a median $62,970, projected to grow 4%, with about 44,000 openings per year.
HVAC mechanics and installers earn a median $59,810, projected to grow 8%, with roughly 40,100 openings per year.
Construction laborers and helpers held about 1.6 million jobs in 2024.
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Why the labor gap matters for trust: When qualified pros are scarce, unlicensed and unqualified operators rush to fill demand — which is exactly why homeowners increasingly look for
verified professionals. (See our
Homeowner Decision Guide for the data on how homeowners vet pros.)
What it means for contractors and homeowners
For contractors: a $500B+ market with a structural labor shortage means demand outstrips qualified supply — the durable advantage goes to pros who can prove trust and quality, not just show up.
For homeowners: a fragmented market with millions of operators makes verification essential; the spread in quality is enormous.
For the industry: aging housing stock + steady repair demand make home services resilient, while technology and verification are reshaping how the work is found and won.
Explore the data trade-by-trade in our Statistics Hubs, or see what homeowners are spending in the Home Renovation Cost Statistics report.
Stand out in a $500B, trust-starved market
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Get Started Free →Frequently asked questions
How big is the U.S. home services industry?
The most authoritative figure is Harvard JCHS's estimate of about $509 billion in annual owner-occupied home improvement and repair spending in 2025, rising to a record $524 billion in early 2026. Including rentals, total home improvement and maintenance spending exceeds $600 billion. Broader "home services market" estimates from commercial research firms range from roughly $90 billion to $870+ billion depending on definition, so they should be treated as estimates rather than facts.
Why do home services market-size estimates vary so much?
Because firms define the category differently — some include cleaning, lawn care, pest control, and on-demand app services; others count only construction-style trades; some measure revenue, others spending. When estimates for the same year span hundreds of billions of dollars, the difference is definitional. That's why we anchor on Harvard JCHS spending data.
How many people work in the home services trades?
The trades employ millions. Per the BLS (2024), construction laborers and helpers alone held about 1.6 million jobs, alongside hundreds of thousands of electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians. The Associated Builders and Contractors estimates the industry is still short about 500,000 skilled workers.
What do skilled trades pay?
Per BLS May 2024 data, median annual wages were about $62,970 for plumbers/pipefitters, $62,350 for electricians, and $59,810 for HVAC mechanics — all projected to grow (4–9%) through 2034.
Is the home services industry growing?
Yes, steadily. JCHS projects home improvement and repair spending to keep rising into 2026 to a record $524 billion, supported by aging housing stock, rising home values, and a solid labor market — though growth is modest rather than explosive.
Methodology & sources
Spending figures are from Harvard JCHS's Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) and Remodeling Futures Program. Workforce and wage figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2024 wage data). Business-count and industry-revenue figures are from IBISWorld. Labor-shortage figures are from the Associated Builders and Contractors. Commercial market-size estimates are attributed to the specific firms that published them and are presented as estimates, not verified facts.
Download the data
Every figure above is available as a structured spreadsheet, with each row carrying its primary source.
⬇ Download the underlying data (.xlsx)
Changelog
First published — June 2026
Initial release with 25+ verified statistics on market size, spending, workforce, and wages. Data vintage: JCHS 2025 LIRA, BLS May 2024.
Next scheduled update — 2027
Annual refresh planned for the 2026 JCHS, BLS, IBISWorld, and ABC reporting cycles.
