Architectural Services

The 21,294 Architectural services firms in the US are responsible for designing places for people to live, work, worship, learn and play. 83% of firms have nine or fewer employees. Most firms gain a significant portion of their revenue (about 81% on average) from non-residential services.

Technology Levels the Playing Field

Building Information Modeling, or BIM, has become the industry standard for projects of all sizes, because it facilitates the communication of design and construction plans across all project participants.

Green Building Supports New Development

The government has helped fuel the green building surge by providing a variety of incentives for firms and contractors who build with energy efficiency and use renewable energy.

Sep 23, 2026 - Firms Increase Compensation to Retain Key Employees

• Compensation remains a strategic priority across the architecture, engineering, and construction sector as firms compete to attract and retain skilled employees, according to FMI's 2026 Compensation Trends Study. About 78% of companies have formal base-pay ranges, and the average base-pay increase was 4.3%, reflecting continued pressure to maintain competitive salaries. Short-term incentives are widespread, with 94% of surveyed firms offering them, while 55% offer long-term incentives, increasingly using them to retain experienced employees. For architectural services firms, these trends may increase labor costs and encourage more structured salary ranges, incentive programs, and retention strategies, particularly for experienced professionals and leaders whose expertise, client relationships, and institutional knowledge can be difficult to replace.
• Architecture Magazine reports that architects are exploring ways to make data centers less resource-intensive and more beneficial to surrounding communities. Strategies include underground construction, renewable power, waste-heat recovery, and integration with other land uses. Projects in Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland show how facilities can reduce water use, limit their physical footprint, supply heat to district energy systems, support greenhouses, and connect directly with building thermal networks. One Helsinki data center is expected to provide 500,000 MWh of heat annually, enough for about 70,000 apartments. Smaller edge data centers also may offer opportunities for closer architectural integration. These approaches suggest architects can play a larger role in data center siting, systems design, resource efficiency, and community integration as demand for computing infrastructure grows.
• The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in September, increasing financing costs for some construction projects, according to Construction Dive. Higher rates could make marginal commercial developments unprofitable, raise costs on floating-rate loans, delay contractor payments, or cause owners to postpone or abandon projects. Economists noted that tighter Fed policy could eventually lower long-term Treasury yields, which have a greater influence on commercial real estate financing. Persistent materials inflation also is pressuring project economics, with nonresidential construction input prices up 8.9% in August compared with a year earlier. For architectural services firms, a thinner pipeline of commercial and residential projects could reduce demand for design work or delay project starts, while data centers and semiconductor plants may provide more resilient opportunities because many rely on corporate cash flow or government incentives.
• Multifamily developer confidence weakened in the second quarter of 2026, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) latest Multifamily Market Survey. The Multifamily Production Index (MPI) dropped three points to 43 compared to the second quarter of 2025. The Multifamily Occupancy Index (MOI) decreased by 8 points to 74 over the same period. An MPI or MOI reading of 50 or more indicates that multifamily production or occupancy, respectively, is growing. Multifamily developers’ headwinds include volatility in building materials costs, high interest rates, and regulatory difficulties. While the NAHB expects the recently enacted 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to help alleviate some of the building industry's challenges, the law's policies will take time to implement.

Industry size & Structure

The average architectural firm has about 10 employees and generates $2.3 million in annual revenue.

• The industry has 21,258 firms with $48.7 billion in annual revenue and 204,000 employees.
• Sole employee firms tend to work from home-based offices in order to defray overhead expenses. Most other small to medium firms work from leased office space.
• The industry is highly fragmented with the 50 largest firms representing just 22% of industry revenue.
• Large firms in the US include HOK, William Rawn Associates, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM).