Data Centers Will Reign Supreme in 2026 But Other Construction Markets Offer Potential

Data centers are expected to continue to grow at a double-digit growth rate in 2026, but they aren’t the only project niche to watch next year.
Judging from the number of projects valued at more than $100 million now in the construction pipeline, the mass transit, hospital and school and university construction market segments may offer solid growth prospects next year.

Mass transit

Over the past decade, billions of dollars in new and retrofit construction has transformed many of the nation’s airports. Two airport projects in the pipeline are the $700-million Memphis International Airport now underway and the $575-million Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport in the planning stage in Erlanger, KY. Another big airport-related job is the $3-billion renovation of Newark Airport’s AirTrain that broke ground in Sept. 2025.

Hospitals

AIA’s Consensus Construction Forecast anticipates +4.3% growth in its Health segment, even with anticipated growth in 2025. Over the past two years, the largest hospital projects making news included the $3-billion Cooper University Health Care hospital expansion in Camden, NJ, which entered the planning stage in Feb. 2025; the $1.5-billion Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital replacement in Houston, TX, which began construction in May 2024; and the $1-billion Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital, in Billings, MT, which announced plans in Nov. 2024. EM’s editors found at least 30 hospital projects valued at $200 million or more in the pipeline.

Schools & universities

AIA’s Consensus Construction Forecast anticipates +3.2% growth in its educational segment, down from 2025’s +5% growth. While facility construction projects at K-12 schools and universities often aren’t as large as the mega-projects in other areas of the nonresidential construction market, there are numerous projects in this niche valued at more than $100 million now in the planning or construction process.
EM’s editors found 26 projects of this size in the pipeline over the past two years. The largest were the $842-million University of California at San Francisco academic building in San Francisco, which broke ground in September 2024; the $493-million Revere High School project in Revere, MA, which entered the planning stage in April 2025; and the $465-million dormitory at the University of California campus in Berkeley, CA. (announced in Nov. 2024); and the $420-million Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI, now underway.

Summary

Although we may see a softer construction market in 2026 still dominated by data centers, there still appears to be a healthy flow of small and mid-sized projects valued at $100 million to $250 million entering the pipeline. When you consider that electrical work accounts for no less than 10% of the typical construction project, there will still be good money to be made next year for electrical contractors and other electrical professionals in select construction niches.
Retrofit work in existing commercial buildings should provide some solid business opportunities, and the news from the lighting market is that the first generation of LED lighting systems that were installed a decade or more ago are aging and will need to be replaced over the next few years with the latest LED and control technology.
Business conditions in the electrical construction industry typically vary widely by local geographic market and individual construction niche. However, on a national basis, it seems like growth in the low single digits for the U.S. electrical construction market is a pretty safe if unspectacular bet. 
Look for additional analysis of the 2026 electrical construction market in the Dec. 2025  cover story of Electrical Construction & Maintenance magazine.