Commercial property spans millions of U.S. buildings, nearly 100 billion square feet of floorspace, and a wide range of operating, financing and workforce measures. The latest full national CBECS cycle used here is 2018, while construction, lending and earnings indicators provide more recent snapshots through 2025.
Key Commercial Property Statistics
The following highlights summarize the most useful figures across the property stock, energy, construction, lending and workforce data:
- In 2018, 5.918 million U.S. commercial buildings met the CBECS definition of generally at least 1,000 square feet and at least half commercial use.
- In 2018, 96,528 million square feet of floorspace was contained in U.S. commercial buildings.
- In 2018, 85,801 thousand workers were reported for buildings covered by the U.S. CBECS survey.
- In 2018, the mean U.S. commercial-building size was 16.3 thousand square feet per building.
- U.S. commercial buildings operated an average of 62 hours per week in 2018.
- U.S. commercial buildings used 6,787 trillion Btu of energy in 2018.
- Commercial-building energy expenditures totaled $141 billion in the United States in 2018.
- Average gross energy-use intensity fell 12%, from 80,000 to 70,400 Btu per square foot between 2012 and 2018 in U.S. commercial buildings.
- In 2018, lighting covered 94,122 million square feet of U.S. commercial floorspace.
- Warehouse/storage, office and service buildings made up 48% of U.S. commercial buildings in 2018.
- Private commercial construction spending reached a $128,646 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in April 2024 in the United States.
- The net share of domestic banks tightening standards on all CRE loans was 12.5% in 2024:Q4.
- The net share of banks reporting stronger demand for all CRE loans was -45.5% in 2025:Q1, indicating weaker demand on balance.
- Average hourly earnings for nonresidential property managers were $39.19 in June 2024 in the U.S. private nonfarm payroll industry measure.
- All-electric buildings represented 31% of U.S. commercial buildings, or about 1.8 million buildings, in 2018.
Contents
- U.S. building stock, floorspace and operating scale
- Commercial property energy statistics and end-use intensity
- Commercial property types and heating sources
- Commercial property construction spending trends
- Commercial real estate lending standards and demand
- Commercial property management pay and workforce measures
- Commercial property ownership, occupancy and electrification indicators
U.S. Commercial Property Building Stock, Floorspace and Operating Scale
The Energy Information Administration’s 2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) provides the broadest national baseline in this dataset. Its commercial-building universe generally includes buildings with at least 1,000 square feet and at least half of their floorspace in commercial use.
| Measure | 2018 U.S. estimate |
|---|---|
| Commercial buildings | 5.918 million |
| Commercial floorspace | 96,528 million sq. ft. |
| Workers reported for covered buildings | 85,801 thousand |
| Mean building size | 16.3 thousand sq. ft. |
| Mean floorspace per worker | 1,073 sq. ft. |
| Mean operating time | 62 hours per week |
Source: User’s Guide to the 2018 CBECS Public Use Microdata File. These are CBECS estimates; mean size is not a median, and floorspace per worker is not a productivity measure.
CBECS reported 85,801 thousand workers for buildings in the survey, but that figure is not a headcount of every occupation connected to commercial property. The survey’s starting sample was about 16,000 buildings, with EIA estimating about 8,000 would be eligible and respond; those are survey-design facts rather than market-size outcomes.
Commercial Property Energy Statistics and End-Use Intensity
U.S. commercial buildings used 6,787 trillion Btu of energy in 2018, and commercial-building energy expenditures totaled $141 billion. The EIA’s comparison across survey years shows average gross energy-use intensity declining 12%, from 80,000 Btu per square foot in 2012 to 70,400 Btu per square foot in 2018.
| Energy measure | 2018 U.S. estimate |
|---|---|
| Total commercial-building energy use | 6,787 trillion Btu |
| Commercial-building energy expenditures | $141 billion |
| Lighting end-use floorspace | 94,122 million sq. ft. |
| Space-heating end-use floorspace | 88,661 million sq. ft. |
| Cooling end-use floorspace | 87,506 million sq. ft. |
| Water-heating end-use floorspace | 87,717 million sq. ft. |
Sources: CBECS 2018 final results and CBECS Table B22, Energy end uses, floorspace, 2018.
The end-use floorspace categories are nonexclusive because a building can have more than one listed end use. Additional 2018 CBECS measures include cooking in 43,580 million square feet, manufacturing end use in 6,871 million square feet, and electricity generation end use across 29,457 million square feet.
Commercial Property Types, Floorspace and Heating Sources
Building activity is distributed across several major commercial-property groupings. Warehouse/storage, office and service buildings together made up 48% of U.S. commercial buildings in 2018, while warehouse/storage, office and education buildings accounted for one-half of commercial-building floorspace.
Office, mercantile and education buildings accounted for 43% of commercial-building energy consumption in 2018. These grouped shares describe principal building activity and should not be treated as identical to the end-use categories in the energy tables; see 2018 CBECS: Principal Building Activities—Overview.
| Primary heating source | Buildings | Floorspace or size measure |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 2.344 million | 50,160 million sq. ft. |
| Electricity | 1.856 million | 27,651 million sq. ft. |
| Fuel oil | 222 thousand | 2,228 million sq. ft. |
| Electricity | — | 14.9 thousand sq. ft. mean per building |
Source: User’s Guide to the 2018 CBECS Public Use Microdata File. The heating figures identify the primary space-heating source, not all fuel use or all-electric status.
Electric-primary-heated buildings averaged 14.9 thousand square feet per building in 2018. The fuel-source categories are useful for describing heating infrastructure, but they do not classify every energy system operating in a property.
Commercial Property Construction Spending Trends
Census construction data measure value put in place at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). These figures are annualized spending rates, not calendar-year totals, are not adjusted for price changes, and describe construction activity rather than the value of the existing commercial-property stock.
| Private construction category | April 2024 SAAR |
|---|---|
| Commercial | $128,646 million |
| Office | $101,641 million |
| Lodging | $22,508 million |
| Health care | $66,504 million |
| Educational | $128,656 million |
Source: Value of Construction Put in Place in the United States, Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate, April 2024. Educational construction is a nonresidential construction category and is not necessarily income-producing property.
The historical comparison in the same Census release shows private commercial construction spending at $131,335 million SAAR in March 2024, $135,828 million SAAR in February 2024, and $128,809 million SAAR in April 2023. The changing monthly rates should be read as construction-flow indicators, not direct changes in property values.
Commercial Real Estate Lending Standards and Demand Statistics
The Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) reports net percentages of domestic bank respondents. A positive net percentage generally means more banks reported tightening or stronger demand than reported the opposite; a negative demand figure indicates weaker demand on balance.
| CRE loan category | Standards tightened, 2024:Q4 | Stronger demand, 2024:Q4 |
|---|---|---|
| All CRE loans | 12.5% | -26.7% |
| Construction and land development | 0.0% | 3.6% |
| Nonfarm nonresidential | 2.0% | -10.2% |
| Multifamily | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Source: The April 2025 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, Chart Data.
For all CRE loans, the net share tightening standards was 9.1% in 2025:Q1, while the net share reporting stronger demand was -45.5%. These survey indicators do not measure transaction volume, property prices, vacancy or total loan balances, and multifamily is not identical to commercial property in every market definition.
Commercial Property Management Pay and Related Workforce Measures
BLS industry payroll data provide average hourly and weekly earnings for selected private nonfarm industries in June 2024. They are industry averages, not the wage distribution for every worker and not total commercial-property labor income.
| Industry measure | Average hourly earnings | Average weekly earnings |
|---|---|---|
| Lessors of nonresidential buildings | $35.86 | $1,233.58 |
| Miniwarehouse and self-storage lessors | $25.58 | $864.60 |
| Other real-estate-property lessors | $29.70 | $1,119.69 |
| Real-estate property managers | $32.93 | $1,195.36 |
| Nonresidential property managers | $39.19 | $1,430.44 |
Source: Table B-3b: Average hourly and weekly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, June 2024. The nonresidential property-manager figure is an industry payroll average, not an individual wage distribution.
The distinction between lessors and property-management industries matters when interpreting pay data. The measures describe payroll averages for named NAICS industries rather than a complete count of commercial-property occupations.
Commercial Property Ownership, Occupancy and Electrification Indicators
The supplied national indicators focus on electrification and energy rather than ownership rates or physical occupancy. In 2018, all-electric buildings represented 31% of U.S. commercial buildings, or about 1.8 million buildings; the EIA also described this as fewer than one-third.
All-electric in this CBECS context covers electricity-performing end uses, while buildings may still use other sources for on-site generation. It should not be read as proof that every building system or appliance is electrically powered.
Space heating accounted for close to one-third of commercial-building end-use energy consumption in 2018. Major fuels consumed within commercial buildings accounted for about 72% of commercial-sector end-use energy consumption, a sector-level comparison broader than the building stock alone.
The CBECS 2018 final-results context is available from Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), 2018 final results. CBECS is a periodic national sample survey, and its published values are estimates with relative standard errors; 2018 is the latest full national cycle represented here.