Key Takeaways
- The factory build-out has peaked. Private manufacturing construction spending hit an all-time high of $249.1 billion in March 2025 and has declined for eleven consecutive months since, reaching $209.8 billion.
- It remains historically enormous. Even after that decline, spending runs 2.6 times the January 2020 level of $81.3 billion.
- Employment is moving the opposite way. Manufacturing payrolls stand at 12.61 million, down 14,000 year over year but up 31,000 since December 2025.
- Announcements have normalized, not collapsed. Reshoring and foreign direct investment announcements totaled roughly 244,000 jobs in 2025, well below the 2022 record but consistent with a 25% compound annual growth rate since 2010.
- The gap between announced and filled is the real story. More than 2 million jobs have been announced since 2010; about 1.7 million have actually been filled.
Last updated 21 August 2026. Reviewed quarterly. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Reshoring Initiative.
Most reshoring statistics get quoted one at a time, and the choice of number decides the conclusion. Announcement totals are cited to show a boom; payroll figures are cited to show it never happened. Both are real, and they describe different stages of the same process.
The reshoring statistics on this page track the three measures that actually matter, updated quarterly: what companies have committed to, what is being built, and who has been hired. As of August 2026 those three point in genuinely different directions, and that divergence is the most important thing in the data.
Reshoring statistics at a glance
| Measure | Latest | Change | Source and period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private manufacturing construction spending | $209.8B | -15.7% year over year | Census, Feb 2026 |
| Peak construction spending | $249.1B | March 2025 | Census, all-time high |
| Construction vs January 2020 | 2.6x | +158% | Census, $81.3B baseline |
| Manufacturing employment | 12,611,000 | -14,000 year over year | BLS, July 2026 |
| Employment since December 2025 | +31,000 | rising | BLS, Dec 2025 to Jul 2026 |
| Reshoring and FDI jobs announced, 2025 | ~244,000 | see note below | Reshoring Initiative |
| Announcement record year | 2022 | 2023 was second at 287,000 | Reshoring Initiative |
| Cumulative announced since 2010 | 2,000,000+ | Reshoring Initiative | |
| Cumulative actually filled since 2010 | ~1,700,000 | Reshoring Initiative | |
| Announcements in high or medium-high tech | 88% | rising to 90% | Reshoring Initiative, 2024 to early 2025 |
Construction spending is a seasonally adjusted annual rate. The 2025 announcement figure is cited as approximately 244,000: the Reshoring Initiative’s April 2026 release states that number, and announcement totals are restated between report vintages, so treat it as an estimate rather than a settled figure.
The build-out peaked in March 2025
This is the finding most reshoring coverage has not caught up with. Spending on new manufacturing plant construction rose almost without interruption from 2021 through early 2025, then turned over.
| Period | Spending | vs January 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| January 2020 | $81.3B | baseline |
| January 2023 | $126.4B | +55% |
| January 2024 | $201.7B | +148% |
| January 2025 | $247.0B | +204% |
| March 2025 (peak) | $249.1B | +206% |
| January 2026 | $214.4B | +164% |
| February 2026 | $209.8B | +158% |
U.S. Census Bureau, value of private construction put in place, manufacturing, seasonally adjusted annual rate, January of each year.
Two readings of that are both defensible, and it is early to choose. The build-out could be completing, with capital rolling off as projects finish and equipment installation replaces concrete. Or new project starts have slowed under tariff and policy uncertainty, in which case the decline continues.
What the number does not support is the claim that factory construction is still surging. It has fallen for eleven straight months. It also does not support the claim that reshoring was a mirage, because $209.8 billion a year is still more than two and a half times what the country was spending before the pandemic.
Employment is moving the other way
Manufacturing payrolls reached 12,611,000 in July 2026. That is 14,000 below July 2025, which is the figure critics cite. It is also 31,000 above December 2025, which is the figure advocates cite. Both are correct.
Read together with construction, the pattern is what you would expect at this point in a build cycle: the money that goes into pouring foundations peaked more than a year ago, and the hiring that follows commissioning is only now turning positive. Plants announced in 2022 and 2023 are reaching the staffing stage.
That is also why announcement totals and payroll totals will never reconcile in the same year. An announcement is a commitment; a payroll line is a person who started. The Reshoring Initiative’s own numbers capture the gap precisely: more than 2 million jobs announced since 2010, roughly 1.7 million filled. Around fifteen percent of announced jobs have not materialized, and the ones that do arrive two to four years after the press release.
Which sectors are actually reshoring
Reshoring statistics are not broad-based, and treating them as a general manufacturing recovery misreads them. The activity concentrates heavily in high and medium-high technology sectors, which accounted for 88% of announced jobs in 2024 and about 90% in early 2025.
The leading categories have been computer and electronics, electrical equipment including EV batteries and solar, and transportation equipment. These are the sectors where industrial policy, tariff exposure, and supply chain risk all point the same direction at once.
What this means for steel and basic materials
Searches for steel reshoring generally expect a similar story, and the data does not deliver one. Basic materials reshoring is largely a second-order effect: new plants create domestic demand for structural steel, fabricated metal, and industrial components, but the reshoring announcements themselves are concentrated downstream in assembly and electronics. If you supply materials, the relevant number is not reshoring announcements but the construction spending line above, and that line is falling.
Reshoring examples: what has actually been committed
Aggregate reshoring statistics are the wrong tool for judging whether a specific commitment is real. For that you need the individual projects, with company, location, dollar figure, and announcement date.
We maintain that as a separate, continuously updated dataset. The U.S. Manufacturing Investment Tracker currently tracks more than $1.95 trillion in announced U.S. manufacturing investment across roughly 230 companies, with each entry sourced and dated. It is the practical companion to this page: use these statistics for the trend, and the tracker to check a particular company or state.
The workforce constraint
The binding limit on reshoring is no longer capital or policy. It is people.
The Reshoring Initiative’s 2025 survey put improving the skilled workforce first among priorities, ahead of total cost of ownership analysis and geopolitical risk preparation. That ordering matters: it means firms have largely resolved whether to reshore and are now stuck on who will operate the plant.
This is the mechanism behind the announced-versus-filled gap. A commissioned plant with unfilled roles does not appear in payroll data, and it is the most common reason an announced job never converts.
Which companies are best positioned
Behind the aggregate reshoring statistics, three characteristics separate companies executing reshoring successfully from those announcing it.
They are in a sector where the economics already work. High and medium-high tech accounts for roughly nine in ten announced jobs, because those products carry enough margin per unit to absorb higher domestic labor costs.
They have a workforce pipeline before they have a building. Given that skilled labor is the top reported constraint, firms with existing training partnerships convert announcements into payroll faster.
They decided on total cost of ownership rather than unit price. Companies that modeled landed cost, inventory carrying cost, and disruption risk tend to hold their reshoring decisions; those that compared hourly wages tend to reverse them.
How to read these numbers
Three cautions worth carrying into any reshoring discussion, and into any reshoring statistics you read elsewhere.
Announcements are not jobs. They are intentions, they lag into reality by two to four years, and roughly fifteen percent never arrive. Any figure describing jobs created that is sourced from announcement data is mislabeled.
Announcement trackers get restated. Figures for a given year move as projects are confirmed, canceled, or reclassified. Always cite the vintage of the report, not just the year of the data.
Construction spending and employment are not interchangeable. They measure different phases and move at different times, as they are doing right now in opposite directions. A complete picture needs both.
Reshoring statistics: frequently asked questions
How many manufacturing jobs has reshoring created?
More than 2 million jobs have been announced through reshoring and foreign direct investment since 2010, and approximately 1.7 million have actually been filled. The difference reflects both the two to four year lag between announcement and hiring and the share of announced projects that are never completed.
Is U.S. manufacturing reshoring slowing down in 2026?
By one measure yes and by another no. Private manufacturing construction spending has fallen for eleven consecutive months from its March 2025 peak of $249.1 billion to $209.8 billion. Manufacturing employment, however, has risen by 31,000 since December 2025. Construction is slowing while hiring is picking up, which is the expected sequence as announced plants move from building to staffing.
How much is being spent on building U.S. factories?
Private manufacturing construction spending is running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $209.8 billion as of February 2026. That is down 15.7% year over year but still 2.6 times the January 2020 level of $81.3 billion.
Which industries are reshoring the most?
High and medium-high technology sectors account for roughly 90% of announced reshoring jobs. The leading categories are computer and electronics, electrical equipment including EV batteries and solar, and transportation equipment.
What is the biggest obstacle to reshoring?
Skilled workforce availability. The Reshoring Initiative’s 2025 survey ranked improving the skilled workforce above total cost of ownership analysis and geopolitical risk preparation, indicating that most firms have settled the decision to reshore and are now constrained by staffing.
Sources for these reshoring statistics
- U.S. Census Bureau, Value of Construction Put in Place, private manufacturing, seasonally adjusted annual rate. Retrieved 21 August 2026; latest observation February 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, All Employees: Manufacturing (CES3000000001), Current Employment Statistics. Retrieved 21 August 2026; latest observation July 2026.
- Reshoring Initiative 2024 Annual Report and 1Q2025 insights; 2025 Annual Report release, April 2026.
- IndustrialSage U.S. Manufacturing Investment Tracker, continuously updated.
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Author: Wes Garrett
Content and Growth Marketing Producer | From Strategy to Execution, Delivering Impactful Media Solutions and Client Success
