The 50 Biggest Electrical Contractors Grew 35%. 83% Report Labor Shortages.

The 50 largest electrical contractors in the United States booked $80.417 billion in electrical revenue in 2025, a 35% increase over the $59.5 billion the previous year's Top 50 reported, according to the annual ranking EC&M published on Sept. 15. The same survey found that 83% of those firms are contending with labor shortages, up from 74% a year earlier, and that the position they named most often as the hardest to fill was electrician.

Data centers account for most of the jump. Ninety-one percent of the Top 50 listed data centers among their three largest markets, and 92% named the sector the primary driver of electrification demand in their business. The wider spending record matches. Census Bureau figures put data center construction at an annual pace above $75 billion in July, roughly 60% higher than July 2025, and that figure covers building shells rather than the equipment inside them. ConstructConnect counted $84.1 billion in data center construction starts across 136 projects through July, close to three times the year-earlier pace, at an average of $818.20 per square foot against about $520 in 2025.

Growth on that scale is being absorbed through headcount. Ninety-one percent of the Top 50 added workers in 2025, up from 86% the year before, and nearly all said they expect to add more in 2026. Supply is the other constraint. Nearly every firm reported material price increases, with wire and cable rising the most, and 65% said they periodically dealt with modified project designs or schedule changes. Gaylor Electric, ranked No. 21, said its receipts could have been larger had supplies been sufficient.

On the job, that combination reads as resequencing rather than slowdown. Switchgear and transformers with long lead times land late in schedules that were set early, and temporary power, rough-in, and terminations get reordered around what has actually shipped. Individual firms are growing faster than the group average. O'Connell Electric, at No. 33, reported revenue up 69%, and The E-J Group, at No. 11, grew 47%, which puts more simultaneous jobs under the same number of licensed field leaders.

The hiring consequence is direct. Sixty-four percent of the Top 50 identified difficulty finding and retaining quality employees as a negative factor in their business. A contractor adding a third again to its volume cannot staff mission-critical work from the journey-level roster it already carries, which is what sustains demand for traveling manpower and for apprentices who can be moved onto data center scope early in their hours. Data center scope does not carry its own license. It is journey-level commercial and industrial work, credentialed by the state where the job sits and gated on site by safety training and commissioning discipline.

Whether the revenue holds depends on capital spending decisions made by a handful of hyperscale buyers, and the Top 50 are now concentrated enough in that market to feel a pause quickly. The demand side is documented. The constraint, by the contractors' own count, is people.