Commercial trades recruiting in all 50 states.
We recruit foremen, project managers, technicians, estimators, and senior leadership for commercial trades contractors in 100+ US metropolitan markets - and we know each of those markets specifically, not generically.
We're headquartered in St. Louis. We work nationally. The trades market in Dallas isn't the trades market in Boston, and our content reflects that - every market page covers the capital projects driving demand, the wage rates a candidate will actually accept, and the contractors hiring right now.
We know your market. We're just not in it.
Commercial trades hiring used to be a local game - you called a local recruiter who knew the local crews. But the best superintendents, foremen, and PMs move metros for the right project. The HVAC tech filling your role might be relocating from Phoenix because the Texas data center boom is louder than the Arizona one. That kind of placement requires national reach and local depth.
Top US commercial construction markets - ranked by population × construction sector concentration, not raw size.
HVAC, electrical, plumbing, construction, roofing, fire protection, paving, landscaping, flooring, painting, and 10 more specialized trades.
Across 88 searches we closed, 2026 year to date. Sourcing starts within 24 hours of kickoff, in any metro. How we measure it.
No per-hire commission. No surprise rate bumps when a market gets tight. The same flat rate in Phoenix as in Pittsburgh.
20 commercial trades. Every market on this page.
Pick your trade to see the roles we fill, what those roles pay, and the licences and credentials that actually gate a hire. Every trade listed here is covered in all 100+ metros below.
Pick the metro where you're actually hiring.
Each market page covers the capital projects driving demand, current commercial trades wages by role, the contractors hiring right now, and the common positions we recruit for. Search by city or browse by region.
South
44 marketsWhere commercial trades demand is heaviest in 2026 - Sun Belt growth, port expansion, data center build-out, and a 20%+ share of US commercial construction spend.
West
23 marketsSemiconductor fabs, data centers, and the housing-driven service trades surge. Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City all rank in the top 30 for commercial trades activity.
Midwest
17 marketsIndustrial reshoring, EV plant construction, and steady commercial reinvestment. Chicago, Columbus, and Indianapolis lead a region where commercial construction is rebuilding.
Northeast
16 marketsDense urban commercial activity, hospital expansions, infrastructure renewal. NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia anchor a region where commercial trades roles command premium wages.
The top 10 commercial trades markets, ranked.
Ranked by population × construction sector concentration - a better signal than raw size for where commercial trades hiring is actually happening. Texas takes three of the top five spots. Florida and Arizona round out the Sun Belt dominance.
- #1 New York, NY 19.6M pop
- #2 Los Angeles, CA 12.9M pop
- #3 Chicago, IL 9.3M pop
- #4 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 8.1M pop
- #5 Houston, TX 7.5M pop
- #6 Atlanta, GA 6.3M pop
- #7 Miami, FL 6.2M pop
- #8 Washington, D.C., DC 6.4M pop
- #9 Philadelphia, PA 6.2M pop
- #10 Phoenix, AZ 5.1M pop
Headquartered in St. Louis. Working everywhere.
Here's the honest version: we're not a chain of branch offices. We don't have a "Dallas team" or a "Boston team" in the way a local staffing agency would. We have one team that specializes in commercial trades - across every commercial trade, across all 100+ markets we cover.
That's a feature, not a bug. The HVAC market in DFW shares more with the HVAC market in Phoenix than it does with the electrical market in DFW. A commercial trades specialist who covers HVAC nationally builds candidate networks that move across metros - which is what you actually need when the right superintendent for your DFW project is currently working in Phoenix and willing to relocate for the right offer.
- 1
Intake call (same day)
30 minutes. We learn your role, your market, your culture, your dealbreakers. You don't fill out a form - we talk.
- 2
Sourcing inside the market (24 hours)
We pull from our existing candidate network in that metro - plus the candidates in adjacent metros open to relocation. We know which way HVAC techs in Phoenix are looking. We know which superintendents in St. Louis are quietly testing the DFW market.
- 3
Slate of vetted candidates (week one)
Not 20 résumés. A short list of 3-5 candidates we've already vetted on skills, fit, and the specific dynamics of your market - wage expectations, prevailing rates, relocation realities.
- 4
Hire (typical: 3-5 weeks)
From intake to signed offer in 3-5 weeks for most commercial trades roles. Faster on field roles. Slightly longer on senior leadership.
If you'd rather talk to someone before browsing the market pages, that's faster anyway. Schedule a 30-minute intake call and we'll tell you, market by market, what we're seeing.
The numbers behind every market on this page.
The Hiring Index
What a commercial trades hire actually takes right now — median days from first contact to signed offer, measured on our own placements.
See the index → ResearchWage and workforce research
Wage benchmarks, contractor counts and workforce-age data for the commercial trades, built from federal sources rather than survey guesswork.
Read the research → GuidesSalary guides and playbooks
Trade-by-trade salary guides, interview guides and hiring whitepapers you can hand to a hiring manager without editing them first.
Browse the guides → ProofSearches we have actually run
Named contractors, real roles, real timelines — including the searches that took longer than we wanted them to.
Read the case studies →Ready to hire?
Tell us the role and the metro. We'll tell you what's possible - wages, timeline, candidate pool - in under 30 minutes.
My Trade Talent is headquartered in St. Louis, MO, serving commercial trades clients in all 50 states.
