25 Things to Know About Nevada AEC in 2025

BEX Founder and President Rebekah Morris recently spoke at her first event in Nevada since the launch of NVBEX.

BEX was originally founded and actively operates in Phoenix, Ariz. The event was held by the American Society of Civil Engineers Younger Members Forum, which features engineers aged 35 and younger.

Morris began her presentation with an overview of the different topics at play in her analysis of the Nevada market. The presentation topics were:

• Macroeconomic indicators;
• Federal policies;
• State, regional and local issues;
• Economic development, and
• Market sector specific stories, projects and constraints.

The market sectors ranged from public to private development. Morris launched NVBEX in November of 2024 and compiled this list from months of extensively researching the market and years of experience in the AEC industry.

• Statewide Population

Nevada was experiencing a high population growth rate from 2010/2011, when the recession halted growth across the nation. From 2001-2007, the Silver State had previously experienced a YoY population growth rate of more than 3%. Nevada’s population growth recovered from the recession swiftly in comparison to other states.

Nevada was also hit particularly hard by the pandemic, as hospitality is the primary driving force in the state’s economy. The state has steadily recovered but still feels the pandemic aftereffects.

• Statewide Employment Metrics

Employment in the Silver State eclipsed its pre-recession peak. In the early 2000s, particularly from 2003-2007, overall employment fluctuated heavily. Since the pandemic, employment has been steadily gaining traction and hasn’t seen large sways.

• Construction Employment

Despite general employment having surpassed its pre-recession peak, Nevada’s construction industry has yet to meet these numbers. However, construction is steadily rising. Current employment numbers in the Silver State clock approximately 128,800. Pre-recession numbers peaked at around 150,000.

• Inflation

Inflation has seen a Producer Price Index increase of 29.2% since 2015. This is due to a variety of factors and has been exacerbated by the supply chain issues connected to the pandemic. Overall costs are estimated to have doubled; however, different industries and market sectors vary significantly in real effects, making it difficult to levy an entire umbrella number on inflation’s effect on the construction industry.

• Federal Immigration Policies

While many believe stricter immigration policies primarily affect worksite and in the field labor, a plethora of design workers and architecture/engineering students are foreign-born. The design pipeline is fed by universities, which have a significant population of non-U.S. born students.

• Federal Funding

Funding at the federal level impacts a variety of construction projects. Many federally funded projects begin with grants for planning and study efforts, which can take place years before a project breaks ground. Some of these project types are:

• Federal Direct Construction – Military Bases, Ports of Entry, etc.;
• Transportation;
• Transit;
• Water Conservation;
• Wind Energy;
• Solar;
• Manufacturing – Clean Energy, Electric Vehicles, CHIPS Act, and
• HUD Financing for Housing Developments.

A local example of this is Maryland Parkway BRT Project, which received $150M in federal funding.

• State, Regional and Local Legislation

The Gas Tax or Fuel Revenue Indexing, also known as FRI 2.0, was originally approved in 2016, with 60% of the voters approving the tax. The tax ensures gas taxes are on par with inflation to maintain and improve road conditions throughout the state.

After a 2023 legislative action to extend the tax was vetoed by Governor Joe Lombardo, the tax again turns to voters for approval.

• LANDS Act

Approximately 3.43M acres of land in Clark County is federally owned. The land is mostly administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Accelerating Appraisals and Conservation Efforts Act, alongside the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act allows the BLM to sell public lands and directly apply proceeds to conservation projects. The laws also provide the ability for land to be set aside for affordable housing developments for up to 10 years.

Another piece of legislation, the Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, is being reintroduced to the legislature this session. If passed, the law could set aside more than two million acres of land for conservation and affordable housing efforts.

• Economic Development Priorities

• K-12 Education

• Higher Education

Nevada is not seeing much volume in higher education construction. There are a few proposed projects, such as the College of Southern Nevada’s northwest campus.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas recently sold the Sam Boyd Stadium to Clark County, which may be converted to public parks.

• Public Spaces

• Transportation, Transit & Parks

These projects are heavily reliant on funding. The top three funding mechanisms for these projects are sales tax, comprising 29.4% of funding; grants, making up 18.1% of funding; and bond proceeds, which total 17.7% of funding.

Large projects include Brightline West, the Boring Company and a variety of NDOT and local municipality roadway projects.

• Aviation

One of the largest aviation projects is the Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport, which could come online as early as 2038. Current proposals anticipate the supplemental airport to have two runways, a terminal building and a potential rail line to Las Vegas.

• Utilities

Solar and wind projects may be at risk of having funding stripped on the federal level. Water and wastewater projects have been somewhat absent from BEX’s initial market research.

There still are large projects planned, such as the $576M North Valmy Methane Plant in Humboldt County.

• Housing

Housing is one of the largest market sectors in the state. If the LANDS Act passes, more land will become available to develop housing projects. One of the challenges of multifamily, and particularly affordable housing projects, development is consistent, persistent and growing NIMBY pushback.

• Record Affordable Housing Project

• Industrial & Data Centers

Reno is attracting a swath of high-value data centers and battery manufacturing projects. While data centers have a large economic benefit on a macro-scale, concerns surrounding high usage of resources like water and power are growing. While data centers create high-wage and high-value jobs, the number of permanent jobs created is typically low.

In southern Nevada, the City of North Las Vegas has been attracting a variety of warehouse projects.

• Healthcare

• Office/Retail

While there aren’t many pure office projects available, there is an increasingly common occurrence of offices becoming a part of large master plans. A prime example of this is the $380M Hylo Park located in North Las Vegas.

• Hospitality and Sports

Tourism-attracting developments act organically in the sense that they must be fed with redevelopments and renovations to keep customers coming back. Every five-to-seven years, hotels typically refresh guest spaces with new carpets, paint, wall coverings and furniture. Around the 10-12-year mark is when bigger renovations and redevelopments are in order.

Amenities must also see continual reinvestment to continue to elevate guest experiences.

• Sports & Movie Studio Projects are Coin Tosses

With multiple proposed sports and movie projects, the market can only handle so much. If Las Vegas is to receive an NBA expansion team, only one of the two proposed arenas would be needed to host the team.

Movie studios suffer a similar problem, where the development is key to tax-cutting incentives that have a maximum cap on how much relief it can provide for studio developments and productions.

• Rapid Changes in Large Projects

• Future Predictions

Job Order Contracting is likely to continue to become more widely used on public projects. Sports and non-gaming tourism projects will continue to grow and expand, diversifying Las Vegas’ economy.

A focus on economic development will not only benefit tourists but also provide key benefits to residents and workers in the AEC industry.