Data sources

Public datasets

Labor wages: BLS OEWS

Hourly wages by occupation for the nation, every state and roughly 530 metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. It is published annually (May reference period, released the following spring) and is in the public domain. We use the median and the 25th and 75th percentiles for these occupations:

• 47-2051 Cement masons and concrete finishers
• 47-2061 Construction laborers
• 47-2111 Electricians
• 47-2141 Painters, construction and maintenance
• 47-2152 Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters
• 49-9021 Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics and installers
• 37-3011 Landscaping and groundskeeping workers
• 49-9071 Maintenance and repair workers, general (the handyman rate pages and builder use it, labeled as a proxy)
• 47-2031 Carpenters

Geography: Census Bureau and HUD

ZIP codes are mapped to counties and metropolitan areas with the HUD USPS ZIP crosswalk and Census Bureau delineation files. City populations come from the American Community Survey. All are public.

Sales tax

We store each state's base sales-tax rate on materials, taken from the state revenue department. Local add-on rates vary within a state and are not applied; the page labels the figure "state base rate".

Frost depth and climate

Recommended footing depth and the air-entrained-mix note come from International Residential Code and International Energy Conservation Code climate-zone references and state building-code summaries.

Ready-mix concrete price: NRMCA and BLS PPI

The ready-mix price per cubic yard starts from the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association's published 2023 figure of $159.68, the average revenue per cubic yard reported in its Annual Performance Benchmarking Survey and State of the Industry (October 2024). We carry it forward with the Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price index for ready-mix concrete, series WPU1333: the 2023 figure times the latest monthly index, divided by the 2023 average of the index. The index is refreshed monthly, and the build fails if it is more than 90 days old. It is a national figure; local plants charge more or less.

Estimates and what we collect

Other material prices

Bagged mix, rebar, wire mesh, gravel, forms and finishing supplies are our estimates: national figures, labeled "estimated" on every page. Each row records what the estimate is based on and the date it was set. An estimate is replaced when a local price is sampled (the row then carries the source link, the ZIP code and the date) or when a tradesperson corrects it. Send corrections to hello@americanbuildrate.com; with your permission, we credit you.

Quote checks

Anonymous quote checks (project type, size, ZIP, quoted amount, verdict) are stored without personal data. They count toward a location's data completeness; they don't set prices.

What we do not use

We do not use, scrape or republish licensed cost databases such as RSMeans. We do not use competitor calculators as a data source.