Alaska, Hawaii and Nevada Lead All Western Region States in YOY Sales Percentages Gains

While the electrical sales potential forecasts for many states and metropolitan areas are under Electrical Wholesaling’s annual industry growth average of +4% to +8% year-over-year (YOY) growth, quite a few states and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) are growing at much better than the national YOY rate, according to our estimates. At the state level, the states in the Western region currently growing the fastest are Alaska (+15.1%); Hawaii (+11.1%); Nevada (+9.5%); Montana (+8%); Oklahoma (+5.6%); Utah, and South Dakota (all up +5.1% YOY) (Click on the green Dowload button below to download Electrical Marketing sales estimates for all 50 states and 300-plus Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).

Local sales stars in the Western Region. Three MSAs west of the Mississippi are growing at double-digit growth rates: Anchorage, AK (+16.2%); Honolulu, HI (+15.3%); and Baton Rouge, LA (+10.9%). Two of the nation’s largest markets also are growing at well over the national pace: Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV, MSA (+9.8%) and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, MSA (+5.5%). Some smaller markets in the Western region growing at more than triple the national rate were St. George, UT (+8.3%); Provo-Orem, UT (+7.6%); Tulsa, OK (+7%); Boise, ID (+6.6%); Albuquerque, NM (+6.4%); Sioux Falls, SD (+6.2%); and Reno, NV (+6.1%).
The Houston and Dallas metros topped the nation when measured by estimated increases in sales dollar potential, with increases of $202 million and $140.8 million, respectively.
It’s interesting to note that even though California only grew by +0.1%, with roughly $16.4 billion in new sales potential, even a sales gain of a fraction of a percent produced growth of $16.4  million, a surprisingly sizeable amount. California accounts for approximately 11% of all electrical sales potential in the United States.
Despite the forgettable sales growth in most of the Pacific region, some sizeable construction projects broke ground, and in total the region had 21 projects with at least $1 billion in total construction value in the pipeline through Oct. 2024. The largest project underway in the Pacific Region is the $12-billion, 218-mile Brightline West high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Five hospital projects valued at $1 billion or more broke ground in 2024 in Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento and Torrance, CA. There are also three large airport projects underway in California: the $2.9-billion Terminal 3 renovation in San Francisco; a $1.5-billion new terminal at the Hollywood-Burbank Airport in Burbank, CA; and a $1.4-billion project at LAX in Los Angeles.

The market dominance of Texas continues. While the number of megaprojects in the Pacific Region is impressive, the electrical growth of the Lone Star State on all fronts continues to dominate not only the West South Central Region, but the nation as a whole. The state’s four billion-dollar market areas — Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, MSA; Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, MSA; Austin-Round Rock, TX, MSA; and San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX, MSA — are all beating the national average, and continue to be among the nation’s leading markets for population growth and building permits. The Dallas and Houston metros are welcoming 277.9 new residents and 252.6 new residents per day respectively, and Austin and San Antonio also rank in the Top 10 in population growth. And according to U.S. Census data, the combined population increase for Dallas and Houston from 2020 through 2023 topped 775,000. Growth like that creates a ton of demand for housing and other services.