East Coast Rising

General contractors’ best opportunities for work and income can be found near the Atlantic, not the Pacific.

If you are a general contractor looking for a job, your chances are best if you head to Columbia, South Carolina. If you want to make the most money, make your way to New York and New Jersey. Those are the surprise findings in a new report that gauges the U.S. construction markets for open positions, salary, new home builds and more.

General contractors have a lot of choices when it comes to the best metropolitan areas in which to operate a business, according to a new market report. Source: Regional Gutter Repair

The study by New York City-based Regional Gutter Repair identifies Columbia as the metropolitan area with the best work opportunities for general contractors, followed by the North Port/Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida market, and Greenville/Andersen, South Carolina. Meanwhile, the New York/Newark, New Jersey market pays contractors an average of $153,490 per year, followed by the San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, California market at $150,380, and Philadelphia/Camden/Wilmington, Delaware at $146,010.

Regional Gutter Repair’s study combines data from LinkedIn, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Association of Realtors, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to determine the top 25 markets for jobs and top 20 for income. The findings did not relate to subcontractors, who work under the general contractor’s direction, according to RGR specialist Henry Gerbin. The report may be found on Regional Gutter Repair’s website.