Design firms were hopeful at the beginning of the year, anticipating that 2020 would bring the tenth year of straight growth. Those hopes for a decade-long boon were dashed, however, as the coronavirus emerged as a public health emergency in the United States in late January. Officials issued quarantine orders and work began to slow down—and in some jurisdictions—halt. Design firms, like the rest of the economy, are watching day by day to see how their markets will be impacted long term. 

Taking a look back at last year, the rise in the markets can be seen in the data collected on revenue earned in 2019 from the participants of Engineering News-Record’s (ENR) Top 500 Design Firms list. ENR, a sister publication to Floor Trends, reported that as a group, the firms had a record total design revenue of $103.24 billion in 2019—up 2.1% from $101.16 billion in 2018. Market growth was up on the domestic side, rising 8.9% to $86.80 billion in 2019 from $80.55 billion in 2018. But revenue from projects outside the U.S. fell 20.2%, to $16.44 billion. The following is a snapshot of the Top 50 Design Firms. For the complete list, visit enr.com.

RANK 2020 RANK 2019 FIRM CITY FIRM TYPE TOTAL REVENUE ($ MIL) INT'L REVENUE ($ MIL)
1 1 JACOBS Dallas EAC 9,676.80 2,844.00
2 2 AECOM Los Angeles EA 7,967.50 3,530.30
3 4 KBR Houston EC 3,331.00 1,148.00
4 5 TETRA TECH Pasadena, Calif. E 3,179.00 891
5 6 WOOD Houston EC 2,680.60 624.8
6 7 HDR Omaha EA 2,325.60 252.7
7 8 WSP New York E 1,984.30 10.9
8 9 STANTEC Irvine, Calif. EAL 1,881.00 0
9 10 BURNS MCDONNELL Kansas City, Mo. EAC 1,795.90 103.8
10 14 GENSLER Los Angeles A 1,523.10 229.6
11 12 BLACK & VEATCH Overand Park, Kan. EC 1,510.60 433.4
12 11 PARSONS Centreville, Va. EC 1,510.30 362.5
13 13 ARCADIS NORTH AMERICA/ CALLISON RTKL Highlands Ranch, Colo. EA 1,492.00 209
14 16 HNTB COS. Kansas City, Mo. EA 1,414.90 3.7
15 15 INTERTEK-PSI Arlington Heights, Ill. O 1,395.60 676.3
16 18 SNC-LAVALIN Tampa EC 1,143.90 0
17 21 KIMLEY-HORN Raleigh, N.C. E 1,120.60 4.5
18 19 GOLDER Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. E 1,109.30 804
19 17 BECHTEL Reston, Va. EC 1,037.00 431
20 20 TRC COS. Lowell, Mass. EC 999 0
21 22 LEIDOS Reston, Va. E 995.5 10
22 24 TERRACON CONSULTANTS Olathe, Kan. E 813 1
23 31 KIEWIT Omaha, Neb. EC 791.3 33.5
24 27 S&B ENGINEERES AND CONSTRUCTORS Houston EC 782.9 6.1
25 23 CDM SMITH Boston EC 759.9 103.6
26 25 GHD Irvine, Calif. E/ENV 707.2 234.8
27 34 NV5 GLOBAL Hollywood, Fla. E 683.4 21.7
28 26 PERKINS AND WILL Chicago A 670.3 140
29 33 MOTT MACDONALD Iselin, N.J. E 633.9 71.1
30 28 EXP Chicago EA 634.9 345.3
31 29 MICHAEL BAKER INTERNATIONAL Pittsburgh, Pa. EA 593.6 5.2
32 32 STV GROUP New York City EA 582.5 13.2
33 35 GANNETT FLEMING Camp Hill, Pa. EA 552.5 29.2
34 36 POWER ENGINEERS Hailey, Idaho E 509.7 28.7
35 37 HOK St. Louis AE 485 103
36 38 DEWBERRY Fairfax, Va. EA 470.9 2.8
37 40 SARGENT & LUNDY Chicago E 470.8 55.9
38 43 T.Y. LIN INTERNATIONAL San Francisco EA 467.6 258.1
39 39 ARUP New York E 454.2 75.9
40 41 BROWN AND CALDWELL Walnut Creek, Calif. E 452 0
41 58 WILLDAN Anaheim, Calif. E 443 0
42 42 HKS Dallas A 435.6 60.5
43 44 SKIDMORE OWINGS & MERRILL New York AE 382.5 163.2
44 45 IBI GROUP Columbus, Ohio AE 369.6 256.6
45 46 FUGRO USA HOLDING Houston GE 368.2 43.9
46 47 GEOSYNTEC CONSULTANTS Boca Raton, Fla. E 360.3 51.3
47 51 HARGROVE ENGINEERS + CONSTRUCTORS Mobile, Ala. EC 336.4 0
48 52 RS&H Jacksonville, Fla. EA 332 0
49 48 CARDNO Lone Tree, Colo. E/ENV 331.9 12.8
50 56 CHA CONSULTING Albany, N.Y. EA 330.5 16.6

Key to Type of Firm: A=architect, E=engineer, EC=engineer-contractor AE=architect-engineer, EA=engineer-architect, ENV=environmental, GE=geotechnical engineer, L=landscape architect, P=planner, and O=other.

Other combinations are possible. Firms classified themselves.

Source: ENR 2020 Top Design Firms. To learn more, visit enr.com.