Accompanying this report are tables and charts based on
RSMeans’ measures of dollar-per-square-foot construction costs. The results for 25 major cities are shown for four institutional building types. Means has altered specifications with regard to its costing models for a jail and a courthouse. Therefore, with respect to those two categories, it is not valid to compare this year’s figures with last year’s to determine percentage changes. The specifications for a police station and a post office remained the same. Therefore, in those instances, year-over-year comparisons are valid.
Ranking by expense
Among the three law enforcement and one public service categories set out in the table and graphs, it is most expensive to build a jail. This comes as no surprise, given the special structural requirements that must be built into a correctional facility. Next most expensive on a dollars-per-square-foot basis is a police station. In third position is a courthouse, and in fourth, a post office. The square footage cost of building a post office is about half the amount required to construct a jail.
New York most expensive; cities in South least expensive
New York City has the highest dollar-per-square-foot
construction costs in the country. San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia are the other centers that make up the top five among major U.S. urban areas. Relatively low-cost cities are mainly in the Southeast and Southwest, including Miami, Phoenix, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas. New Orleans is also low-cost despite the restoration that has been underway since Hurricane Katrina.
Kansas City, St. Louis, Portland and Pittsburgh are smack dab in the middle among the 25 cities considered in the table and graphs. Cleveland, Washington, D.C. and Denver are in the low mid-range for construction costs among the 25 cities considered. Seattle, San Diego and Detroit are upper middle-range. Minneapolis is sixth most expensive in the nation.
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