Cincinnati, OH - A Top Local Market to Watch in 2026

A large hospital and mixed-use project are in the pipeline. Single-family building permits are up over last year.

Oct. 7, 2025

2 min read

68e43868e13267fa68c85c39 Cincinnati Promo Slide

Cincinnati and Columbus are the two Ohio markets that made Electrical Wholesaling's list of markets to watch, based in part on some large project work and steady growth in electrical contractor employement. The Cincinnati metro has a big hospital project in the pipeline, the $365-million Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Liberty, OH, as well as the $330 million FC Cincinnati mixed-use development in the West End neighborhood. The metro has electrical contractor employment increase +9% over the past year to 10,747 employees, and has also seen single-family building permits increase +9.1% through July to a 2,653 permit year-to-date pace.

SALES ESTIMATES

2025 Total Electrical Sales Estimate: $1,137.4 million

Electrical Contractor $ Potential Estimate: $583.4 million

Industrial $ Sales Potential Estimate: $326.6 million

BUILDING PERMITS

Single-Family: 2,653 permits

Multi-Family: 1,278 permits

POPULATION GROWTH

Population Estimate 2024: 2,302,815

# Change 2023-2024: 20,191 permits

# Change 2020-2024: 50,738 permits

New Residents per Day: 42.9 permits

Electrical Wholesaling's Top 10 Local Markets to Watch gives you a taste of the mountain of electrical market sales estimates and other local market data available at Electrical Marketing newsletter for just $99 per year. This data includes:

Local market sales estimates, building permits and population data for more than 300 other Metropolitan Statistical areas
The Electrical Price Index (EPI) - A monthly compilation of pricing trends for more than 20 key electrical product groups
Annual product sales estimates from 16 key electrical products

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Sources of market data: Local market data collected by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and county. Sales estimates developed with sales-per-employee multipliers from Electrical Wholesaling’s Market Planning Guide ($78,775 per electrical contractor employee and $2,650 per industrial employee) and employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Building permit and population data downloaded from U.S. Census Bureau website.