Public recordRefreshed from city and state filings
Elevator RadarCERT. NO. 2026-US-ELEV / WHO DOES ELEVATOR WORK IN AMERICA

United States conveyance filings, on the record

Who does elevator work in America

Who does elevator work in America. Tracked weekly from public permit records.

Counted so far, device by device

Every state

8 states counted from public registries, 9 metros scored on live permit filings, and a new slice added every few weeks. The registries refresh weekly, so the record only gets more complete.

149,278
elevator permits on record
179,900
devices covered
2,862
contractors credited
9
markets live

How many elevators are in America?

~1,172,360

A modeled 1,026,544 to 1,318,176. Everyone repeats “one million” from a single estimate made around 2007. We are the ones actually counting.

0 hand-counted from public registries so far, device by device, and climbing every week.

Watch the live count
293,774 verified in registries+160,000 cited by agenciesthe rest modeled from the counted population we cover

The industry’s pulse

Live from filings

Elevator permit filings per month across the markets we track, five years running. 40,073 filings in the window, and the pace holds through 2026.

2021202220232024202520261203 filings / peak month

Who works the most markets

Every contractor

The national operators, ranked by how many of our markets they file in, then by total permits on record.

RankContractorMarketsPermitsStrongest market
1Otis Elevator CompanyOEM813,057New York City
2TK ElevatorOEM79,906Seattle
3Schindler Elevator CorporationOEM69,948Chicago
4KONE IncOEM66,179New York City
5Fujitec AmericaOEM5919New York City
6Mitsubishi Electric (Elevator Division)OEM41,182Los Angeles
7Mid-American Elevator Co., Inc.3271Chicago
8ALLIANCE ELEVATOR COMPANY21,786New York City
9PRECISION ELEVATOR CORP21,599New York City
10Mckinley Elevator Corp2710Los Angeles

The vintage of America’s elevators

By state

Active elevators by install decade, from the state registries we count. Everything left of the red line is past modernization age: 134,479 devices, 63 percent of the counted base.

modernization age1900s1920s1940s1960s1980s2000s2020speak decade: 52,518 devices

Market leaderboards

All markets
MarketPermitsDevicesContractors
New York City, NY60,73570,467220Live
Chicago, IL22,33437,747147Live
San Francisco, CA3,6224,127803Live
Philadelphia, PA2,3663,212812Live
Austin, TX2,1982,465479Live
Seattle, WA26,24127,940126Live
Los Angeles, CA20,34720,347122Live
Washington, DC8,75510,915139Live
Cincinnati, OH2,6802,68082Live

Off the wire

Latest filings

Filings of record

DateContractorMetroWorkDevicesEst. costFiling
Jun 2, 2021Otis Elevator Company
INSTALLATION OF EIGHT(8) 3500LB CAPACITY, 38-FLOOR, 1200FPM (A-H)ELEVATOR "E" HAS A THIRD FLOOR ENTRANCE, EIGH...
ChicagoNew install40$28M100925134
Feb 7, 2007Mitsubishi Electric (Elevator Division)
INSTALL 19 TRACTION ELEVATORS PERSUANT TO SUBMITTED PLANS
ChicagoNew install19$22M100159362
May 13, 2015TK Elevator
INSTALLATION OF (26) TRACTION, PASSENGER ELEVATORS PURSUANT TO PLANS SUBMITTED. INSTALLATIONS TO BE MADE IN CO...
ChicagoNew install26$15M100594928
Feb 19, 2008Otis Elevator Company
INSTALLATION OF 2 PASSENGER TRACTION SERVICE ELEVATORS AND 22 PASSENGER TRACTION ELEVATORS PERSUANT TO PLANS S...
ChicagoNew install24$15M100224481
Jun 22, 2020Otis Elevator Company
INSTALLATION OF SIX (6) PASSENGER ESCALATORS #1-#6. PURSUANT TO THE PLANS SUBMITTED.
ChicagoNew install6$15M100878855
The full record book