Lodging construction ran at $25.0 billion in September 2026, 4.2% below a year earlier, while recreation building held near a record

Construction spending on lodging, which the Census Bureau defines as hotels, motels, resort lodging, tourist cabins and similar buildings, ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $25.0 billion in September 2026. A SAAR is one month's spending, adjusted for the usual seasonal swings and scaled up to a full year. The September figure was virtually unchanged from August and 4.2% below September 2025.

Lodging spending fell 14.8% from December 2024 to a low of $24.4 billion in May 2026, and in each month since June it has run between 2.4% and 3.1% above that low. The bureau released the preliminary September estimate on November 2.

The decline on the year narrowed from 9.4% to 4.2%

The decline on the year narrowed from 9.4% in August to 4.2% in September. Most of that change comes from the month a year earlier: lodging spending fell 5.5% in September 2025, so September 2026 is compared with a lower base.

Over a longer span, the September 2026 figure is 23.9% below September 2019 and 49.8% above the low of $16.7 billion in October 2021.

The same release revised August 2026 lodging spending from the $24,862 million first published on October 1 to $25,022 million, a revision of 0.6%.

Recreation building ran at $49.0 billion, 2.3% below its record

The release splits each type of building by owner. Private owners account for 94% of lodging spending: $23.6 billion in September, up 0.3% on the month and down 2.8% on the year.

Amusement and recreation, the category that holds parks, seasonal camps and tourist camps, as well as racetracks, bowling alleys, casinos and similar places, ran at $49.0 billion. That is 1.2% below August and 2.3% below the record of $50.2 billion set in October 2025, in a series that begins in 2002.

Governments spent $25.8 billion of it, 1.7% less than a year earlier and 4.2% below their own October 2025 record. Private recreation spending was $23.2 billion, 1.2% above September 2025 and 2.0% below the record it reached in July 2026, in a series that begins in 1993.

Educational construction includes, among its higher education types, dormitories, student unions and cafeterias, and outdoor courts and fields. It ran at $137.6 billion, 2.6% below a year earlier. Private educational spending fell 7.4% on the year, and public spending fell 1.4%.

Lodging is down 8.8% for the year so far, and recreation is up 3.8%

The bureau also publishes totals for the first nine months of the year without seasonal adjustment. These are dollars spent, not annual rates. From January to September 2026, lodging construction came to $18.5 billion, 8.8% less than in the same months of 2025. Recreation construction came to $36.7 billion, 3.8% more, with private spending up 6.3% and public spending up 1.6%. Educational construction was 2.5% lower.

Restaurant and bar sales rose 7.0%, twice as fast as menu prices

The Census Bureau's advance estimate puts September 2026 sales at food services and drinking places at $92.9 billion, seasonally adjusted, 7.0% above September 2025. An advance estimate is an early figure from a subsample of about 4,800 retail and food service firms. September was the eighth monthly increase in a row and the highest monthly figure in a series that begins in 1992.

Part of that gain is price. The consumer price index for food away from home, which tracks what restaurants and other food outlets charge, rose 3.5% from September 2025 to September 2026, seasonally adjusted. Sales grew about twice as fast as menu prices over the year, so roughly half of the gain came from higher prices.