Number of 

buildings 

(thousand)

Total

floorspace

(million 

square feet)

Total

workers

(thousand)

Mean 

square feet

per building 

(thousand)

Mean

square 

feet per

 workera

Mean 

operating 

hours per 

week

All buildings 5,918 96,423 85,796 16.3 1,072 62

Principal building activity

(expanded)

Education 437 13,623 10,370 31.1 1,314 51

College or university 60 1,827 1,402 30.6 1,303 64

K–12 264 10,619 7,889 40.3 1,346 48

Elementary school 133 3,626 3,062 27.3 1,184 44

Middle/junior high school 26 1,832 1,360 69.5 1,347 52

High school 69 3,510 2,213 51.1 1,586 54

Multi-grade school (any K–12) 36 1,651 1,254 46.0 1,316 53

Preschool or daycare 81 482 704 5.9 684 53

Other classroom education 33 695 374 21.3 1,860 36

Food sales 163 1,006 917 6.2 1,097 110

Convenience store (with or without gas 

station) 121 371 385 3.1 963 118

Grocery store or food market 33 604 496 18.3 1,218 97

Other food sales Q Q Q Q Q Q

Food service 286 1,385 2,884 4.8 480 81

Fast food 70 291 701 4.1 414 107

Restaurant or cafeteria 175 924 2,005 5.3 461 76

Other food service 41 171 179 4.1 956 60

Health care 137 4,018 6,656 29.3 604 60

Inpatient 9 2,259 3,597 264.8 628 168

Outpatient 129 1,760 3,059 13.7 575 52

Office (diagnostic) 64 638 1,128 9.9 566 46

Clinic or other outpatient 64 1,122 1,932 17.5 581 59

Lodging 207 6,976 2,764 33.7 2,431 165

Hotel 66 3,551 1,129 54.0 3,076 160

Motel or inn 41 592 208 14.5 2,786 168

Dormitory, fraternity, or sorority 35 840 143 Q 4,709 168

Nursing home or assisted living 38 1,525 1,095 40.6 1,393 168

Other lodging 27 467 189 17.0 2,471 168

Table B15. Building activity subcategories: total and means of floorspace, number of 

workers, and hours of operation, 2018

Release date: September 2021

Revised date: December 2022
Number of 

buildings 

(thousand)

Total

floorspace

(million 

square feet)

Total

workers

(thousand)

Mean 

square feet

per building 

(thousand)

Mean

square 

feet per

 workera

Mean 

operating 

hours per 

week

Table B15. Building activity subcategories: total and means of floorspace, number of 

workers, and hours of operation, 2018

Mercantile 517 10,781 8,882 20.9 1,214 64

Retail (other than mall) 350 5,193 3,251 14.8 1,597 66

Retail store 296 4,487 2,749 15.2 1,632 66

Other retail 55 706 501 12.9 1,408 64

Enclosed and strip malls 167 5,588 5,631 33.5 992 61

Strip shopping center 166 4,904 5,226 29.6 938 61

Enclosed mall 1 684 405 727.8 1,688 77

Office 970 16,662 32,843 17.2 507 54

Administrative or professional 553 9,294 19,247 16.8 483 53

Bank or other financial 47 628 1,212 13.4 518 50

Government 129 2,526 4,525 19.6 558 47

Medical (non-diagnostic) 46 356 681 7.7 523 43

Mixed-use 119 3,359 6,375 28.3 527 72

Other office 76 500 804 6.5 621 50

Public assembly 488 7,192 3,338 14.7 2,082 51

Library 25 433 312 17.0 1,391 58

Entertainment or culture 71 1,318 533 18.6 2,401 32

Recreation 152 2,279 997 15.0 2,240 65

Social or meeting 220 2,469 1,020 11.2 2,265 45

Other assembly 20 694 476 35.0 1,457 81

Public order and safety 81 1,538 1,587 18.9 954 131

Fire or police station 61 586 522 9.5 1,083 141

Courthouse or probation office 9 452 655 51.2 690 43

Other public order 11 501 Q 45.9 Q 149

Religious worship 439 5,471 1,948 12.5 2,656 28

Service 867 6,240 4,736 7.2 1,243 53

Post office or postal center 35 367 731 10.4 502 124

Vehicle service or repair 267 1,923 1,431 7.2 1,344 51

Vehicle storage or maintenance 369 2,805 1,508 7.6 1,635 45

Other service 196 1,145 1,067 5.9 1,061 58

Warehouse and storage 1,004 17,483 7,081 17.4 2,222 71

Nonrefrigerated 1,001 17,155 6,965 17.1 2,212 70

Warehouse 548 7,050 2,783 12.9 2,222 46

Distribution or shipping center 167 7,998 3,987 47.8 2,004 57

Self storage units 285 2,107 195 7.4 6,342 126

Refrigerated 3 327 117 94.8 2,802 101
Number of 

buildings 

(thousand)

Total

floorspace

(million 

square feet)

Total

workers

(thousand)

Mean 

square feet

per building 

(thousand)

Mean

square 

feet per

 workera

Mean 

operating 

hours per 

week

Table B15. Building activity subcategories: total and means of floorspace, number of 

workers, and hours of operation, 2018

Other 113 2,435 1,598 21.5 1,360 82

Laboratory 11 711 785 65.6 906 96

Other 102 1,724 813 16.8 1,798 80

Vacant 208 1,612 Q 7.8 Q 5

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-871A of the 2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey 

Notes: Because of rounding, data may not sum to totals. The Guide to the 2018 CBECS Tables and CBECS Terminology contain definitions of 

terms used in these tables and comparisons between previous CBECS tables. You can access both references from 

http://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/data/2018/. 

Data are sample survey estimates with relative standard errors published in a tab on the Excel worksheet for this table. 

a

Buildings with zero workers are excluded from this column.

Q = Data withheld either because the relative standard error was greater than 50% or the reporting sample had fewer than 20 buildings. 

N = No buildings in reporting sample.
RSE

RSEs for 

number of 

buildings 

RSEs for

total

floorspace

RSEs for

total

workers

RSEs for 

mean 

square feet

per building 

RSEs for 

mean

square 

feet per

 workera

RSEs for 

mean 

operating 

hours per 

week

All buildings 3.9 3.1 3.3 2.6 2.1 2.1

Principal building activity

(expanded)

Education 7.8 5.3 5.9 6.8 3.2 2.7

College or university 19.3 14.1 14.5 18.9 8.1 7.5

K–12 8.9 5.9 6.8 7.5 3.5 3.3

Elementary school 12.8 10.1 10.3 11.2 4.4 4.3

Middle/junior high school 25.0 10.7 13.3 25.0 7.7 7.2

High school 18.9 7.7 9.2 14.9 5.1 4.6

Multi-grade school (any K–12) 27.4 14.2 18.2 22.0 12.4 11.4

Preschool or daycare 27.3 32.8 25.8 19.8 19.8 4.9

Other classroom education 21.1 17.7 19.4 16.7 14.0 13.9

Food sales 14.3 17.0 16.1 12.9 11.4 4.6

Convenience store (with or without gas 

station) 16.0 19.2 21.2 10.0 16.6 5.5

Grocery store or food market 24.6 23.6 22.0 19.4 16.9 8.8

Other food sales 41.9 58.7 52.0 37.5 21.8 32.8

Food service 7.7 8.5 9.4 5.7 5.8 3.5

Fast food 14.6 17.6 17.5 8.9 12.9 3.9

Restaurant or cafeteria 9.9 11.6 12.5 7.6 7.3 4.3

Other food service 19.2 19.7 21.2 12.9 17.5 12.9

Health care 9.8 5.5 6.0 8.5 3.5 4.1

Inpatient 19.4 7.2 7.9 18.5 4.6 0.0

Outpatient 10.3 8.0 8.9 8.4 5.9 3.7

Office (diagnostic) 14.5 14.5 17.3 13.1 10.3 3.2

Clinic or other outpatient 12.8 10.0 9.7 11.3 7.3 6.3

Lodging 9.4 8.3 10.5 9.6 6.3 1.7

Hotel 15.8 13.3 17.0 16.9 8.2 5.5

Motel or inn 23.0 23.9 24.9 24.4 24.1 0.0

Dormitory, fraternity, or sorority 44.5 25.5 31.7 52.0 20.7 0.0

Nursing home or assisted living 17.6 14.3 17.5 9.4 8.3 0.0

Other lodging 43.1 29.2 28.6 35.4 12.4 0.0

Release date: September 2021

Revised date: December 2022

Relative standard errors (RSEs) for for Table B15. Building activity subcategories: total and 

means of floorspace, number of workers, and hours of operation, 2018
RSE

RSEs for 

number of 

buildings 

RSEs for

total

floorspace

RSEs for

total

workers

RSEs for 

mean 

square feet

per building 

RSEs for 

mean

square 

feet per

 workera

RSEs for 

mean 

operating 

hours per 

week

Relative standard errors (RSEs) for for Table B15. Building activity subcategories: total and 

means of floorspace, number of workers, and hours of operation, 2018

Mercantile 7.3 6.0 6.7 6.6 3.5 3.6

Retail (other than mall) 10.1 8.6 10.0 7.5 5.9 5.1

Retail store 10.9 9.7 9.9 7.9 4.7 5.6

Other retail 22.6 19.7 30.1 18.6 28.6 10.5

Enclosed and strip malls 7.6 7.6 7.6 8.4 4.2 3.3

Strip shopping center 7.7 8.5 8.0 8.9 4.3 3.3

Enclosed mall 19.9 19.5 21.9 10.7 16.1 3.0

Office 7.2 5.5 5.6 6.9 2.4 2.5

Administrative or professional 7.8 5.8 6.7 7.7 3.4 3.5

Bank or other financial 26.9 24.3 25.5 20.7 17.9 4.3

Government 23.4 16.5 16.7 19.5 7.6 4.0

Medical (non-diagnostic) 19.9 21.1 24.1 16.3 12.2 5.1

Mixed-use 16.0 11.9 10.2 11.6 5.3 6.7

Other office 24.5 20.7 25.9 23.7 16.6 8.7

Public assembly 9.1 5.8 9.2 6.9 7.4 6.1

Library 29.4 24.3 43.0 25.1 40.1 17.0

Entertainment or culture 26.8 16.3 23.1 26.4 15.1 19.8

Recreation 11.6 9.1 14.0 9.0 11.5 7.5

Social or meeting 15.0 11.2 14.3 13.4 11.2 10.3

Other assembly 29.7 17.8 15.2 31.1 16.7 22.7

Public order and safety 20.2 15.9 20.4 17.4 12.8 8.7

Fire or police station 25.2 21.7 24.8 14.5 11.7 9.0

Courthouse or probation office 33.5 19.7 22.7 29.3 14.7 4.2

Other public order 35.5 35.5 60.8 33.6 78.4 14.4

Religious worship 9.5 9.3 12.4 6.4 9.6 14.7

Service 7.4 8.1 8.4 6.5 6.6 3.3

Post office or postal center 35.0 31.4 31.9 38.1 15.8 15.5

Vehicle service or repair 11.5 15.7 14.6 10.5 9.8 3.9

Vehicle storage or maintenance 11.7 13.0 15.4 11.6 10.2 5.2

Other service 11.6 15.1 13.4 12.5 11.6 5.3

Warehouse and storage 7.4 7.2 7.2 7.0 6.3 6.1

Nonrefrigerated 7.4 7.2 7.3 7.0 6.4 6.1

Warehouse 9.3 10.6 12.8 8.6 10.7 7.5

Distribution or shipping center 14.1 9.5 10.2 12.8 9.1 7.0

Self storage units 18.1 19.4 22.7 8.6 19.3 5.4

Refrigerated 44.7 27.7 30.9 33.1 19.5 25.7
RSE

RSEs for 

number of 

buildings 

RSEs for

total

floorspace

RSEs for

total

workers

RSEs for 

mean 

square feet

per building 

RSEs for 

mean

square 

feet per

 workera

RSEs for 

mean 

operating 

hours per 

week

Relative standard errors (RSEs) for for Table B15. Building activity subcategories: total and 

means of floorspace, number of workers, and hours of operation, 2018

Other 17.1 15.1 22.5 15.2 13.6 13.8

Laboratory 45.8 22.9 31.9 41.5 18.1 29.7

Other 17.9 18.2 27.6 17.7 17.6 15.2

Vacant 17.2 14.1 56.7 12.3 101.2 28.2

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Forms EIA-871A of the 2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey 

Note: RSE is a measure of the reliability or precision of a survey statistic. Variability occurs in survey statistics because the different samples 

that could be drawn would each produce different values for the survey statistics. Estimation of Standard Errors and What is a Relative 

Standard Error (RSE)? contain more information on how RSEs are estimated and used. Both references can be accessed from 

https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/survey-background-technical-information.php.

a

Buildings with zero workers are excluded from this column.