Release date: September 2021

Revised date: December 2022

Number of 

buildings 

(thousand)

Total

floorspace

(million 

square feet)

Total

workers

(thousand)

Median 

square feet

per building 

(thousand)

Median 

square feet 

per 

workera

Median 

operating 

hours per 

week

Median 

age of 

buildings 

(years)

All buildings 5,918 96,423 85,796 5.4 1,167 50 36

Principal building activity

(expanded)

Education 437 13,623 10,370 8.8 1,060 50 37

College or university 60 1,827 1,402 10.0 1,459 60 42

K–12 264 10,619 7,889 15.0 1,127 45 33

Elementary school 133 3,626 3,062 8.0 980 40 28

Middle/junior high school 26 1,832 1,360 57.4 1,165 50 38

High school 69 3,510 2,213 12.8 1,392 50 50

Multi-grade school (any K–12) 36 1,651 1,254 20.0 1,313 50 33

Preschool or daycare 81 482 704 4.0 444 60 41

Other classroom education 33 695 374 8.8 1,593 40 49

Food sales 163 1,006 917 2.4 1,100 112 38

Convenience store (with or without gas 

station) 121 371 385 2.1 1,050 120 38

Grocery store or food market 33 604 496 5.8 1,113 98 46

Other food sales Q Q Q Q Q Q Q

Food service 286 1,385 2,884 3.5 500 80 39

Fast food 70 291 701 3.3 433 102 19

Restaurant or cafeteria 175 924 2,005 3.8 480 72 44

Other food service 41 171 179 3.0 1,000 63 68

Health care 137 4,018 6,656 6.0 459 48 29

Inpatient 9 2,259 3,597 121.0 730 168 35

Outpatient 129 1,760 3,059 5.7 453 45 29

Office (diagnostic) 64 638 1,128 5.5 444 45 28

Clinic or other outpatient 64 1,122 1,932 6.0 459 50 32

Lodging 207 6,976 2,764 13.6 1,987 168 27

Hotel 66 3,551 1,129 28.7 3,556 168 32

Motel or inn 41 592 208 10.4 3,000 168 34

Dormitory, fraternity, or sorority 35 840 143 4.0 4,758 168 10

Nursing home or assisted living 38 1,525 1,095 29.7 1,283 168 21

Other lodging 27 467 189 5.4 1,538 168 3

Mercantile 517 10,781 8,882 8.8 1,232 55 37

Retail (other than mall) 350 5,193 3,251 6.0 1,700 55 43

Retail store 296 4,487 2,749 5.5 1,700 55 43

Other retail 55 706 501 6.0 2,000 53 43

Enclosed and strip malls 167 5,588 5,631 13.0 688 55 30

Strip shopping center 166 4,904 5,226 12.7 684 55 30

Enclosed mall 1 684 405 685.0 1,945 73 37

Table B16. Building activity subcategories: total and medians of floorspace, number of workers, and 

hours of operation, 2018
Number of 

buildings 

(thousand)

Total

floorspace

(million 

square feet)

Total

workers

(thousand)

Median 

square feet

per building 

(thousand)

Median 

square feet 

per 

workera

Median 

operating 

hours per 

week

Median 

age of 

buildings 

(years)

All buildings 5,918 96,423 85,796 5.4 1,167 50 36

Table B16. Building activity subcategories: total and medians of floorspace, number of workers, and 

hours of operation, 2018

Office 970 16,662 32,843 5.0 609 45 38

Administrative or professional 553 9,294 19,247 4.5 625 45 38

Bank or other financial 47 628 1,212 5.2 714 50 34

Government 129 2,526 4,525 3.9 556 40 39

Medical (non-diagnostic) 46 356 681 4.2 574 42 28

Mixed-use 119 3,359 6,375 10.0 604 60 36

Other office 76 500 804 2.2 625 45 42

Public assembly 488 7,192 3,338 6.1 2,072 45 43

Library 25 433 312 6.2 1,001 52 25

Entertainment or culture 71 1,318 533 5.0 2,250 30 62

Recreation 152 2,279 997 8.3 2,500 56 28

Social or meeting 220 2,469 1,020 5.0 2,100 40 46

Other assembly 20 694 476 5.0 2,035 60 38

Public order and safety 81 1,538 1,587 5.6 1,000 168 32

Fire or police station 61 586 522 5.3 1,000 168 32

Courthouse or probation office 9 452 655 25.0 834 40 93

Other public order 11 501 Q 3.7 750 168 28

Religious worship 439 5,471 1,948 8.0 2,500 15 45

Service 867 6,240 4,736 4.2 1,378 45 35

Post office or postal center 35 367 731 4.0 1,074 140 41

Vehicle service or repair 267 1,923 1,431 4.8 1,440 50 39

Vehicle storage or maintenance 369 2,805 1,508 5.0 1,600 40 34

Other service 196 1,145 1,067 3.3 1,000 50 33

Warehouse and storage 1,004 17,483 7,081 6.0 2,400 50 28

Nonrefrigerated 1,001 17,155 6,965 6.0 2,400 50 28

Warehouse 548 7,050 2,783 5.1 2,000 44 34

Distribution or shipping center 167 7,998 3,987 14.0 1,750 50 36

Self storage units 285 2,107 195 5.1 6,000 168 20

Refrigerated 3 327 117 53.0 3,273 80 39

Other 113 2,435 1,598 6.0 1,429 54 28

Laboratory 11 711 785 19.6 645 60 20

Other 102 1,724 813 6.0 1,640 54 28

Vacant 208 1,612 Q 3.6 4,000 0 40

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

Release date: September 2021

Revised date: December 2022

RSEs for 

number of 

buildings

RSEs for total

floorspace

 RSEs for 

total

workers

RSEs not 

available

for

medians 

RSEs not 

available 

for 

medians

RSEs not 

available 

for 

medians

RSEs not 

available 

for 

medians

All buildings 3.9 3.1 3.3 — — — —

Principal building activity

(expanded)

Education 7.8 5.3 5.9 — — — —

College or university 19.3 14.1 14.5 — — — —

K–12 8.9 5.9 6.8 — — — —

Elementary school 12.8 10.1 10.3 — — — —

Middle/junior high school 25.0 10.7 13.3 — — — —

High school 18.9 7.7 9.2 — — — —

Multi-grade school (any K–12) 27.4 14.2 18.2 — — — —

Preschool or daycare 27.3 32.8 25.8 — — — —

Other classroom education 21.1 17.7 19.4 — — — —

Food sales 14.3 17.0 16.1 — — — —

Convenience store (with or without gas 

station) 16.0 19.2 21.2 — — — —

Grocery store or food market 24.6 23.6 22.0 — — — —

Other food sales 41.9 58.7 52.0 — — — —

Food service 7.7 8.5 9.4 — — — —

Fast food 14.6 17.6 17.5 — — — —

Restaurant or cafeteria 9.9 11.6 12.5 — — — —

Other food service 19.2 19.7 21.2 — — — —

Health care 9.8 5.5 6.0 — — — —

Inpatient 19.4 7.2 7.9 — — — —

Outpatient 10.3 8.0 8.9 — — — —

Office (diagnostic) 14.5 14.5 17.3 — — — —

Clinic or other outpatient 12.8 10.0 9.7 — — — —

Lodging 9.4 8.3 10.5 — — — —

Hotel 15.8 13.3 17.0 — — — —

Motel or inn 23.0 23.9 24.9 — — — —

Dormitory, fraternity, or sorority 44.5 25.5 31.7 — — — —

Nursing home or assisted living 17.6 14.3 17.5 — — — —

Other lodging 43.1 29.2 28.6 — — — —

Mercantile 7.3 6.0 6.7 — — — —

Retail (other than mall) 10.1 8.6 10.0 — — — —

Retail store 10.9 9.7 9.9 — — — —

Other retail 22.6 19.7 30.1 — — — —

Enclosed and strip malls 7.6 7.6 7.6 — — — —

Strip shopping center 7.7 8.5 8.0 — — — —

Enclosed mall 19.9 19.5 21.9 — — — —

Relative standard errors (RSEs) for Table B16. Building activity subcategories: total and medians 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 not 

available

for

medians 

RSEs not 

available 

for 

medians

RSEs not 

available 

for 

medians

RSEs not 

available 

for 

medians

All buildings 3.9 3.1 3.3 — — — —

Relative standard errors (RSEs) for Table B16. Building activity subcategories: total and medians of 

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

Office 7.2 5.5 5.6 — — — —

Administrative or professional 7.8 5.8 6.7 — — — —

Bank or other financial 26.9 24.3 25.5 — — — —

Government 23.4 16.5 16.7 — — — —

Medical (non-diagnostic) 19.9 21.1 24.1 — — — —

Mixed-use 16.0 11.9 10.2 — — — —

Other office 24.5 20.7 25.9 — — — —

Public assembly 9.1 5.8 9.2 — — — —

Library 29.4 24.3 43.0 — — — —

Entertainment or culture 26.8 16.3 23.1 — — — —

Recreation 11.6 9.1 14.0 — — — —

Social or meeting 15.0 11.2 14.3 — — — —

Other assembly 29.7 17.8 15.2 — — — —

Public order and safety 20.2 15.9 20.4 — — — —

Fire or police station 25.2 21.7 24.8 — — — —

Courthouse or probation office 33.5 19.7 22.7 — — — —

Other public order 35.5 35.5 60.8 — — — —

Religious worship 9.5 9.3 12.4 — — — —

Service 7.4 8.1 8.4 — — — —

Post office or postal center 35.0 31.4 31.9 — — — —

Vehicle service or repair 11.5 15.7 14.6 — — — —

Vehicle storage or maintenance 11.7 13.0 15.4 — — — —

Other service 11.6 15.1 13.4 — — — —

Warehouse and storage 7.4 7.2 7.2 — — — —

Nonrefrigerated 7.4 7.2 7.3 — — — —

Warehouse 9.3 10.6 12.8 — — — —

Distribution or shipping center 14.1 9.5 10.2 — — — —

Self storage units 18.1 19.4 22.7 — — — —

Refrigerated 44.7 27.7 30.9 — — — —

Other 17.1 15.1 22.5 — — — —

Laboratory 45.8 22.9 31.9 — — — —

Other 17.9 18.2 27.6 — — — —

Vacant 17.2 14.1 56.7 — — — —

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form 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.