The Trade Economy Index · 2026 Edition

How the skilled trades fare in the AI era.

An independent index scoring the U.S. skilled trades on two axes. AI-Resilience captures how protected each trade is from AI. AI-Leverage captures how much profit AI can unlock by orchestrating the work around the labor. Grounded in public labor, permit, market, and review data, plus aggregate operating benchmarks from Level CFO. AI can’t swing the wrench, but it can run the shop around the crew that does.

13
trades scored
82.3
top index score (HVAC & Refrigeration)
29
public-company validators
4.19
best-rated trade (Electrical)

The quadrant

Every skilled trade is AI-resilient in absolute terms. That is the thesis. So the axes show relative position: where each trade stands versus its peers. Top-right trades are both protected and full of upside. Bottom-left are exposed and slow to gain.

Every trade, ranked

TradeAI-ResilienceAI-LeverageIndexQuadrantAvg rating
HVAC & Refrigeration83.481.382.3Transform & Win3.74★
Fire & Life Safety83.479.981.7Transform & Win3.51★
Electrical80.679.780.2Transform & Win4.19★
Doors & Access79.477.778.6Safe Havenn/a
Glass & Glazing76.876.976.8Safe Havenn/a
Restoration & Remediation70.583.176.8Race to Modernizen/a
Plumbing79.973.176.5Safe Haven3.92★
Low-Voltage & Security72.280.376.3Race to Modernizen/a
Concrete & Masonry75.775.375.5Safe Havenn/a
Landscaping & Grounds68.980.974.9Race to Modernize3.68★
Roofing68.581.174.8Race to Modernize3.80★
Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial68.679.574Race to Modernizen/a
Painting & Wall Finishing64.274.369.3Under Pressuren/a

Where does your shop stand?

The index is the scoreboard. The next question is where your shop sits on it: top quartile, middle, or leaving money on the table. That’s a one-hour conversation.

See how your numbers compare with Level CFO →