- The number one industry that is booming in the U.S. in 2025 is healthcare and social assistance, employing over 23 million Americans.
- Finance and Insurance contributes the highest to GDP at $3.19 trillion (10.73% of total GDP).
- Natural Resources and Mining along with Oil and Gas Extraction maintain the lowest unemployment rates at just 1.4%.
A recent study by Yijin Hardware analyzed national-level data across five indicators to identify U.S. industries quietly booming in 2025: GDP contribution, employment share, average annual wage, unemployment rate, and number of establishments. The final Industry Growth Score was calculated using a weighted average of normalized (Min-Max Scaling) metrics and rescaled from 1 to 100, where 100 represents the most quietly booming industry. All data is national-level and reflects relative performance as of 2025.
U.S. industries Quietly Booming
| Industry | Number of Workers | GDP % | Number of Establishments | Unemployment rate | Annual Wage | Industry Growth Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 23,130,100 | 6.30% | 2,077,106 | 2.6% | $54,812 | 100 |
| Finance and Insurance | 6,748.10 | 10.73% | 590,437 | 2.1% | $92,066 | 95.8 |
| Manufacturing | 12,764,000 | 9.88% | 403,767 | 3.1% | $61,808 | 93.7 |
| Real Estate and Rental | 1,883,300.00 | 10.70% | 438,549 | 4.8% | $53,402 | 62.9 |
| Travel and Hospitality | 16,991,000 | 8.44% | 1,000,331 | 6.2% | $25,934 | 61.4 |
| Construction | 8,313,000 | 2.94% | 960,585 | 5.4% | $76,332 | 47.5 |
| Natural Resources and Mining | 623,000 | 0.01% | 147,050 | 1.4% | $85,903 | 39.1 |
| Transportation and Warehousing | 6,783,600 | 3.30% | 361,101 | 4.6% | $58,437 | 38.3 |
| Oil and Gas Extraction | 584,400 | 0.86% | 6,291 | 1.4% | $88,765 | 35 |
| Transportation Equipment Manufacturing | 1,770,700 | 0.01% | 19,016 | 1.7% | $81,999 | 31.2 |
The full research is available here.
Health Care and Social Assistance
Health Care and Social Assistance ranks 1st with a perfect score of 100. This sector employs the largest workforce in the nation with 23.1 million workers, making up 6.67% of the total population. The industry maintains a low unemployment rate of 2.6% and operates the highest number of establishments at over 2 million facilities across the country, demonstrating its widespread presence and critical infrastructure.
Finance and Insurance
Finance and Insurance follows in second, with a score of 95.8. This sector contributes the largest share to national GDP at $3.19 trillion (10.73%) while maintaining one of the lowest unemployment rates at 2.1%. Finance and Insurance provides the highest average weekly hours at 50 hours per week, resulting in the highest annual wage of $92,066, demonstrating strong employment stability and compensation.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing comes in third with a score of 93.7. The sector employs 12.7 million workers, making it the third-largest employer, while contributing nearly $3 trillion to GDP. Manufacturing maintains above-average weekly hours and generates a substantial annual wage of $61,808.
Real Estate and Rental
Real Estate and Rental ranks fourth with a score of 62.9. The sector contributes the second-highest GDP share at $3.18 trillion (10.70%) despite employing just 1.88 million workers. The industry operates 438,549 establishments nationwide, maintaining a significant economic impact relative to its workforce size.
Travel and Hospitality
Travel and Hospitality is fifth with a score of 61.4. The sector is the second-largest employer with nearly 17 million workers. Despite this massive workforce, the industry faces one of the highest unemployment rates among top sectors at 6.2% and offers the lowest average hourly earnings of all ranked industries.
Construction
Construction ranks sixth, scoring 47.5. The sector employs over 8.3 million people, operates through nearly a million businesses, and pays out an average of $76,332 a year. Its GDP slice is smaller, but it’s one of the few sectors where the work is always visible.
Natural Resources and Mining
Natural Resources and Mining lands in seventh with a score of 39.1. The sector shares the lowest unemployment rate at 1.4% and maintains one of the highest average weekly hours at 44.6. The industry provides substantial annual wages of $85,903 despite having minimal GDP contribution, indicating high compensation for specialized workers.
Transportation and Warehousing
Transportation and Warehousing ranks eighth with a score of 38.3. The sector employs 6.78 million workers (1.96% of the population) and contributes $981.9 billion (3.3%) to GDP. The industry maintains competitive hourly earnings at $29.73 while operating across 361,101 establishments nationwide.
Oil and Gas Extraction
Oil and Gas Extraction comes in ninth with a score of 35. The sector features the highest average hourly earnings at $38.36 and the second-highest annual wage at $88,765. Despite employing only 584,400 workers, the industry maintains the joint-lowest unemployment rate at 1.4% and offers near-maximum weekly hours at 44.5, indicating high worker utilization.
Transportation Equipment Manufacturing
Transportation Equipment Manufacturing rounds out the top ten with a score of 31.2. The sector maintains a very low unemployment rate of 1.7% and provides the fourth-highest annual wage at $81,999. The industry operates with above-average weekly hours at 42.7 and competitive hourly earnings of $36.93, demonstrating strong employment quality despite its smaller scale.
A spokesperson at Yijin Hardware commented on the study: “Many of the industries driving today’s economic growth are hidden in plain sight. They aren’t the ones grabbing headlines but are quietly expanding their workforce, boosting wages, and scaling up operations. Sectors like health care, manufacturing, and construction are powering the economy just as strongly—if not more – than flashier tech-driven industries.”
Back to Top: These 10 U.S. Industries are Quietly Booming in 2025 – and None are in Tech
EN 
ES 
RU 
DE 
FR