Toronto again tops North American crane count

PHOENIX—Toronto continues to blow away the field in the semi-annual North American crane count index conducted by Rider Levett Bucknall.

In Q1 2022, Toronto had 252 cranes working on construction projects, far outdistancing the second-place city in the crane index, Los Angeles, which had 51.

Seattle was next with 37, Calgary had 31 and Washington, D.C. had 26.

Toronto has led in crane count every year since 2015.

The firm reported a 12 per cent increase in cranes across the city in the last half year, even as project completions took away 18 cranes from the previous survey.

Toronto’s commercial sector leads the change in the numbers, with an increase of 18 cranes. Residential and mixed-use projects also experienced growth, with a combined increase of seven cranes.

Cities seeing an increase in cranes beside Toronto included Chicago, Denver, New York and San Francisco.

Cities holding steady in their crane counts include Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Cities with a decrease in cranes include Boston, Calgary, Portland, Seattle and Washington.

The top three sectors for cranes are residential, mixed-use and commercial.