Aggregates price trends this decade vary widely from state to state

All but four states in the U.S. have seen increases in the price of aggregates used in construction and highway applications since 2019, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data conducted by Waco, Texas-based aggregates producer Twisted Nail LLC.

The analysis also examines aggregates production in the U.S. by state, finding its home state of Texas has led all others in annual output in recent years. Texas has been producing approximately 200 million tons of crushed stone and nearly 100 million tons of sand and gravel annually, according to Twisted Nail.

The quarries and concrete recycling plants in Texas are either sending some of the material across state lines or its economy is outperforming. The state’s output accounts for about 12 percent of the total national supply while Texas represents approximately 9 percent of the U.S. population.

California, the second-largest aggregates producer, processes around 40 million tons of crushed stone and 100 million tons of sand and gravel. However, California’s production constitutes just 5.6 percent of the national supply despite the state making up nearly 12 percent of the U.S. population.

The highest-producing states of crushed stone after Texas are Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri and Ohio, with Florida and Pennsylvania also among the five largest states in the U.S. by population, while Ohio ranks seventh and Missouri 18th.

On the inflation front, New Jersey has fared the worst, says Twisted Nail, with aggregates price increases of 41 percent since 2019. Also experiencing aggregates price inflation of more than 30 percent have been Utah, South Carolina, Mississippi and Vermont.

The four states that averaged a lower cost of aggregates in 2023 compared with 2019 were North Dakota (-16 percent), Delaware (-13 percent), Louisiana (-10.6 percent) and Idaho (-2.7 percent).

Hunter Kosar, owner of Twisted Nail, says material proximity, along with trucking labor costs and driver availability, play roles in the price increases in some states.

“While the input costs to produce these aggregates has increased nationwide, an often overlooked driver of cost is the delivery fees associated with bringing these aggregates to their end use location,” Kosar says. “These expenses can be as much as 30 percent to 70 percent of the contractor’s final cost of material.”

Just as permitting new landfills has prompted a boost in municipal recycling, a “not in my back yard” (NIMBY) attitude toward quarries seems poised to help the concrete recycling rate climb.

“Variations in permitting regulations and community appetite for new quarry projects can complicate sourcing aggregates in certain areas,” writes Twisted Nail, which offers concrete and asphalt recycling services. “These shortages can increase costs through greater competition for supply or higher shipping expenses.”

According to the most recently published USGS national summary of crushed stone production, the output of recycled aggregates equivalent to crushed stone have stayed relatively consistent from 2019 through 2023 at between 31 million metric tons and 33 million metric tons annually.

That compares with an average of 1.5 billion metric tons on natural crushed stone output annually, meaning recycled concrete represents about 2 percent of the total.