Top 300 U.S. Architecture Firms of 2020
Gensler Maintains No. 1 Rank by Revenue, Topping 2020 List of Architecture Firms
One Embarcadero Center Lobby. San Francisco | Gensler Photo © Joe Fletcher
For the ninth consecutive year, Gensler has ranked first on Architectural Record’s roster of the Top 300 Firms (requires subscription). The annual list, compiled by RECORD’s sister publication, Engineering News-Record (ENR), compares companies’ architectural revenue from the prior year, as reported to ENR by firms that choose to participate. These figures, from 2019, do not reflect the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Historic Fourth Ward Park
Atlanta | HDR
Photo © Steve Carrell, courtesy HDR, click to enlarge.
Charles Library at Temple University
Philadelphia | Snøhetta with Stantec
Photo © Michael Grimm
Gensler’s total architectural revenue grew by $170 million—a 12 percent increase—to just over $1.5 billion last year. “Year after year, our business remains financially strong and debt-free,” said the board of directors in the firm’s 2019 annual report. “Our industry-leading revenues also give us the capacity to reinvest in our global platform—supporting unparalleled research, talent development, and design delivery.” Among other practices that earn all their revenue from architecture, NBBJ saw the greatest percent increase from 2018 to 2019, experiencing 21 percent growth. “We have seen growth in sectors such as academic research and commercial science, as well as services including media architecture and urban design,” managing partner Steve McConnell tells RECORD.
LAX Terminal 1 Renovation
Los Angeles | PGAL
Photo © Lawrence Anderson
Heights Building
Arlington, Virginia | BIG with Leo A Daly
Photo © Sean Airhart
Two Houston-based companies entered the Top 25 this year: PBK, a 15-location practice focusing on education, health care, and sports, and PGAL, a 300-person office that saw architectural revenue grow by 87 percent—some $94 million. The firm’s percentage of revenue from architecture also increased, from 70 percent in 2018 to 95 percent last year. “PGAL has been doing aviation design for almost the entire history of the firm,” says CEO Jeff Gerber, noting major ongoing projects at Los Angeles International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, all three New York–area airports, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “It’s that aviation expertise that really took our company to a national level.”
See the chart below for a ranking of the Top 25 firms. Click here for the full Top 300 Firms list (requires subscription).
Companies are ranked by revenue (in millions of dollars) for architectural services performed in 2019. These data also appear in ENR’s Top 500 Design Firms list, which, unlike our ranking, also includes firms that do engineering exclusively.
Top 25 U.S. Architecture Firms of 2020
| 2020 Rank |
2019 Rank |
FIRM, U.S. HEADQUARTERS | TYPE OF FIRM | TOTAL ARCHITECTURAL REVENUE |
| 1 | 1 | Gensler San Francisco | A | $1,523.14 |
| 2 | 2 | Perkins and Will Chicago | A | $670.32 |
| 3 | 4 | HDR Omaha | EA | $517.60 |
| 4 | 3 | Jacobs Dallas | EA | $509.90 |
| 5 | 5 | AECOM Los Angeles | EA | $439.30 |
| 6 | 7 | HKS Dallas | A | $435.55 |
| 7 | 6 | HOK St. Louis | AE | $429.00 |
| 8 | 8 | Stantec Irvine, California | O | $367.99 |
| 9 | 10 | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill New York | AE | $279.40 |
| 10 | 11 | Perkins Eastman New York | O | $274.71 |
| 11 | 9 | IBI Group Toronto | AE | $259.00 |
| 12 | 13 | CannonDesign New York | AE | $253.60 |
| 13 | 14 | Populous Kansas City, Missouri | A | $225.10 |
| 14 | 12 | CallisonRTKL Highlands Ranch, Colorado | EA | $225.00 |
| 15 | 21 | NBBJ Seattle | A | $220.14 |
| 16 | 20 | Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates New York | A | $218.40 |
| 17 | 18 | Corgan Dallas | A | $208.75 |
| 18 | 15 | DLR Group Minneapolis | A | $208.3 |
| 19 | 41 | PGAL Houston | AE | $201.91 |
| 20 | 19 | ZGF Architects Portland, Oregon | A | $201.14 |
| 21 | 17 | NELSON Worldwide Minneapolis | A | $192.00 |
| 22 | 16 | Leo A Daly Omaha | AE | $169.49 |
| 23 | 22 | SmithGroup Detroit | AE | $166.09 |
| 24 | 30 | PBK Houston | AE | $128.70 |
| 25 | 23 | Gresham Smith Nashville | AE | $128.68 |
| Key to firm types | |
| A | Architect |
| AE | Architect Engineer |
| AP | Architect Planner |
| EA | Engineer Architect |
| O | Other |
| (not all combinations listed) | |
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