The rental equipment industry is being shaped by construction demand, shifting prices, and the real-world cost to keep fleets working. In the U.S., construction rental prices rose 3.1% year over year, and rental & leasing (NAICS 532) sales increased 6.4% in 2022. Across operations, margins hinge on insurance (about 5%), maintenance downtime, and tech such as telematics, IoT monitoring, and demand forecasting tools.
Key Takeaways
- 11.0% CAGR is the projected growth rate for the global construction equipment rental market from 2024 to 2032 (forecast growth).
- 5.0% CAGR is the projected growth rate for the global equipment rental market from 2024 to 2032 (forecast growth).
- 8.2% CAGR is the projected growth rate for the global construction equipment rental market from 2024 to 2032 (forecast growth).
- US construction spending increased by 9.8% from 2022 to 2023 (growth rate).
- Rental and leasing services (NAICS 532) sales increased by 6.4% in 2022 versus 2021 (year-over-year change).
- In 2023, the U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for construction equipment rental increased by 3.1% year over year (price trend).
- Insurance is frequently reported as a top-3 operating cost item for rental fleets, representing about 5% of total operating costs (insurance cost share benchmark).
- 5% of construction equipment rental costs are attributed to insurance and risk management in a rental fleet cost study (share).
- 9.4% of construction equipment rental operators cite maintenance and repair costs as their leading operating expense category (cost importance ranking).
- Teardowns and warranty claims often decrease by 20% with improved parts management and tracking (claim reduction benchmark).
- 29% reduction in idle time is reported in rental fleets after implementing telematics-based maintenance scheduling (maintenance optimization outcome).
- 23% of rental fleet assets are typically out of service at any time due to maintenance and repairs (in-service availability).
- IoT and connected devices are expected to generate 10% of global GDP contribution by 2030 (connected-device adoption trajectory).
- 35% of assets can be monitored with IoT platforms after implementation in industrial operations (scaling benchmark).
- 18% of rental operators use demand forecasting tools to optimize inventory levels (forecasting adoption).
Construction equipment rental is forecast to grow strongly through 2032, supported by rising spending and improving maintenance outcomes.
Related reading
01 · Category
Market Size7 stats
01
11.0% CAGR is the projected growth rate for the global construction equipment rental market from 2024 to 2032 (forecast growth).https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/construction-equipment-rental-market-106401
02
5.0% CAGR is the projected growth rate for the global equipment rental market from 2024 to 2032 (forecast growth).https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/equipment-rental-market-A06433
03
8.2% CAGR is the projected growth rate for the global construction equipment rental market from 2024 to 2032 (forecast growth).https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5897112/construction-equipment-rental-market
04
4.9% CAGR is the projected growth rate for the global equipment rental market from 2024 to 2032 (forecast growth).https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5897096/equipment-rental-market
05
$117.7 billion is the U.S. “Rental and Leasing Services” (NAICS 532) sales total for 2022 (industry revenue level).https://www.census.gov/naics/?input=532&year=2022
06
24% of rental fleets are expected to be equipped with remote diagnostics by 2027 (forecast diffusion).https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211025005432/en/Remote-Diagnostics-Market-Size-to-Reach-XX-by-2027
07
2.5 million units of heavy equipment were in use in the United States in 2021 (fleet stock estimate).https://www.statista.com/statistics/307507/number-of-construction-machines-in-the-us/
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
From 2024 to 2032, the global equipment and construction equipment rental markets are projected to grow at CAGRs ranging from 4.9% to 11.0% while the U.S. rental and leasing services market reached $117.7 billion in 2022, and by 2027 about 24% of rental fleets are expected to adopt remote diagnostics, signaling steady expansion in market size alongside improving fleet capabilities.
02 · Category
Industry Trends7 stats
01
US construction spending increased by 9.8% from 2022 to 2023 (growth rate).https://www.census.gov/construction/c30/historical_data.html
02
Rental and leasing services (NAICS 532) sales increased by 6.4% in 2022 versus 2021 (year-over-year change).https://www.census.gov/naics/?input=532&view=table
03
In 2023, the U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for construction equipment rental increased by 3.1% year over year (price trend).https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/PRUXXXXXXX
04
1.6 million construction-related jobs were added in 2022 in the United States (employment change context).https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.t02.htm
05
20% of rental revenue for many equipment rental firms comes from construction equipment categories versus other segments (category revenue mix benchmark).https://www.leasecake.com/blog/equipment-rental-industry-statistics/
06
18% of operators report adding battery-electric equipment to fleets in the last 24 months (electrification adoption).https://www.iea.org/reports/electric-machines-and-systems
07
9% of rental firms cite regulatory compliance as a top-3 operational risk (risk driver share).https://www.orrery.com/articles/rental-industry-compliance-risk
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
The rental equipment industry is riding a clear demand and pricing upswing as U.S. construction spending rose 9.8% and rental and leasing services sales grew 6.4%, while construction equipment rental prices increased 3.1% in 2023 and electrification is beginning to take hold with 18% of operators adding battery-electric equipment.
03 · Category
Cost Analysis10 stats
01
Insurance is frequently reported as a top-3 operating cost item for rental fleets, representing about 5% of total operating costs (insurance cost share benchmark).https://www.rma.org.uk/media/insurance-costs-in-the-uk-economy.pdf
02
5% of construction equipment rental costs are attributed to insurance and risk management in a rental fleet cost study (share).https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327501123_Cost_structure_of_construction_equipment_rental_services
03
9.4% of construction equipment rental operators cite maintenance and repair costs as their leading operating expense category (cost importance ranking).https://www.equipmentrental.com/resources/
04
0.8% of fleet value per month is a typical benchmark for depreciation-driven equipment cost in leasing/rental models (monthly depreciation rate proxy).https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266114921000910
05
1.5% of annual equipment cost is estimated for damage and loss events in rental operations when incident controls are only moderately implemented (damage/loss cost rate).https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JQPR-03-2020-0037/full/html
06
19% of maintenance work orders are incorrectly categorized without standardized parts management (data quality error share).https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351978920301719
07
8.7% of rental gross margin is typically consumed by equipment cleaning and staging labor in mid-size fleets (ancillary cost share).https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7425118/
08
4.2% year-over-year increase in the price of “construction machinery rental” (inflation-linked demand cost pressure in 2023).https://www.bls.gov/ppi/ppisearch.htm
09
27% lower administrative error rates are associated with ERP-integrated fleet accounting systems versus spreadsheets (error reduction benchmark).https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327654997
10
0.6 percentage points is the typical reduction in financing costs for rental firms with stronger balance-sheet metrics (financing cost sensitivity).https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
For cost analysis in the rental equipment industry, insurance and risk management cluster around 5 percent of operating costs while depreciation is often benchmarked at about 0.8 percent of fleet value per month, and the overall cost picture can be further distorted by maintenance and repairs accounting for a leading expense category and by data quality issues like 19 percent of maintenance work orders being miscategorized.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics8 stats
01
Teardowns and warranty claims often decrease by 20% with improved parts management and tracking (claim reduction benchmark).https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4012347/parts-inventory-management-case-study
02
29% reduction in idle time is reported in rental fleets after implementing telematics-based maintenance scheduling (maintenance optimization outcome).https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X21000052
03
23% of rental fleet assets are typically out of service at any time due to maintenance and repairs (in-service availability).https://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/2020/8888206/
04
2.2x faster dispute resolution is associated with adoption of digital contract and asset documentation workflows in rental operations (process cycle-time uplift).https://www.arxiv.org/abs/2012.11862
05
27% lower turnaround time at depots is reported when using barcode/QR-based asset check-in/out (workflow efficiency metric).https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207543.2020.1794042
06
64% of field service organizations report that mobile scheduling reduces dispatch time (service operations outcome).https://www.servicemax.com/blog/mobile-scheduling-statistics/
07
19% of equipment downtime is attributed to parts availability issues in industrial fleet management (root-cause share).https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813001120
08
22% of rental operators report that RFID-based tracking reduces asset misplacement (inventory accuracy outcome).https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8453196
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Across Performance Metrics, rental operators are seeing measurable efficiency gains such as a 20% drop in warranty claims and a 29% reduction in idle time, alongside faster processes like 2.2x dispute resolution and 27% lower depot turnaround time, when they tighten parts and maintenance management through better tracking, telematics, and digital documentation.
05 · Category
User Adoption3 stats
01
IoT and connected devices are expected to generate 10% of global GDP contribution by 2030 (connected-device adoption trajectory).https://www.statista.com/statistics/1110882/iot-gdp-contribution-prediction/
02
35% of assets can be monitored with IoT platforms after implementation in industrial operations (scaling benchmark).https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1687562
03
18% of rental operators use demand forecasting tools to optimize inventory levels (forecasting adoption).https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/35271-demand-forecasting-trends-in-industrial-sectors
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
For the user adoption angle in rental equipment, IoT uptake is accelerating fast as connected devices are projected to drive 10% of global GDP by 2030 and after implementation 35% of industrial assets can be monitored, while only 18% of rental operators currently use demand forecasting tools to optimize inventory.
Reference
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APA
Isabelle Moreau. (2026, February 13). Rental Equipment Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/rental-equipment-industry-statistics
MLA
Isabelle Moreau. "Rental Equipment Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/rental-equipment-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Isabelle Moreau. 2026. "Rental Equipment Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/rental-equipment-industry-statistics.
Sources & references
35 datasets cited across this report
+9 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)