US Data Processing Revenue Grows 20.3 Percent as Services Total Reaches 6.42 Trillion Dollars
Revenue at United States data processing and hosting firms rose 20.3 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter, growing at 2.67 times the rate of the services sector as a whole, according to the US Census Bureau.
Total revenue for the services industries the survey covers reached 6,418.7 billion dollars, up 3.0 percent on the first quarter and 7.6 percent on the year, both seasonally adjusted and neither adjusted for prices. The quarterly figures carry a margin of error of 0.4 percentage points and the annual figures 0.6 points.
Inside the information sector, the split is severe
| Information subsector, second quarter 2026 | Billion dollars | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| Data processing and hosting | 124.1 | 20.3% |
| Other information services | 135.0 | 18.9% |
| Software publishers | 177.0 | 14.7% |
| Wired telecommunications carriers | 69.7 | -2.5% |
Levels and annual changes as published. All four changes clear a 90 percent interval built from the standard errors the survey publishes.
The information sector as a whole reached 704.4 billion dollars and grew 9.9 percent on the year. Data processing and hosting is 17.6 percent of it on our calculation, and it is the fastest growing of the information subsectors. Across every line the survey publishes it ranks fourth, behind three categories within arts, entertainment and recreation.
The contrast within one sector is the story. Data processing and hosting grew 20.3 percent while wired telecommunications shrank 2.5 percent and wireless telecommunications shrank 1.1 percent. Storage and compute are expanding at a fifth a year inside the same statistical sector in which the older network businesses are contracting, and all three of those changes are large enough to clear their own confidence intervals.
A second contrast sits one sector away. Computer systems design and related services, which sells the labour of building systems rather than the equipment that runs them, reached 194.9 billion dollars and grew 3.3 percent on the year. Hosting revenue is therefore growing 6.15 times as fast as systems design revenue, on our calculation, inside the same broad category of technology services.
The rest of the board
| Sector, second quarter 2026 | Billion dollars | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 1,147.5 | 7.4% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 816.4 | 6.4% |
| Information | 704.4 | 9.9% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 401.8 | 12.3% |
As published, the four largest sectors by revenue. Every annual change shown clears its 90 percent interval.
Health care is the largest single sector at 17.9 percent of the total, followed by professional services at 12.7 percent and information at 11.0 percent, all on our calculation.
Transportation and warehousing grew fastest among the large sectors at 12.3 percent on the year and 5.1 percent on the quarter. Other services, a residual category, grew 11.1 percent on the quarter, the largest quarterly move of any major sector, though its margin of error is the widest as well.
Two major sectors fell on the quarter. Utilities were down 1.9 percent while still up 6.8 percent on the year. Educational services fell 0.6 percent on the quarter and rose 2.9 percent on the year, and neither of those figures can be distinguished from zero, since the 90 percent margin of error on that sector is wider than either change.
What the survey does not tell you
The first quarter figure was revised down. The advance estimate published on 20 August put quarterly growth at 3.1 percent; this release puts it at 3.0 percent, a downward revision of 0.1 percentage points.
Coverage is narrower than the phrase selected services suggests. Finance and insurance is included in the total by definition but only one component is published, credit intermediation at 559.0 billion dollars, up 5.2 percent on the year. Insurance carriers, securities and investment activity carry no published line at all. Food services and drinking places are outside the survey entirely, so accommodation appears at 89.3 billion dollars with no restaurant revenue beside it.
Confidence intervals are published for the total alone. Every other line carries a standard error and nothing else, so any statement in this article about whether a sector moved at all is built from those standard errors at the 90 percent interval the survey’s methodology specifies, not read off the release.
There is no explanation attached to any of it. The release is a set of tables, one summary paragraph and a footnote on statistical significance. Nothing in it names artificial intelligence, data centre construction or any other driver for the 20.3 percent, and no such attribution should be read into a figure the agency publishes without one.
The unadjusted total is 6,431.5 billion dollars, 12.8 billion above the adjusted figure.
Why it matters: The services survey is where the American economy’s largest sector reports its actual receipts, and this edition puts a revenue number on a shift usually discussed through capital spending. Hosting and data processing revenue is growing at 20.3 percent, the telecommunications businesses in the same sector are shrinking, and systems design revenue next door is growing at 3.3 percent. That is a reallocation inside services rather than a uniform services expansion, and it shows up in money received rather than money committed.
Outlook: The advance estimate for the third quarter is due on 19 November and the full report on 10 December. The gap between the two technology lines is what to watch. A data processing figure holding near 20 percent against a systems design figure near 3 percent would mean the revenue is still concentrating in one of the two. A narrowing gap would mean it has begun to spread.
Sources: US Census Bureau.
