According to the accompanying table and charts, a "typical" courthouse (two to three stories) had the largest year-over-year increase in construction costs in March 2008 (+3.9% on average for 25 major centers) among four institutional building categories monitored by RSMeans. In second place was a post office (+3.8%), followed by a jail (+3.7%) and a police station (+2.8%).

As for the actual dollar-per-square-foot cost of construction, a jail ($241 per square foot on average for the 25 cities) is most expensive, followed by a police station ($202), then a courthouse ($185), with a post office ($115) being the cheapest. Note that a jail can cost more than twice as much per square foot as a post office.

Readers are cautioned that there are wide-ranging dollar-per-square-foot cost differences between the 25 cities within each building category. For specific construction costs in each city, please consult the table and charts below.

A Regional Perspective on Construction Costs
New York is the most expensive city in which to build in the United States, with San Francisco in second place. Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago form the next tier. Minneapolis, Los Angeles and San Diego are also relatively expensive.

Major cities that are relatively low cost are Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, Houston and Dallas. It is interesting to note that the nation's capital, Washington, lies just slightly below the middle of the pack.

It is informative to provide some regional construction cost comparisons. For example, it costs almost 30% more to build in Chicago than in Atlanta and there is a similar spread between high-cost Philadelphia and low-cost Miami. Finally, the premium between the highest-cost city, New York, and the lowest-cost city in the table, Winston Salem, is +68%.