Because of the way stone is sold, it is difficult to gauge the actual size of the U.S. stone industry. In 2002, Catalina Research Inc. and Ceramic Tile and Stone Consultants (CTaSC) prepared a report estimating that a total of $3.3 billion worth of stone was consumed in the U.S. that year. This marked a 50% increase from 1998, when that total was estimated to be $2.2 billion. Looking back 20 years, a report from the U.S. Bureau of Mines estimated that stone consumption in the U.S. in 1984 was $362 million -- a mere 10% of what it is today.
While stone use in the U.S. has certainly grown, the applications have changed dramatically. Two and three decades ago, much of stone consumed in the U.S. was for commercial building projects. For many American stone importers, the 1980s was a decade of “Class A†office interiors -- where highly polished marble and brass accents ruled the day. Major stone cladding projects also took shape across the country, as limestone and granite towers shaped and re-shaped the skylines in cities such as Atlanta, Tampa, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.