Founded in 1938 in Hibbing, Minn., Ryan Cos. continues to grow in the Midwest, where revenue is on the rise, increasing from $153.9 million in 2023 to $198 million in 2024. Fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and seizing on market opportunities has always been part of the company’s culture. In 1949, the company expanded its role and services by forming Ryan Realty Co. to finance and manage real estate that the original company— Ryan Lumber and Coal—had built. 

Today, the company continues to own and develop properties and offers a range of services including construction, architecture/engineering, development, real estate management and capital markets.
Ryan Cos.—with offices in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Texas, Washington, Florida and Arizona—works in various market sectors, including healthcare, data centers, industrial, life sciences, mission critical, mixed use, multi-family, office, retail and senior living.

In addition to encouraging entrepreneurship among its employees, Ryan strives to make the places where it works better through its RyanGivesBack Foundation, which invests 5% of the company’s pretax earnings into local communities. It also encourages employees to use up to 20 hours of work time annually to volunteer and matches 100% of employees’ charitable contributions up to $500 per charity per year.

For these and other achievements, ENR Midwest has named Ryan Cos. as the Midwest Contractor of the Year for 2025. Look for a profile of the firm in ENR Midwest’s July 18 print edition. 

Ryan Cos. certainly isn’t the only Midwest firm reporting a standout performance over the past year. Despite such on-going challenges as high interest rates, the skilled labor shortage and inflation, other firms on the Midwest Top Contractors survey also excelled in 2024. A preliminary list of some of the firms participating in the survey includes those featured below: 

Alberici-Flintco

Clark Group  

Gray 

Clune Construction 

CORE Construction Company 

Findorff 

Graycor

Holder Construction 

J.P. Cullen 

J.E. Dunn Construction Company 

M.A. Mortenson Company 

McCarthy Building Companies

Meyer Najem 

OHLA USA, Inc. 

Paric Holdings 

Pepper Construction 

Shiel Sexton Construction Company 

Turner Construction Company 

Weis Builders, Inc.

The Whiting Turner Construction Co.