A compiled reference of 46 verified statistics on U.S. elevators and escalators: the installed base (1.03 million elevators, 20.6 billion trips a year), deaths and injuries (about 31 and 17,000 a year), inspection frequency and government fees in 14 jurisdictions (New York City, Texas, Houston, Massachusetts, California, Florida, Illinois, Chicago, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Georgia, the District of Columbia and Cincinnati), the compliance gap found by audits and open data (36 percent of Massachusetts elevators on expired certificates, 33.9 percent of Chicago buildings inspected, with private inspectors reaching 88.5 percent of their buildings and city staff 19.1 percent; 158,250 active New York City violations), outage and availability data from public operators, and the per-unit price of public maintenance contracts.
Key statistics
7 highlights from this report
Key statistics
Key takeaways
Elevators are inspected on paper far more reliably than they are fixed. The fee for the annual test is trivial in every jurisdiction compiled; the penalties, the late-filing ladders and the audit findings all describe the same failure, a defect found and not corrected.
The U.S. has 1.03 million elevators making 20.6 billion trips a year; NYC alone tracks 81,288 active ones.
About 31 deaths and 17,000 serious injuries a year; half the deaths are workers, mostly falls into the shaft.
NYC fines $3,000 to $5,000 per elevator for a missing test report; California charges $225 to $675 per unit to inspect.
36 percent of Massachusetts elevators were on expired certificates in 2012; a third of Chicago's buildings got their 2013 inspection.
Private inspectors reached 88.5 percent of their Chicago buildings; city staff 19.1 percent.
NYCHA logged 34,929 outages in 2022, about 10.6 per car on the 2010 count of 3,300; subway elevators ran at 97.6 percent availability in 2025.
The annual test costs the same everywhere; filing it late costs up to four times as much.
How we built this report
Every figure was compiled in September 2026 from the publisher's own document, dataset or fee schedule and verified against the original before publishing.
- Primary publishers only
Industry counts from the National Elevator Industry's own fact sheets; deaths and injuries from CPWR's analysis of federal data and a peer-reviewed NEISS study; fees and frequencies from each program's rule or fee page; compliance rates from government audits and live open-data queries.
- Open data queried, not quoted
The New York City device counts, violation ledger and Category 1 and 5 filing status were pulled from the Department of Buildings' Socrata datasets on September 2, 2026, and the MTA availability figures were aggregated from the monthly rows on New York State's portal; the query is recorded for each figure.
- Audits dated, denominators kept
The Massachusetts (2012) and Chicago (2013) audits are old and are labeled by year; each rate is shown with its own denominator rather than averaged into a national figure.
- Consumer-group figures excluded
The 27 deaths and 10,200 injuries a year repeated across the web could not be traced to a published analysis and appear only in the unverified section.
- Per-unit rates computed and labeled
Outages per elevator, the share of the New York fleet behind on testing, and the per-unit contract price are RapidEye arithmetic and are marked Computed with their inputs.
- What is not here yet
Private inspector fee ranges, a state-by-state count of registered elevators beyond California, New York City and Massachusetts, and a current federal fatality series do not exist in public form; they are named as gaps rather than estimated.
- Independent review
Written by one co-founder, reviewed by the other before publishing.
Scope caveat: the national counts are an industry estimate; the compliance and outage figures are from the handful of jurisdictions and public operators that publish them, and are not a national sample. Fees are the government's charge; private inspector fees are set by market and not compiled here.
Inspection frequency and fees, 14 jurisdictions
As published by each program; fees are the government's charge, not the inspector's| Jurisdiction | Frequency | Fees and penalties |
|---|---|---|
| New York City | Cat 1 test yearly; Cat 5 every 5 years; periodic inspection yearly | $30 filing; $3,000 to $5,000 per missing report; $150 to $250 a month late |
| Texas (state) | Every 12 months, private registered inspector | $20 filing per unit; $10 late fee per 30 days; up to $5,000 per day in penalties |
| Houston | Third-party inspection; city operating permit | $91.06 permit plus $33.56 admin fee per conveyance per year |
| Massachusetts | Annual test on application | $200 if filed 90 to 120 days early; $600 at 60 to 89; $800 inside 59; $200 late penalty |
| California | Annual reinspection by Cal/OSHA Elevator Unit | $225 hydraulic or cabled to 3 stories; $350 to 10; $450 to 20; $550 above; $675 escalator |
| Florida | Annual inspection by private certified inspector | $75 certificate per elevator; $50 late after August 1 |
| Illinois (outside Chicago) | Annual inspection by state-licensed inspector | $100 first certificate; $75 renewal; $50 late; $30 registration |
| Chicago | Annual; owner hires licensed third-party inspector | City program fee equal to half the city inspection fee; average $103.56 per elevator (2013) |
| Ohio | Twice a year for standard elevators | $295 plus $16 per landing plus $3.25; $72 plus $13 per landing for units under 750 lb |
| Pennsylvania | Every 6 or 12 months by equipment type | Certificate valid 24 months (6-month cycle) or 48 months (12-month cycle) |
| Washington | Annual operating permit | $134.10 hydraulic; $167.60 cable (plus $13.10 per opening beyond two); $111.40 escalator (2019 chart) |
| Georgia | Annual inspection fee by number of openings | $65 operating permit per unit per year; $400 plus $50 per opening to install |
| District of Columbia | Third-party QEI reports, four passed in two years | Two-year certificate issued by DC Department of Buildings |
| Cincinnati | Semiannual city inspection | Annual, three-year or five-year load tests as applicable |
Texas, Florida, Illinois, Chicago and the District use private inspectors and charge a filing or program fee; California and Cincinnati inspect with their own staff and charge for the inspection. Washington's figures are the 2019 chart, the most recent published in full; Pennsylvania's fee amounts live on a separate schedule not compiled here.
The follow-up gap, as audited
What government audits and open data found when they checked whether inspected elevators were actually currentDifferent years, different denominators; each bar is the audit's own figure. The two DOB NOW rows are live counts from the compliance dataset on September 2, 2026 and move daily.
New York City's elevator violation ledger
262,889 civil-penalty violations in DOB NOW; bars scaled to that totalThe single largest type, 69,321 violations on record for failing to correct a defect found in the annual Category 1 test, is 26 percent of the 262,889 on record across all statuses. Source: NYC Open Data DOB safety violations dataset, elevator violations, queried September 2, 2026.
Elevator inspection, by the numbers
All 51 figures, 46 verified and 5 computed, grouped by theme, each quoted from the publisher's own document or dataset and independently verified, followed by the figures that circulate and could not be verified.
Rates the sources imply
The five figures below are RapidEye arithmetic on the verified sources in the groups that follow: outages per NYCHA elevator, the share of New York City's fleet behind on its annual test, the annual escalator-injury average, the per-unit price of an airport maintenance contract, and the completion gap between private and city inspectors in Chicago. Each names its inputs.
Statistic 1
NYCHA's 34,929 elevator outages in 2022 across roughly 3,300 elevators is about 10.6 outages per elevator per year, or one every five weeks per car.
RapidEye Research, computed from the NYCHA Federal Monitor's 2023 elevator service report and 2010 Comptroller audit count
Statistic 2
Of New York City's 81,288 active elevators, the 2,666 whose latest Category 1 report predates 2025 are 3.3 percent of the fleet; 8,435 have no Category 5 report on file (10.4 percent, a count that includes cars not yet due their first five-year test) and 5,551 have a latest Category 5 report older than five years (6.8 percent).
RapidEye Research, computed from the DOB NOW elevator safety compliance dataset (queried September 2, 2026)
Statistic 3
The 39,850 escalator injuries to adults 65 and older treated in U.S. emergency departments over 1991 to 2005 average about 2,657 a year.
RapidEye Research, computed from the 2008 Accident Analysis and Prevention study of NEISS data
Statistic 4
Orange County's $41,188 a month for full maintenance of 28 elevators and 9 escalators at John Wayne Airport is about $1,113 per unit per month, or about $13,358 per unit per year, for heavy-duty airport equipment.
RapidEye Research, computed from the Orange County Board of Supervisors contract item
Statistic 5
Chicago's Inspector General found private third-party inspectors reached 88.5 percent of their assigned buildings in 2013 while city staff reached 19.1 percent, a 4.6-to-1 gap in completion rate.
RapidEye Research, computed from the Chicago Office of Inspector General's 2014 elevator inspections audit
What this means: The per-elevator and per-unit rates are what a building manager or contractor can actually compare against their own portfolio; the sources publish totals.
How many elevators, how many rides
According to the National Elevator Industry's 2020 fact sheet (nationalelevatorindustry.org), the United States has more than 1.03 million elevators making 20.6 billion passenger trips a year, up from 900,000 elevators in 2007, with California alone above 145,000; the same sheet counts 56,000 escalators in North America and 105 billion escalator rides a year. According to the New York City Department of Buildings' open data (cityofnewyork.us), the city tracks 120,388 conveyance devices, 81,288 of them active elevators, 42,471 in Manhattan.
Statistic 6
There are more than 1.03 million elevators in the United States, up from 900,000 in 2007; California has the most at over 145,000.
National Elevator Industry, Inc., Elevator and Escalator Fact Sheet, 2020
Statistic 7
US elevators make 20.6 billion passenger trips per year; each elevator carries about 20,000 people per year; there is one elevator for every 317 riders.
NEII, Elevator and Escalator Fact Sheet, 2020
Statistic 8
There are 56,000 escalators in North America; 105 billion passengers ride escalators each year in the United States; 3,000 people ride an escalator each hour.
NEII, Elevator and Escalator Fact Sheet, 2020
Statistic 9
Americans take 283 billion trips on elevators and escalators for 2.825 billion miles each year a year (NEII homepage; the 2020 fact sheet gave 2.55 billion miles).
NEII, homepage, accessed 2026
Statistic 10
NYC DOB tracks 120,388 conveyance devices, of which 93,530 are Active; Active devices are 81,288 elevators, 7,042 accessibility lifts, 2,612 escalators, 1,201 dumbwaiters, 708 personnel hoists, 641 conveyors, 32 manlifts, 6 moving walks.
NYC Department of Buildings, DOB NOW Elevator Safety Compliance dataset, queried 2026-09-02
Statistic 11
Active NYC elevators by borough: Manhattan 42,471; Brooklyn 17,366; Queens 11,367; Bronx 8,708; Staten Island 1,376.
same dataset, queried 2026-09-02
Statistic 12
NYCHA operates more than 3,300 elevators in 283 developments, installed in approximately 1,700 buildings (2010); the federal monitor says over 60% of NYCHA's 3,000+ elevators are in use beyond the manufacturer's 20-year recommended life (2023).
NYC Comptroller audit of NYCHA elevators (2010); NYCHA Federal Monitor elevator service report (2023)
What this means: The national count is an industry estimate with no published method, and it is the only one that exists; NEII's 2019 sheet derived the 105 billion escalator rides from 35,000 U.S. units, and its 2020 sheet changed the unit count to 56,000 for North America without revising the rides; New York City's device register is the one large jurisdiction where the count is a live administrative record rather than an estimate.
Deaths and injuries
According to CPWR's analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Consumer Product Safety Commission data (cpwr.com), elevator and escalator incidents kill about 31 people and seriously injure about 17,000 a year in the United States, elevators account for about 90 percent of the deaths, and half the deaths are workers in or near the equipment; 263 workers died in elevator incidents from 1992 to 2009, 56 percent in falls into the shaft. According to a 2008 study of national emergency department data (nih.gov), 39,850 escalator injuries to adults 65 and older were treated over 1991 to 2005, 84.9 percent of them slips, trips or falls.
Statistic 13
Elevator and escalator incidents kill about 31 people and seriously injure about 17,000 people per year in the US; elevators cause about 90% of the deaths and 60% of the serious injuries; half of the deaths are to people working in or near elevators.
CPWR, analysis of BLS CFOI and CPSC elevator and escalator data (published 2013, data through 2010)
Statistic 14
263 work-related elevator deaths occurred 1992-2009 (about 15 per year); 56% of deaths of workers in or near shafts were falls into the shaft, 18% caught in/between moving parts, 16% struck by elevators or counterweights; only 8 escalator-related worker deaths in the same period.
CPWR, analysis of BLS CFOI (1992-2009) and CPSC (1997-2010) elevator and escalator data
Statistic 15
Elevator constructors in construction had a work-related death rate of 29.1 per 100,000 FTEs in 1992-2002 (vs 13.6 for all construction workers), falling to 13.4 vs 10.4 in 2006-2008.
CPWR, same report
Statistic 16
The occupational injury and illness rate for elevator constructors was 244 per 10,000 FTEs vs 349 for all construction workers (1992-2001).
CPWR, same report
Statistic 17
CPSC recorded 91 non-work-related deaths of elevator passengers from 1997 to 2010, about five per year; falls caused over half.
CPWR, same report
Statistic 18
An estimated 39,850 escalator-related injuries among adults 65+ were treated in US emergency departments 1991-2005 (about 2,657 a year), at 7.8 per 100,000; the rate doubled over the period; 84.9% were slips, trips or falls.
O'Neil and colleagues, Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2008 (CPSC NEISS data), via PubMed
What this means: The federal death and injury series ends in 2010 and no agency has updated it, which is why every "30 deaths a year" figure online traces to this one analysis; half the deaths are workers, and 56 percent of those are falls into the shaft, which makes hoistway access control a building problem as much as a contractor problem.
Inspection frequency and fees, 14 jurisdictions
According to the Rules of the City of New York as published by American Legal Publishing (amlegal.com), New York City requires a Category 1 test every year and a Category 5 test every five years, fines $3,000 per elevator for a missing Category 1 report and $5,000 for a missing Category 5 report, and charges $150 a month for late filing. According to the California Department of Industrial Relations (ca.gov), the annual reinspection fee runs from $225 for a hydraulic elevator to $550 for a cabled elevator above 20 stories and $675 per escalator. According to Massachusetts' fee schedule (mass.gov), the same annual test costs $200 if the application is filed 90 to 120 days before the certificate expires, $600 at 60 to 89 days and $800 inside 59 days. Texas, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Washington and Georgia publish flat per-unit fees from $20 to $295 plus per-landing charges.
Statistic 19
New York City requires a Category 1 test every calendar year, a Category 5 test within five years of the last, and a separate periodic inspection each year at least three months from any Category 1 test; Cat 1/3/5 reports are due 21 days after the test, periodic reports 14 days after inspection.
Rules of the City of New York, 1 RCNY 103-02, current
Statistic 20
NYC penalty for failing to file a Category 1 test report or periodic inspection report is $3,000 per elevator; for a Category 3 or 5 report, $5,000 per elevator (commercial, mixed-use, or 3+ unit residential buildings); 1-2 family buildings pay $1,000.
1 RCNY 103-02 and
Statistic 21
NYC late-filing penalty is $150 per month per elevator for Cat 1 and periodic reports (capped at $1,800) and $250 per month for Cat 3/5 (capped at $3,000); failure to file the affirmation of correction is $3,000 per elevator; defects must be corrected within 90 days.
1 RCNY 103-02
Statistic 22
NYC DOB filing fee is $30 for a periodic inspection report and $40 for an affirmation of correction; the inspection company cannot be the owner's maintenance company.
NYC Department of Buildings, DOB NOW: Safety service notice on elevator inspection changes, January 21, 2022
Statistic 23
Texas requires an inspection every 12 months; TDLR's filing fee is $20 per piece of equipment, a $50 fee per violation for a waiver or delay request, a $10 late fee per 30 days after 60 days from inspection, and penalties up to $5,000 per day per violation for failing to file.
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, elevator program FAQ and certificate-of-compliance instructions, current
Statistic 24
Houston charges an annual elevator operating permit fee of $91.06 plus a $33.56 admin fee per conveyance; inspections are by third-party inspectors.
City of Houston Permitting Center, annual elevator fee page, current
Statistic 25
Massachusetts charges $200 per inspection for an annual elevator test application filed 90-120 days before certificate expiration, $600 if filed 60-89 days before, $800 if filed less than 59 days before; late penalty $200; after-hours inspection $400 extra; 90-day re-inspection $200.
801 CMR 4.02, section current edition
Statistic 26
California's Cal/OSHA Elevator Unit charges $225 per unit for the annual reinspection of a hydraulic elevator or a cabled elevator up to 3 stories, $350 for cabled 4-10 stories, $450 for 11-20 stories, $550 for 21+ stories, $675 per escalator; a 100% penalty applies if fees are unpaid 60 days after notification, and an Order Prohibiting Use costs an additional $675.
California Code of Regulations Title 8 section 344.30; Cal/OSHA Elevator Unit owner guidance (dir.ca.gov)
Statistic 27
Florida certificates of operation cost $75 per elevator, expire July 31 every year, and carry a $50 late fee after August 1; every conveyance must pass an annual inspection by a private certified inspector, except two-stop elevators with a full-service maintenance contract.
Florida Administrative Code 61C-5.006; Florida DBPR Bureau of Elevator Safety certificate-of-operation page
Statistic 28
Illinois (outside Chicago) requires an annual inspection by a state-licensed inspector; the first Certificate of Operation costs $100 per conveyance, renewals $75 per year, with a $50 late fee; conveyance registration is $30 one-time.
Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal, Division of Elevator Safety FAQ and Application for Certificate of Operation, current
Statistic 29
Chicago requires annual inspection of every conveying device; under the Annual Inspection Certification (AIC) program, owners hire a licensed third-party inspector and pay the city a program fee equal to half the city inspection fee.
City of Chicago Department of Buildings, AIC FAQ, revised 11-21-2013
Statistic 30
Ohio's annual certificate of operation for an elevator inspected twice a year costs $295 plus $16 per landing plus a $3.25 Board of Building Standards fee; devices under 750 lb capacity inspected once a year pay $72 plus $13 per landing; escalators and moving walks $395; re-inspection for violations $120 plus $10 per landing.
Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance, Elevator Section Fees page
Statistic 31
Pennsylvania requires periodic inspection of existing elevators every 6 or 12 months depending on equipment type; a certificate of operation is valid 24 months for 6-month-cycle equipment and 48 months for 12-month-cycle equipment; the old A17.1-2000 (with A17.1a-2002 addenda) still governs construction and alteration.
34 Pa. Code ยง405.6; PA Department of Labor & Industry elevators page
Statistic 32
Washington's annual operating permit is $134.10 for a hydraulic elevator, $167.60 for a cable or roped-hydraulic elevator (plus $13.10 per hoistway opening beyond two), $111.40 per escalator, per the 2019 L&I fee chart.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Elevator Fee Increase Chart, citing WAC 296-96-01065
Statistic 33
Georgia's operating permit is $65 per unit per year; annual inspection fees are based on the number of openings per unit; installation permits are $400 per passenger/freight elevator plus $50 per opening, $500 per escalator.
Georgia Comp. R. & Regs. 120-3-25-.14, via LII, current
Statistic 34
District of Columbia conveyance certificates are valid two years, require third-party reports from an ASME QEI-certified inspector for the past two years (four passed reports), and as of October 1, 2025 are issued by the DC Department of Buildings.
DC Department of Buildings, conveyance inspections and certificates page, 2025
Statistic 35
Cincinnati's Elevator Inspection Section performs semiannual inspections of all commercial conveying equipment, and most units need yearly safety tests (annual, three-year, or five-year full-load).
City of Cincinnati, Buildings & Inspections, elevator inspections page, current
What this means: The fee itself is small everywhere; the money is in the penalties and the filing calendar. New York City's fines and Massachusetts' late-filing ladder both price the same thing, a test that was done late or not at all.
Violation, expired-certificate and inspection-completion rates
According to the New York City Department of Buildings' violations dataset (cityofnewyork.us), the city has 262,889 elevator civil-penalty violations on record, 158,250 of them active, led by failure to correct a Category 1 test defect at 69,321 across all statuses. According to the Chicago Office of Inspector General's 2014 audit (igchicago.org), only 33.9 percent of the 6,438 buildings requiring an annual elevator inspection in 2013 were inspected, private inspectors covered 88.5 percent of their buildings and city staff 19.1 percent, and 62.1 percent of elevator violations remained open. According to the Massachusetts State Auditor (mass.gov), 14,211 elevators, about 36 percent of the 39,461 registered, were operating on expired certificates in October 2012. According to New York City Comptroller audits (nyc.gov), the MTA missed scheduled preventive maintenance on about 80 percent of sampled subway elevators and escalators and NYCHA skipped more than 40 percent of scheduled tasks in 2008 and 2009.
Statistic 36
NYC DOB has 262,889 elevator civil-penalty violations on record in DOB NOW, 158,250 of them Active and 104,396 Dismissed; the top violation types are failure to correct a Cat 1 test defect (FTC-VT-CAT1-CO, 69,321), failure to file a Cat 1 test (FTF-VT-CAT1-CO, 38,645), failure to correct a periodic inspection defect (FTC-VT-PER-CO, 31,571), and failure to file a periodic inspection (FTF-VT-PER-CO, 22,195).
NYC DOB, DOB Safety Violations dataset, queried 2026-09-02
Statistic 37
Of 81,288 active NYC elevators, 35,602 had a 2025 Category 1 report year on file, 2,666 had a latest Cat 1 report filed before 2025-01-01, 413 had no Cat 1 report on file, and 8,435 had no Category 5 report on file (5,551 had a latest Cat 5 older than five years, i.e. before 2021-09-01).
DOB NOW Elevator Safety Compliance dataset, queried 2026-09-02
Statistic 38
Chicago's Inspector General found only 33.9% of the 6,438 buildings requiring an annual elevator inspection in 2013 were inspected; private AIC inspectors covered 88.5% of their buildings, DOB staff only 19.1% of theirs; 62.1% of 20,104 elevator violations recorded since January 2006 remained open in March 2014; resolved violations took a median of 173 days to a follow-up inspection.
Chicago Office of Inspector General, Department of Buildings elevator inspections audit (October 2014)
Statistic 39
The 4,094 Chicago buildings DOB failed to inspect in 2013 contained 7,455 elevators and represented about $772,040 in foregone fees, at an average fee of $103.56 per elevator inspected.
Chicago Office of Inspector General, elevator inspections audit (October 2014)
Statistic 40
In Massachusetts, 14,211 elevators (about 36% of the 39,461 registered with the state) were operating with expired inspection certificates as of October 10, 2012, up from a 30% noncompliance rate found in 2010; more than 1,700 certificates had been expired over four years; 5,089 owners had not even applied, representing more than $3 million in uncollected fees.
Massachusetts Office of the State Auditor, press release on Department of Public Safety audit, November 18, 2014
Statistic 41
The NYC Comptroller found the MTA did not perform all scheduled preventive maintenance on about 80% of 65 sampled subway elevators and escalators; 34% of 849 scheduled PM assignments (289) were late or never done; 21 of 65 machines (32%) failed an MTA inspection and were removed from service; NYCT had 407 elevators and escalators at the time.
NYC Comptroller, press release on MTA elevator/escalator maintenance audit, May 1, 2017
Statistic 42
A 2010 NYC Comptroller audit found more than 40% of scheduled preventive-maintenance tasks on sampled NYCHA elevators (Nov 2008-Oct 2009) were not performed, and NYCHA took an average of 13.8 hours to resolve outages against its 10-hour target, with 32% of outages unresolved within 10 hours.
NYC Comptroller, audit of NYCHA passenger elevators, October 2010 (MJ10-064A)
What this means: Every audit that has looked has found the same shape: the inspection happens, the follow-up does not. Open violations, expired certificates and skipped preventive maintenance are the measurable gap between an elevator that was inspected and one that was fixed.
Outages and availability at public operators
According to the NYCHA Federal Monitor's elevator service report (nyc.gov), NYCHA elevators had 34,929 outages in 2022, an average outage lasted 7.19 hours in early 2023, and trash and debris in the door tracks caused about 8 percent of outages. According to the MTA's availability dataset on New York State's open data portal (ny.gov), subway elevators were available 97.6 percent of the time and escalators 95.3 percent in 2025, with 13,746 elevator outages and 1,268 entrapments logged. According to WMATA's 2025 transformation report (wmata.com), Metro replaced 98 escalators between 2021 and 2024 and cut escalator outages 30 percent systemwide.
Statistic 43
NYCHA elevators had 34,929 outages in calendar 2022 (about 2,911 per month), roughly 14% fewer than 2021; Jan-Apr 2023 had 9,904 outages, 12.2% below the 11,282 in the same 2022 period, across 226 developments.
NYCHA Federal Monitor, Elevator Service Report, May 18, 2023
Statistic 44
NYCHA's average elevator outage duration was 7.19 hours in Jan-Apr 2023 (down from 10.07) and average response time 3.49 hours (down from 5.52).
NYCHA Federal Monitor, same report
Statistic 45
Trash and debris obstructing elevator doors caused about 8% of NYCHA's elevator outages over a six-month period, each lasting over 5 hours on average and consuming about 3,800 staff labor hours.
NYCHA Federal Monitor, same report
Statistic 46
NYC subway elevators were available 97.6% of the time and escalators 95.3% of the time in calendar 2025 (24-hour basis, hours-weighted), with 13,746 elevator outages, 1,268 elevator entrapments, and 24,746 escalator outages logged.
MTA, NYCT Subway Elevator and Escalator Availability dataset, monthly rows aggregated by the researcher, queried 2026-09-02
Statistic 47
WMATA (DC Metro) replaced 98 escalators between 2021 and 2024, 16 months ahead of schedule, aims to replace 139 by 2028, each replacement taking about 25 weeks; escalator outages are down 30% systemwide since 2021 and the average escalator is 9.3 years old.
WMATA, 2025 Annual Transformation Report
What this means: Public operators are the only owners that publish outage counts, and their numbers set the benchmark: roughly one outage per car every five weeks at NYCHA, and 97 to 98 percent availability on a transit fleet that is maintained around the clock.
Maintenance contract prices and code adoption
According to the Orange County Board of Supervisors' contract item (ocair.com), John Wayne Airport pays $41,188 a month for full maintenance of 28 elevators and 9 escalators, about $1,113 per unit per month. According to Houston First Corporation's maintenance agreement (houstonfirst.com), the contractor must perform preventive maintenance on every unit at least monthly and pay for the annual inspections and five-year tests. According to the National Elevator Industry's 2019 code survey (nationalelevatorindustry.org), Pennsylvania still enforced ASME A17.1-2000 and California A17.1-2004 while Ohio, Washington and Alabama had adopted the 2016 edition.
Statistic 48
Orange County (John Wayne Airport) pays Kone $41,188 per month ($494,256 per year) for full maintenance of 28 elevators and 9 escalators, about $1,113 per unit per month; the three-year contract carries a further $464,528 per year for as-needed repairs and upgrades (total NTE $2,876,352).
Orange County Board of Supervisors agenda item, John Wayne Airport elevator and escalator maintenance contract (2021)
Statistic 49
Houston First Corporation's elevator/escalator maintenance agreement requires preventive maintenance on each unit at least once per month and makes the contractor pay for required annual inspections and five-year tests.
Houston First Corporation, Elevator-Escalator Maintenance and Repair Services Agreement, August 27, 2018
Statistic 50
A municipal full-maintenance proposal (A-1 Elevator, Bay St. Louis MS) offers quarterly preventive visits, callback service 7am-4pm weekdays, quarterly billing net 30, 1.5%/month late charge, and annual price increases capped at 5%.
City of Bay St. Louis council agenda attachment, A-1 Elevator maintenance agreement
Statistic 51
As of NEII's February 2019 code survey, Pennsylvania still enforced ASME A17.1-2000, California A17.1-2004, Arizona and Arkansas A17.1-2007, New York State/NJ/Illinois/Colorado A17.1-2013, and Ohio/Washington/Alabama A17.1-2016.
NEII, Stateside Code Update Report, February 2019
What this means: Public contracts are the only place a real per-unit maintenance price is printed, and the code-adoption spread means the same elevator is held to a 2000 standard in one state and a 2016 standard in the next.
The numbers that rank for this query and could not be verified
These figures are widely repeated online. Each was traced as far as the trail went and is listed here so a writer does not re-chase it.
Unverified claim
27 deaths and 10,200 injuries a year (Consumer Watchdog). Widely quoted, but the figures could not be traced to a published primary analysis; CPWR's 31 deaths and 17,000 injuries from federal data is the traceable series.
Unverified claim
WMATA elevator availability 98.2 percent, escalator 94.5 percent. Attributed online to WMATA's 2025 report, but the figures do not appear in the report's extractable text; only the escalator replacement and outage-reduction figures are used.
Unverified claim
New Jersey dropped six-month elevator inspections in 2017. Known only from a search snippet of a Department of Community Affairs code alert; the alert PDF and N.J.A.C. 5:23-12 were not retrieved.
Unverified claim
Colorado's $30 annual certificate of operation. The Division of Oil and Public Safety page is bot-blocked and the figure rests on a search snippet.
Unverified claim
ASME A17.1 section 8.6 maintenance control program text. The standard is paywalled; its requirement is referenced by state programs but the verbatim text was not reachable.
Cite this study
Academic or press use: copy a ready-made reference. RapidEye is the publisher.
Quick FAQ
How many elevators are there in the United States?
More than 1.03 million, according to the National Elevator Industry's 2020 fact sheet, up from 900,000 in 2007, with California above 145,000. They make about 20.6 billion passenger trips a year. New York City's Department of Buildings tracks 120,388 conveyance devices, of which 81,288 are active elevators, 42,471 of them in Manhattan.
How often do elevators have to be inspected?
It varies by jurisdiction. New York City requires a Category 1 test every year and a Category 5 test every five years; Texas, Florida and Illinois require an annual inspection by a licensed private inspector; Ohio and Cincinnati inspect standard elevators twice a year; Pennsylvania every 6 or 12 months depending on equipment type; the District of Columbia issues two-year certificates on four passed third-party reports.
How much does an elevator inspection cost?
The government's fee is small: $20 per unit to file in Texas, $75 for a Florida certificate, $65 for a Georgia operating permit, $134.10 to $167.60 for a Washington permit (2019 schedule). California charges $225 to $550 per elevator and $675 per escalator for its own reinspection, Ohio $295 plus $16 per landing. Massachusetts charges $200, $600 or $800 for the same annual test depending on how early the application is filed. The private inspector's charge is separate everywhere that uses one; Chicago's Inspector General put the city's average 2013 fee at $103.56 per elevator.
How many people die in elevator accidents each year?
About 31 a year in the United States, with about 17,000 serious injuries, according to CPWR's analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Consumer Product Safety Commission data through 2010; elevators account for about 90 percent of the deaths and half the dead are workers. CPSC recorded 91 non-work passenger deaths from 1997 to 2010, about five a year. The widely quoted 27 deaths and 10,200 injuries could not be traced to a primary source.
What share of elevators are behind on inspection?
Where anyone has checked, a large share. Massachusetts' State Auditor found 36 percent of registered elevators on expired certificates in 2012. Chicago's Inspector General found only 33.9 percent of buildings due an annual inspection received one in 2013. New York City's live compliance data on September 2, 2026 showed 2,666 of 81,288 active elevators whose latest Category 1 report predates 2025, and 5,551 whose latest Category 5 report is older than five years (a further 8,435 have none on file, a count that includes elevators not yet due their first five-year test).
Data sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these publishers' own documents, each checked against the original before publishing. Sources are named at the publisher level and shown by root domain.
NYC Open Data (Department of Buildings)DOB NOW elevator safety compliance and DOB safety violations datasets, queried September 2026cityofnewyork.usNew York City government (Buildings, NYCHA Federal Monitor, Comptroller)DOB service notice on elevator inspection changes; NYCHA Federal Monitor elevator service report (2023); Comptroller audits (2010, 2017)nyc.gov
National Library of Medicine (PubMed)Peer-reviewed study of escalator injuries among older adults, Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2008nih.gov
American Legal Publishing (Rules of the City of New York)1 RCNY 103-02, periodic inspection and testing of elevatorsamlegal.com
City of Houston Permitting CenterAnnual elevator operating permit fee schedulehoustonpermittingcenter.org
California Department of Industrial RelationsTitle 8 section 344.30 conveyance inspection fees; Cal/OSHA Elevator Unitca.gov
Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law SchoolFlorida 61C-5.006, Georgia 120-3-25-.14, Pennsylvania 34 Pa. Code 405.6 as publishedcornell.edu
City of Chicago Department of BuildingsAnnual Inspection Certification program FAQchicago.gov
City of Chicago Office of Inspector GeneralDepartment of Buildings elevator inspections audit (October 2014)igchicago.org
District of Columbia Department of BuildingsConveyance inspections and certificates page (2025)dc.gov