Resilient stats: Sales stagger but category remains the leader

The resilient flooring category saw its second consecutive decline in both dollar sales and volume in 2024. However, it still garnered the largest percentage of total dollar sales (about 35%) for the year and experienced the smallest decline in both dollars and volume of any other flooring category in ’24.

When the dust settled, Floor Covering News research found the resilient flooring category as a whole generated $8.381 billion in 2024, which is down about 2.3% from $8.576 billion in 2023. In terms of volume, the resilient flooring category (not including rubber) accounted for 5.846 billion square feet at the first point of sale—down just 0.5% from 5.876 billion square feet in 2023.

Putting all that into perspective, 10 years ago resilient flooring garnered $2.392 billion in sales. One year before that resilient flooring amounted to just $2.206 billion. Even taking 2024’s decrease into account, that’s still a 250% increase in dollars in the last decade.

Considering that the resilient category experienced eight consecutive years of double-digit growth between 2015-2023—with growth peaking at 30.3% in 2021—the minor decline in 2024 (and even 2023) shouldn’t be too unexpected. As industry experts agree, the wave must crest eventually.

Resilient also held onto its lead in dollars over carpet (not including area rugs) for the third year running (by $1.3 billion). The LVT segment of the resilient category alone (including residential and commercial rigid core and flex), also managed to eclipse carpet for the first time in 2024 with $35 million to spare.

Mitigating factors

There were several factors that led to the second consecutive year of decline for the resilient flooring category—at least on the residential side; commercial saw a low-single-digit increase in sales in 2024, primarily due to price increases.

Suppliers agreed, much of that decline in residential had to do with a slow housing market, inflation, high interest rates and continuing economic uncertainty. “I think ’24 was a challenging year for a variety of reasons,” Adam Ward, vice president, resilient, Mohawk, told FCNews. “We’re still coming down off that COVID-19 high. You’ve got interest rates and record low existing home sales, which obviously factor most into the residential remodel market. So all of those factors definitely were on retailers’ minds; they were on suppliers’ minds, too.”

Jeff Francis, director-hard surfaces residential resilient, Shaw, agreed, noting, “Interest rates, inflation, housing starts aren’t doing as well as we all hoped they would be doing at the beginning of 2024. Mortgage rate drops, interest rate drops—if we can get a little bit of goodness there, hopefully that’ll spur some potential.”

Francis also noted, however, that overall hard surface did better than soft surface last year. “Specifically for resilient, of all the hard surface categories, I think it did better,” he said. “And one thing that I will call out: prior to last year, the industry, specifically resilient, was plagued with supply chain issues. UFLPA, COVID-19, tariffs, but the supply chain issues in 2024 weren’t a challenge for us, so that was a bright spot there.”

Suppliers also agree that the features/benefits of resilient flooring will continue to bring consumers to the category. “Consumers are driven by design, performance and value,” explained John Hammel, senior director, residential hard surfaces, Mannington Mills. “The resilient category is no exception. The category is set up for continued success [via innovation].”

On the commercial side, several market segments began to recover from the pandemic era, namely hospitality and healthcare. Suppliers agreed that education also saw a shot of investment last year. Corporate still struggles but began to see some improvement after new back-to-office mandates began to take effect. All of this leading to slight growth in commercial volume in 2024.

Market share dominance

When taking total flooring sales into account, resilient held onto its market share vs. 2023 and even gained slightly. Resilient flooring comprised about 35% of total flooring dollar sales, compared to 34% of total dollar sales in 2023. In terms of volume, resilient saw an increase to 34% from 2023’s 32.9%.

Looking back a decade to 2014, resilient accounted for only 12.4% of dollars ($2.392 billion) and 15.1% of volume (2.688 billion square feet). In essence, over these last several years, resilient’s share of the market has nearly tripled in terms of dollars and doubled in volume.

Resilient’s market share dominance in 2024 is even clearer when measured against the overall hard surface market. When compared to ceramic tile, hardwood, laminate and rubber, FCNews research found resilient accounted for 57.4% of dollar sales and 60.4% of volume. That’s compared to 56.7% of dollar sales (and nearly 59% of volume) in 2023. That is up more than 7 percentage points from just four years ago and nearly 12 percentage points from 2019.

Of that 57.4% hard surface share, the LVT subcategory garnered $7.185 billion of the total $14.605 hard surface pie, which means LVT alone accounted for nearly 50% of total hard surface dollars in 2024. In fact, this resilient subcategory alone generated more dollar sales than any other flooring category, including carpet. In terms of volume, resilient’s share of hard surface was 60.4% or 5.846 billion square feet.

For the last decade LVT has been the driver of growth for resilient flooring. Of course, now it’s the rigid core subcategory of LVT that is moving the needle. FCNews research found rigid core (SPC/WPC) garnered 57.3% ($4.8 billion) of total resilient sales ($8.381B) and 66.8% of total LVT sales ($7.185B). In sales, rigid core kept its market share vs. 2023’s 57.5% share of total resilient sales.

In terms of volume, rigid core garnered 47.6%—or 2.781 billion square feet—of the 5.846-billion-square-foot resilient pie. That’s vs. 2023’s 46.6%. Rigid core accounted for 65% of total LVT volume (4.3 billion square feet) in 2024.

By comparison, in 2020 rigid core clocked in at just $2.62 billion and 1.63 billion square feet. To put this in perspective, 10 years ago sheet vinyl held the major of the category’s share at just over 60%.

SPC comprises the lion’s share of total resilient dollars and volume today. In 2024, SPC dollar sales reached $3.6 billion and made up nearly 15% of total flooring sales while volume hit 2.365 billion square feet or 13.8% of total flooring volume.

What’s more, SPC makes up 43% of total resilient sales and 50% of total LVT sales. While that percentage is 40.5% of total resilient volume and 55% of total LVT volume.

While SPC lost minor market share in dollars vs. 2023 where it hit 46% of total resilient dollars, SPC saw slightly higher volume vs. 2023’s nearly 40%. When compared to the total rigid core market, SPC accounts for 80% of dollar sales—flat from 80% in 2023—and 85% of volume.

While the resilient category hit some proverbial bumps in the road last year, it’s still driving sales across the board. That’s thanks to its many performance and design benefits, according to resilient flooring suppliers.

“It’s got a great warranty and wear story,” Mohawk’s Ward explained. “Long-time warranties, waterproof, scratch resistant, easy to install. It looks great. All those things make it easy. And then there’s affordability, which is always something to talk about, especially in the inflationary environment we’re in right now.”

Residential breakdown

FCNews research shows the residential market made up 72.8% of total resilient flooring dollar sales ($6.099B) in 2024. That was down less than 2 percentage points from the 74% share in 2023. That $6.099 is, however, still up a whopping 66% increase from just five years ago in 2019 when residential resilient sales were $3.657B and even 25.8% from just four years ago in 2020 when that was $4.847B in sales.

With respect to volume, residential resilient accounted for 79.5% of the total 5.846 billion square feet—or 4.655 billion square feet—which was up slightly from 79.3% in 2023. That’s up nearly 38% compared to five years ago in 2019 when residential resilient accounted for 3.38 billion square feet.

The bulk of the resilient flooring market’s activity was driven by residential LVT (including glue down, loose lay, WPC and SPC), which generated an estimated $5.466 billion or 89.6% of the residential resilient market. That’s vs. $5.689 billion in 2023, about a 4% decline in sales. However, to put that into perspective, just five years ago in 2019, that was $3.038 billion, which sees 2024 at nearly an 80% increase in sales.

In terms of volume, residential LVT accounted for 3.438 billion square feet of the 4.654-billion-square-foot pie, which amounts to nearly 74% share. That’s less than a 4% decline from 2023’s 3.571 billion square feet. However, when looking further back, 2019 saw residential LVT volume at 1.996 billion square feet—making that a whopping 72% increase in volume in just five years.

Of that total residential resilient market, rigid core remains the workhorse and driver of growth. In 2024 the subsegment (including SPC/WPC) garnered $4.578 of the total $6.099 residential resilient market—that’s a 75% share. That’s also only a low, single-digit decline in sales from the year prior.

That market ownership is even more impressive when looking at the overall LVT market, the segment in which rigid core resides. Last year, the subsegment garnered 83.4% of the total $5.466 billion residential LVT pie. That’s on par 2023’s 83% share and 2022’s 84% share but up significantly from 2021’s 63.7% in dollar share.

With respect to volume, rigid core holds 46% of total residential resilient sold at 2.682 billion square feet. That’s only down slightly from the year prior’s 2.317 billion square feet and 50% of the total residential resilient market’s 4.665 billion square feet that year.

In 2024, rigid core garnered 78% of total LVT volume in 2024. That’s compared to 65% of the total 3.571-billion-square-foot pie in 2023.

Drilling down further, SPC still holds the vast share of the residential resilient market. FCNews research shows residential SPC alone garnered $3.577 billion in sales in 2024 or 59% of total residential resilient dollars, which is up just slightly from the year prior even though total dollars sales were down about 3.8%.

In terms of total resilient volume, residential SPC garnered 38% share with 2.273 billion square feet. In terms of residential resilient volume, residential SPC garnered 49% share, and in terms of residential LVT volume, SPC garnered 66% share in 2024.

“Like most categories, residential SPC felt the impact of a slower economy in 2024,” said Kimberly Hill, vice president, product and marketing, Novalis. “We saw some softening in both volume and sales dollars, mainly because high interest rates and inflation kept a lot of homeowners on the sidelines. That said, SPC still held its ground better than most. It’s a format that continues to resonate—especially in value-driven projects where waterproof performance and durability really matter. So while it wasn’t a growth year, SPC remained a steady performer in a tough market.”

Hill added that while the biggest hurdle for SPC was the same for every flooring category—inflation, high mortgage rates and a generally uncertain economic outlook—the fundamentals of SPC remained strong. “It continues to deliver on what consumers want: durability, water resistance, good design and a straightforward installation process,” she said. “In many ways, SPC proved its resilience again this year—and we see a lot of upside once conditions improve.”

Suppliers also agreed that while reputable SPC carried the category in 2024, the lower-end products did push some consumers out of it. “Residential SPC continued to decline in 2024— the negative impacts of thin, underperforming product was the root cause,” Mannington’s Hammel explained.

SPC’s sister-subsegment, WPC, also saw a minor decline in residential dollar sales and volume in 2024. FCNews research put the category at $1.001 billion in 2024 vs. 2023’s $1.014 billion. However, taking market share into account, WPC did gain ground last year. In terms of overall residential resilient dollars, WPC garnered 16.4% market share vs. 2023’s 16%. When it comes to overall LVT dollars, WPC garnered 18.3% market share vs. 2023’s 17.6%.

Suppliers agree that the challenges SPC faced last year had much to do with WPC’s growth. “WPC continued to increase in 2024, driven, in part, by the failures of subpar SPC,” Mannington’s Hammel explained.

That move toward WPC saw many suppliers of resilient flooring either enter the subcategory or grow their WPC offerings. Suppliers also agree that the higher-end nature of WPC helped it weather some challenges in 2024.

“The segment of residential remodel that was doing well in ’24 was that higher end,” Mohawk’s Ward said. “The people with money were willing to spend or remodel their houses, and WPC is increasingly a choice at that higher end of the market, primarily due to thickness and comfort underfoot combined with great looking visuals.”

Shaw’s COREtec brand is a leader in the WPC space. “We have a premier brand, COREtec, and that brand continues to lead us in WPC,” Francis explained. “We’ve really focused, specifically in COREtec, on style and design to make sure we’re leading in that area. WPC is strategic for Shaw, and the brand that we give all the innovation to is COREtec, specifically with WPC. Last year, WPC overall was down but our COREtec brand was up.”

Flexible LVT products (glue down and loose lay) continue to cede market share to the more popular rigid core subsegment, at least on the residential side. Of the total estimated $6.099 billion residential resilient market, flex came in at just under $862 million or 14% of the total residential resilient market. That’s down from $920 million the year prior.

In terms of volume, flex LVT garnered nearly 20% of the residential resilient market in ’24—or 922 million square feet—which was up from 890 million square feet the year prior. In terms of residential LVT volume, flex actually gained share of the market with 26.8% vs. 2023’s 25%. That’s due to a slight resurgence in glue-down volume.

Glue-down products are the most sought after in the residential flexible LVT category, garnering nearly $762 million of the $862 million in residential flex sales and 851 million square feet of the total 922 million square feet sold. That’s down from the year prior’s $814 million but up from the 810 million square feet sold in 2023.

“Glue down was down in dollars year over year in residential, with a natural reduction in average selling price because of stability in the supply chain,” Noah Fulton, vice president, business strategy, Karndean, told FCNews. “Volume experienced good growth. [There were] very few challenges, aside from certain sectors chasing specs and price points that are below what we choose to offer. Having been in business for over 50 years, our many decades of experience with glue-down LVT are reflected in the exceptional design and performance of our products.”

For Shaw, which has a major stake in glue down, that upward trajectory is only expected to continue. “We have a manufacturing facility in Georgia that we have invested almost a quarter of a billion dollars in and it’s primarily a glue-down LVT plant,” Francis explained. “We’re doubling capacity there. Our feelings are that it is going to continue to grow and we are going to take share. That will feed residential and commercial for Shaw. We’ll be ramping up late this year or Q1 next year.”

Sheet vinyl also continues to be a viable part of the residential resilient market but, like all constructions, lost dollars and volume in 2024. According to FCNews research, the resilient subsegment saw $450 million in sales last year, down just over 6% from the year prior where it sat at $480 million. Overall, it claimed about 7.4% of the total residential resilient market.

In terms of volume, 2024 saw 789 million square feet of sheet sold, or about 17% of the market. That was down about 4.5% from 2023’s 823 million square feet.

Domestic rigid core

In just the past five years, domestically made resilient flooring has skyrocketed. The category has been plagued by challenges associated with the import supply chain, and many manufacturers have taken it as a sign to build domestic.

In fact, in just a few short years the U.S. has gone from housing a few resilient manufacturers to about 13 domestic producers of vinyl flooring and about eight that specialize in rigid core in particular (the largest subcategory of resilient flooring).

Engineered Floors, for example, kicked off 100% production of its PureGrain DLVT at its Seretean Plant in Dalton in 2023. The company made a large upfront investment to repurpose a section of its Seretean Plant to produce DLVT and continues to invest in its capabilities. Eric Ruppert, senior director of product marketing and category management, noted the importance of the domestic aspect of its efforts. “Digital printing brings realism to the product, but the other part of it is the fact that it’s domestic. We’re getting a lot of interest from [customers] who are 100% worried about all these tariffs and are willing to pay a little bit more for a domestically made product—especially given what’s going to happen in a couple of weeks, which nobody knows. So, from a growth perspective, for us, it’s that two pronged approach—digital printing [and better features] and the domestic side.”

Commercial breakdown

While the residential resilient market was down slightly in 2024, the commercial market was up a tad in sales, experiencing a 2.7% gain in dollars to $2.269 billion vs. $2.216 in 2023. Volume did experience a minor decline to 1.192 billion square feet versus 2023’s 1.211 billion square feet.

In terms of the overall commercial market, resilient flooring did gain some share in 2024, most likely grabbing it from higher-end (and therefore more costly) options like ceramic tile. In 2024, FCNews research shows commercial resilient flooring accounted for 32.3% of the overall commercial flooring market’s $7.01 billion. That’s up more than two percentage points from the year prior when that was about 30%.

“Commercial was probably a mixed bag, much like residential,” Mohawk’s Ward said. “Healthcare continued to do well. Workplace still hasn’t come back but it started to get a little better last year with all the return-to-office mandates. Education and government continued to be steady forces. And then hospitality continued to be a very bright spot in ’24. You’ve seen that spring break on leisure travel. So hospitality and healthcare continue to be very strong.”

For the commercial resilient flooring market, LVT is still the star. In fact, commercial’s dollar sales growth happened within the LVT subsegment. The subcategory (including glue down, loose lay and rigid core) kept its market share, up slightly, at 76% of the overall commercial resilient market, garnering $1.72 billion. That’s up more than 4% in dollars compared to 2023’s $1.651 billion.

In terms of volume, commercial LVT garnered 72.3% of total commercial resilient square feet sold in 2024, or 862 million square feet. That’s up from the year prior when commercial LVT accounted for 851 million square feet.

To put that into perspective, five years ago in 2019 LVT garnered $1.22 billion in sales, which was already up 12% from the year prior. In five years, that’s a 41% increase.

Suppliers agreed, LVT is used across a variety of segments. In 2024, education and healthcare still saw the bulk of LVT usage. “We continue to see K-12 being heavy LVT and carpet,” said Whitney LeGate, senior vice president, commercial product, Mannington Commercial. “It’s heavy LVT and very customized. You’re seeing signature layouts— really helping to create a curated space versus just a run-of-the-mill look. It lets them get brand specific. It lets them do a lot of personalization of their student spaces and dorms.”

For some, LVT is also continuing to penetrate other segments of the commercial market. “Hospitality was probably the best segment for us in ’24, and I think it will continue because you had a significant amount of pent-up demand after the pandemic,” said Jeff West, VP of marketing at Shaw Contract. “So I think that segment’s going to continue to do very well, and there is certainly more LVT than there used to be [in that segment]. There certainly has been an increase in LVT over, let’s say, five years ago.”

Within the resilient flooring LVT category, flex remains the favorite. FCNews research shows flexible LVT (including glue down and loose lay) brought in $1.494 billion in sales, which was 66% of the total commercial resilient market.

In regard to volume, flex accounted for 762 million square feet in 2024, which was 63.7% of the total commercial resilient market. That’s up from 2023 when flex was $1.431 billion and 756 billion square feet.

Glue down is still the workhorse for the commercial LVT market. According to FCNews research, commercial glue down garnered $1.316 billion in sales vs. $1.261 billion the year prior—a 4.4% increase.

In terms of volume, commercial glue down garnered 688 million square feet in 2024 vs. 692 million in the year prior—a less than 1 percentage point drop.

In terms of its percentage of the commercial market, glue down garnered about 58% of total commercial resilient sales and 76.5% of total commercial LVT sales. Within the flex market itself, glue down commands about 88% share.

In terms of volume, commercial glue down held about 57.7% of total commercial resilient square feet and nearly 80% of total commercial LVT square feet.

Suppliers agree, flex LVT fits into most segments of the commercial market and continues to drive sales. “Commercial is still overwhelmingly a flex market,” Mohawk’s Ward said. “Heavy rolling loads, more technical installs, etc. So glue down/loose lay 2.5mm, 20-mil, continue to be the dominant products wanted in commercial, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

While nowhere near as important as glue-down products within the commercial resilient market, rigid core (mainly SPC) continues to soldier on and even picked up a few bucks in 2024. FCNews research shows rigid core garnered $222 million last year—more than 9% share of the total commercial resilient. That was up just slightly from 2023’s $219 million. Of the overall commercial LVT market, rigid core represents about 13% share.

In terms of volume, rigid core garnered 99 million square feet in 2024, which was up from 94.7 million square feet the year prior.

VCT has had an interesting few years. It has experienced ups and downs but continues to be a mainstay in the commercial market. In 2024, VCT garnered $201 million and 206 million square feet. That’s down from 2023’s $223 million and 241 million square feet. However, that’s also up an impressive 34% from 2022’s $150 million.

VCT garners about 8.9% of overall commercial resilient sales. In terms of volume, that’s 17.3% of overall commercial resilient square feet.

“[There] was movement back to VCT from LVT,” said Jason McKee, senior director, commercial resilient, Tarkett Commercial. “We hear a lot from our customers that some of the lower-end LVT did not match the performance expectations. So we’re seeing some movement back to VCT. The majority of VCT is education. So about 70% and then the rest is split between healthcare and retail. The perennial position of VCT is that it has low upfront costs and is historically very durable. You know what you’re getting into when you buy VCT. And it can easily last 20-30 years with proper maintenance.”

Linoleum, on the other hand, continued its downward trajectory in 2024, garnering $94 million (down 11.2% from 2023), which was just 4% of the overall commercial market. On the bright side, that market share decline wasn’t too painful as linoleum has garnered an average of 5% of total commercial market share since at least 2020.

For some, however, linoleum may have a comeback in the future. “We are seeing regional pockets where linoleum is probably making a little bit of a comeback because of its sustainability features,” Tarkett’s McKee said. “I think it’s very regional, but I think some markets are trying to improve their footprint and linoleum is certainty a great product to do that with.”

Commercial sheet remained relatively flat in 2024, garnering $234.5 million in sales and 85 million square feet. That’s compared to $236 million in sales and 84.8 million square feet the year prior.

In terms of market share, commercial sheet garners about 10% of overall commercial resilient sales and just over 7% of commercial resilient volume.

Suppliers agree, sheet shines in healthcare. “We saw a lot of energy in our sheet business [in healthcare],” said Zach Zehner, vice president, hard surface commercial, Mannington Commercial. “It has been very healthy. I think the value proposition of sheet continues to be meaningful. There’s still a need for that and I think the design, particularly in heterogeneous, continues to improve.”

Commercial sheet is split into heterogeneous and homogeneous constructions. In 2024, heterogeneous comprised 60.4% of the total commercial sheet market in terms of dollars ($142 million) and 61% in terms of volume (51.7 million square feet).

These numbers were mostly flat against 2023 when heterogeneous came in at $142.25 million in sales and 52.7 billion in square feet.

Homogeneous garnered $92.5 million in 2024 vs. $88.75 in 2023. In terms of volume, the segment saw 33.2 million square feet in 2024 vs. 32.05 million square feet in 2023.

Price points

Looking at resilient price points across constructions has been an interesting exercise over the last few years. The period between 2021-2023 saw inflated prices across the board. These years were obviously impacted by the pandemic and the high cost of not only materials but shipping and freight. Some, however, have begun to come down in 2024.

Looking at a five-year trend, SPC and residential glue down remain the only resilient constructions that neared pre-pandemic levels in 2024, much like the year prior. For example, in 2019 SPC was at $1.69/square foot, in 2024 that number saw a 5% drop to $1.60 despite several increases between ’21 and ’22—peaking in ’21 at $1.85/square foot. Residential glue down had a similar trajectory. In 2019 it was $0.99 and saw a 9% decrease to $.90 in 2024.

The impact of SPC loosing that pricing gauge was likely heavy, given SPC accounts for 58.6% of the total resilient market in dollars ($3.577 billion).

The resilient flooring construction that saw the highest price increase over the last five years is commercial sheet. Commercial sheet was $2.21 in 2019 and rose steadily until reaching $2.76 last year—a nearly 25% increase in five years.

VCT is the runner up, increasing by $0.31 in the last five years. VCT was $0.68 in 2019 and $0.97 in 2024.

“I believe the prices [of VCT] continue to rise and may continue slightly going forward,” Tarkett’s McKee said. “Quite honestly, I think it’s out of the desire to make it a little bit more of a profitable product.”

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