United Rentals topped $16 billion in 2025 total revenue, reaching $16.099 billion, compared to $15.345 billion in 2024, for a 4.9-percent year-over-year increase. Rental revenue for 2025 totaled $13.086 billion in 2025, compared to $13.029 billion in 2024, a 6-percent hike.
Sales of new equipment increased in 2025, from $282 million in 2024 to $348 million in 2025, a 23.4-percent increase. Sales of rental equipment decreased from $1.521 billion a year ago to $1.413 billion in 2025, a 7.1-percent decline. Contractor supply sales increased from $155 million to $163 million, a 5.2-percent increase.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, United Rentals posted $4.208 billion, compared to $4.095 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, a 2.8-percent year-over-year boost. Equipment rental revenue was $3.581 billion in Q425, compared to $3.422 billion in the year-ago quarter, a 4.6-perent increase. Sales of new equipment increased in the fourth quarter, from $96 million in Q424 to $108 million in the recently concluded period, a 12.5-percent jump. Service and other revenues increased from $86 million in last year’s fourth to $90 million, a 4.7-percent year-over-year jump.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $1.901 billion, at a margin of 45.2 percent. Fleet productivity increased for the quarter by 0.5 percent, and 2.2 percent for the full year. Full year net cash provided by operating activities was $5.190 billion. Free cash flow was $2.181 billion, while full-year gross rental capital expenditures totaled $4.189 billion.
“I am very pleased that the team’s commitment to again double down on being the partner of choice for our customers in 2025 resulted in a year of record revenue and EBITDA,” said CEO Matthew Flannery,” “By working hand-in-hand with our customers to provide an unmatched experience across our one-stop-shop of general and specialty rental products and services, coupled with our industry-leading technology, we improved our customers’ efficiency and productivity. This ultimately positioned us to outperform the market and generate strong shareholder returns.
“As you can see in our initial 2026 guidance, we expect another year of profitable growth with strong free cash flow. In many ways, we expect this year to be similar to 2025, with large projects and dispersed geographic demand during most of our growth. I am confident our team will build on our momentum while aggressively managing costs, focusing on efficiency, and effectively allocating capital to continue generating long-term value for our shareholders.”
For guidance for the coming year, United said it expects total revenue in a range of $16.8 billion to $17.3 billion.
Specialty Rentals Continues to Sparkle
United Rentals’ specialty rentals segment rental revenue increased 9.2 percent year-over-year to a fourth quarter record of $1.183 billion, while rental gross margin decreased by 520 basis points year-over-year to 40.3 percent. For the full year, the specialty rental equipment revenue was $4.641 billion compared to $4.084 billion, a 13.6-percent increase.
Consistent with the results throughout 2025, the decline in fourth quarter rental gross margin was primarily because of higher depreciation expense, increased delivery cost and changes in revenue mix driven by growth in lower-margin ancillary revenues. As a percentage of rental revenue, depreciation expense increased by 140 basis points, year over year in part because of growth in the company’s matting business.
Headquartered in Stamford, Conn., United Rentals is No. 1 on the RER 100.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.