Kimley-Horn

Kimley-Horn is an American professional-services firm providing planning, surveying, engineering, design, environmental, and technology consulting. The company was established in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1967 by transportation engineers Bob Kimley, Bill Horn, and Ed Vick. Its origins in transportation engineering remain central to the firm's identity, while its service portfolio has expanded into a broad range of public- and private-sector assignments. The firm's work covers transportation and mobility, roadway and structural engineering, land and site development, environmental engineering, surface-water and water-resources services, energy consulting, aviation, landscape architecture, and related planning and design disciplines. This scope allows Kimley-Horn to participate in projects ranging from transportation networks and civic infrastructure to private development, environmental permitting, and municipal planning. The company serves clients across the United States and also has technology deployments in the United States and Canada. Kimley-Horn operates as a private professional-services organization rather than a publicly traded engineering conglomerate. Its clients include public agencies and private-sector organizations, although the available reference material does not identify individual clients, ownership arrangements, or financial results. The firm has also developed a technology business, Kimley-Horn Technology Solutions, Inc., focused on smart-city and intelligent-transportation applications. Its named solutions include the Kimley-Horn Integrated Transportation System, Traction Priority, and Kadence. These tools address functions such as adaptive signal control, transit-signal priority, and real-time traffic-performance monitoring. By 2025, Kimley-Horn had approximately 9,000 employees, according to the referenced company overview. The firm's scale and breadth have placed it among the larger design and engineering consultancies in the United States. Engineering News-Record ranked it eighth in its 2025 Top 500 Design Firms survey, while Fortune placed it twenty-second on its 2025 100 Best Companies to Work For list. The 2025 Fortune recognition was described as the company's eighteenth year on that list. Earlier workplace recognitions included rankings for women, millennials, consulting and professional-services workplaces, and companies regarded as caring employers. Kimley-Horn's positioning combines transportation expertise with multidisciplinary consulting and implementation support. Rather than being known primarily as a consumer-facing brand, it is a business-to-business and public-sector professional-services brand whose reputation is tied to technical delivery, project planning, infrastructure design, regulatory and environmental knowledge, and employee experience. Its technology activity extends that positioning into software-enabled transportation management and municipal mobility systems. The available sources do not establish a separate international operating strategy, detailed revenue profile, or current executive roster; those fields are therefore left unspecified.

Kimley-Horn was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1967 by three transportation engineers: Bob Kimley, Bill Horn, and Ed Vick. The firm's founding discipline shaped its early identity and provided the basis for later expansion into broader planning, surveying, engineering, and design services. From that transportation foundation, Kimley-Horn developed a multidisciplinary consulting model serving both public agencies and private organizations. Over time, the firm's scope came to include roadway and transportation design, structural engineering, land and site development, environmental engineering, surface-water and water-resources work, energy consulting, aviation, and landscape architecture. This expansion enabled the company to support projects across multiple phases, from planning and analysis through design and related implementation services. The available reference material does not provide a detailed year-by-year account of office openings, acquisitions, leadership transitions, or organizational restructurings, so those aspects cannot be stated reliably. A further development was the creation of Kimley-Horn Technology Solutions, Inc. The technology business develops smart-city and intelligent-transportation products, including the Kimley-Horn Integrated Transportation System, Traction Priority, and Kadence. These solutions are intended to support adaptive signal control, transit signal priority, and monitoring of traffic performance in real time. Reference material states that the firm's software has been deployed by municipalities in the United States and Canada, including Los Angeles County and Austin, Texas, but does not provide deployment dates or contract values. By 2025, Kimley-Horn was described as having approximately 9,000 employees. Its scale was reflected in industry and workplace rankings. Engineering News-Record placed it eighth in the 2025 Top 500 Design Firms ranking, two positions higher than its 2024 placement. Fortune ranked Kimley-Horn twenty-second in its 2025 100 Best Companies to Work For list and described the recognition as the firm's eighteenth year on that list. Other cited recognitions include Fortune's 2024 ranking for best workplaces for women, a 2022 ranking among large consulting and professional-services workplaces, a 2022 PEOPLE Companies that Care recognition, and a 2024 ranking among the best workplaces for millennials. Kimley-Horn remains a private, active professional-services firm focused primarily on the United States, with certain technology deployments extending into Canada. Its present identity rests on the combination of technical consulting, infrastructure and development design, environmental services, and software for transportation operations. No reliable public information was supplied for revenue, ownership, stock-market activity, current executives, or major controversies.

• 2025

  Top design-firm and workplace rankings

  [1]Kimley-Hornen.wikipedia.org

  Engineering News-Record ranked Kimley-Horn eighth in its Top 500 Design Firms list, while Fortune ranked the company twenty-second in its 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

• 2024

  Workplace and design-firm recognition

  [1]Kimley-Hornen.wikipedia.org

  The firm received cited recognition in Fortune's large-company workplace rankings, including lists for women and millennials, and improved its Engineering News-Record Top 500 Design Firms position in the 2024 survey relative to the following year's reported ranking.

• 2022

  Workplace recognitions

  [1]Kimley-Hornen.wikipedia.org

  Kimley-Horn was cited in workplace rankings including Fortune's large consulting and professional-services list and PEOPLE's Companies that Care list.

• 1967

  Kimley-Horn founded

  [1]Kimley-Hornen.wikipedia.org

  Bob Kimley, Bill Horn, and Ed Vick founded the transportation-engineering firm in Raleigh, North Carolina.

A multidisciplinary American engineering and planning consultancy combining transportation expertise, infrastructure design, environmental and development services, and technology solutions for public- and private-sector clients.

• Professional consulting

  Transportation engineering and planning

  Kimley-Horn's transportation practice reflects the firm's founding expertise. It covers transportation planning, roadway design, mobility analysis, and related infrastructure consulting for public agencies and private-sector clients. The available sources describe transportation as a core area but do not provide a complete list of individual services or projects.

• Planning and engineering services

  Land development and site design

  The firm provides development-related planning, engineering, and design services. These activities are associated with land and site development and can be delivered alongside infrastructure, environmental, landscape, and water-related disciplines. Specific project examples and launch dates are not identified in the supplied reference material.

• Environmental and water consulting

  Environmental and surface-water services

  Kimley-Horn's environmental and surface-water practices support infrastructure and development work involving environmental engineering, surface-water management, and water-resources considerations. The reference material identifies these as service areas but does not specify a standardized product catalog or individual service launch dates.

• Intelligent transportation technology

  Kimley-Horn Integrated Transportation System (KITS)

  KITS is part of Kimley-Horn Technology Solutions' smart-city and intelligent-transportation portfolio. It supports transportation-system operations and is described alongside tools for adaptive signal control, transit priority, and traffic-performance monitoring. The supplied material does not specify its initial release date or complete technical architecture.

• Transit technology

  Traction Priority

  Traction Priority is a Kimley-Horn Technology Solutions product associated with transit signal priority. It is intended to help transportation agencies coordinate signal operations in support of transit movement. No launch year, pricing information, or complete deployment list is provided in the reference material.

• Intelligent transportation technology

  Kadence

  Kadence is included in the firm's suite of smart-city and intelligent-transportation technologies. The portfolio is described as supporting real-time traffic-performance monitoring and related transportation-system functions. Specific product specifications, launch timing, and commercial terms are not identified in the supplied sources.

1. 1Kimley-Hornen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Kimley-Horn official websitekimley-horn.com