Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits

Phoenix, AZ had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 44 cities in 2015, at 4,611. Nogales, AZ had the lowest, at 2. The median was 192 and the figure for Arizona was 28,910. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest4,611Phoenix, AZ

Lowest2Nogales, AZ

Median19244 cities

Arizona28,910History

All cities, 2015

count. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2015 count	Change on 2014
1	Phoenix, AZ Estimated	4,611	-10.3%
2	Mesa, AZ Estimated	2,693	+166.6%
3	Chandler, AZ Estimated	2,122	+26.1%
4	Gilbert, AZ Estimated	1,949	+31.3%
5	Peoria, AZ Estimated	1,599	+53.9%
6	Goodyear, AZ Estimated	1,194	+41.8%
7	Buckeye, AZ Estimated	1,106	+47.7%
8	Queen Creek, AZ Estimated	987	+42.4%
9	Tempe, AZ Estimated	938	-55.8%
10	Scottsdale, AZ Estimated	733	-70.9%
11	Marana, AZ Estimated	633	-0.9%
12	Surprise, AZ Estimated	609	+90.3%
13	Tucson, AZ Estimated	560	-61.9%
14	Glendale, AZ Estimated	447	+2,028.6%
15	Prescott, AZ Estimated	442	+116.7%
16	Prescott Valley, AZ Estimated	421	+24.9%
17	Flagstaff, AZ Estimated	396	+3.4%
18	Yuma, AZ Estimated	383	+27.7%
19	Maricopa, AZ Estimated	322	+13.4%
20	Lake Havasu City, AZ Estimated	291	+18.3%
21	Sahuarita, AZ Estimated	271	+48.1%
22	Kingman, AZ Estimated	207	+38.9%
23	Florence, AZ Estimated	177	+21.2%
24	Oro Valley, AZ Estimated	159	+18.7%
25	San Luis, AZ Estimated	146	+7.4%
26	Somerton, AZ Estimated	130	+100%
27	Avondale, AZ Estimated	123	+192.9%
28	Cottonwood, AZ Estimated	99	+241.4%
29	Casa Grande, AZ Estimated	89	-16%
30	Douglas, AZ Estimated	82	+7.9%
31	Bullhead City, AZ Estimated	79	+29.5%
31	Eloy, AZ Estimated	79	-9.2%
33	Paradise Valley, AZ Estimated	65	+30%
34	Payson, AZ Estimated	64	+1.6%
35	Sierra Vista, AZ Estimated	59	-32.2%
36	Show Low, AZ Estimated	52	-5.5%
37	Fountain Hills, AZ Estimated	46	-4.2%
38	Apache Junction, AZ Estimated	40	-2.4%
39	Chino Valley, AZ Estimated	34	+17.2%
40	Safford, AZ Estimated	22	-15.4%
41	Camp Verde, AZ Estimated	11	+22.2%
42	Coolidge, AZ Estimated	4	-20%
43	El Mirage, AZ Estimated	3	-95.7%
44	Nogales, AZ Estimated	2	0%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of new privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in the year or month, from the US Census Bureau Building Permits Survey. Annual totals for the nation, states and counties; monthly counts for the nation and states.

Counts housing units, not buildings, starts, completions or sales. Monthly counts are not seasonally adjusted and do not add up exactly to the annual total, which includes later corrections; the national seasonally adjusted annual rate in the monthly New Residential Construction release is a different measure.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2016). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015. U.S. Census Bureau, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arizona-cities?period=2015. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2016. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arizona-cities?period=2015.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2016) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arizona-cities?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_arizona_by_2015,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation: Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015}},
  year = {2016},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arizona-cities?period=2015. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West\%20Region/we2015a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation: Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015
PY  - 2016
DA  - 2016/09/30
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arizona-cities?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arizona-cities?period=2015.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arizona-cities?period=2015" width="760" height="500" title="Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Cities in Arizona by housing units authorized by building permits using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"building_permit_units","level":"municipality","within":"Arizona","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=building_permit_units&level=municipality&within=Arizona&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which city has the highest housing units authorized by building permits?

Phoenix, AZ, with 4,611 in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which city has the lowest housing units authorized by building permits?

Nogales, AZ, with 2 in 2015.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Retrieved 2026-10-12.