Cities in Arkansas by housing units authorized by building permits

Bentonville, AR had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 39 cities in 2016, at 908. Malvern, AR had the lowest, at 0. The median was 86 and the figure for Arkansas was 9,474. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest908Bentonville, AR

Lowest0Malvern, AR

Median8639 cities

Arkansas9,474History

All cities, 2016

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2016 count	Change on 2015
1	Bentonville, AR Estimated	908	+3.4%
2	Jonesboro, AR Estimated	858	+142.4%
3	Fayetteville, AR Estimated	841	+39.2%
4	Little Rock, AR Estimated	831	+7.9%
5	Rogers, AR Estimated	537	+7.6%
6	Centerton, AR Estimated	405	+45.7%
7	Fort Smith, AR Estimated	344	+102.4%
8	Springdale, AR Estimated	314	+0.6%
9	Conway, AR Estimated	263	+90.6%
10	Sherwood, AR Estimated	223	+19.3%
11	Benton, AR Estimated	186	-76.5%
12	North Little Rock, AR Estimated	160	+73.9%
13	Siloam Springs, AR Estimated	149	+109.9%
14	Bryant, AR Estimated	146	+80.2%
15	Paragould, AR Estimated	134	-3.6%
16	Pea Ridge, AR Estimated	132	+207%
17	Lowell, AR Estimated	104	-8%
18	Bella Vista, AR Estimated	98	+44.1%
19	Cabot, AR Estimated	86	-30.1%
19	El Dorado, AR Estimated	86	+4.9%
21	Van Buren, AR Estimated	82	+34.4%
22	Russellville, AR Estimated	62	-1.6%
23	Maumelle, AR Estimated	61	-57%
24	Searcy, AR Estimated	55	+14.6%
25	Hot Springs, AR Estimated	45	-23.7%
26	Texarkana, AR Estimated	42	-2.3%
27	Jacksonville, AR Estimated	39	-9.3%
28	Marion, AR Estimated	38	-7.3%
29	Farmington, AR Estimated	35	-27.1%
30	Batesville, AR Estimated	32	-13.5%
31	West Memphis, AR Estimated	22	+46.7%
32	Blytheville, AR Estimated	21	+31.3%
33	Mountain Home, AR Estimated	16	-51.5%
34	Pine Bluff, AR Estimated	10	+25%
35	Camden, AR Estimated	6	+50%
36	Harrison, AR Estimated	4	-75%
37	Forrest City, AR Estimated	1	n/a
38	Magnolia, AR Estimated	0	n/a
38	Malvern, AR Estimated	0	n/a

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/South%20Region/so2016a.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. (2017). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Arkansas by housing units authorized by building permits, 2016) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Arkansas by housing units authorized by building permits, 2016. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2017, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arkansas-cities?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2017. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Arkansas by housing units authorized by building permits, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arkansas-cities?period=2016.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2017) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Arkansas by housing units authorized by building permits, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arkansas-cities?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_arkansas_by_2016,
  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 Arkansas by housing units authorized by building permits, 2016}},
  year = {2017},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arkansas-cities?period=2016. 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/South\%20Region/so2016a.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 Arkansas by housing units authorized by building permits, 2016
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arkansas-cities?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/arkansas-cities?period=2016.
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/South%20Region/so2016a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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

rank_places {"indicator":"building_permit_units","level":"municipality","within":"Arkansas","limit":10}
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Questions

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

Bentonville, AR, with 908 in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Malvern, AR, with 0 in 2016.

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.