Cities in Colorado by housing units authorized by building permits

Denver, CO had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 47 cities in 2021, at 10,000. Sterling, CO had the lowest, at 0. The median was 364 and the figure for Colorado was 56,524. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest10,000Denver, CO

Lowest0Sterling, CO

Median36447 cities

Colorado56,524History

All cities, 2021

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2021 count	Change on 2020
1	Denver, CO Estimated	10,000	+97.7%
2	Aurora, CO Estimated	4,176	+53.2%
3	Commerce City, CO Estimated	1,702	+49%
4	Castle Rock, CO Estimated	1,697	+55.7%
5	Thornton, CO Estimated	1,148	+32.4%
6	Windsor, CO Estimated	1,121	+14.4%
7	Erie, CO Estimated	1,082	+112.2%
8	Loveland, CO Estimated	1,023	+66.9%
9	Parker, CO Estimated	1,015	+54.5%
10	Greeley, CO Estimated	915	+236.4%
11	Fort Collins, CO Estimated	839	+33.8%
12	Lone Tree, CO Estimated	775	+2,483.3%
13	Castle Pines, CO Estimated	695	+94.1%
14	Longmont, CO Estimated	621	-27.4%
15	Timnath, CO Estimated	555	+41.2%
16	Berthoud, CO Estimated	509	+0.8%
17	Broomfield, CO Estimated	501	+17.3%
18	Northglenn, CO Estimated	460	n/a
19	Westminster, CO Estimated	459	-33.5%
20	Wheat Ridge, CO Estimated	439	+6.8%
21	Severance, CO Estimated	428	-28.3%
22	Brighton, CO Estimated	374	-54.8%
23	Arvada, CO Estimated	373	+26.4%
24	Lakewood, CO Estimated	364	-70.6%
25	Firestone, CO Estimated	351	+33%
26	Frederick, CO Estimated	311	-7.7%
27	Boulder, CO Estimated	294	-7%
28	Montrose, CO Estimated	285	+72.7%
29	Englewood, CO Estimated	247	-18.5%
30	Fort Lupton, CO Estimated	198	+58.4%
31	Johnstown, CO Estimated	185	-50.5%
32	Durango, CO Estimated	170	+112.5%
33	Superior, CO Estimated	164	+102.5%
34	Glenwood Springs, CO Estimated	152	+33.3%
35	Evans, CO Estimated	113	-5%
36	Wellington, CO Estimated	112	-58.8%
37	Rifle, CO Estimated	97	+29.3%
38	Lafayette, CO Estimated	76	-70.3%
39	Fort Morgan, CO Estimated	63	+425%
40	Cañon City, CO Estimated	49	+25.6%
41	Littleton, CO Estimated	35	-12.5%
42	Louisville, CO Estimated	13	-72.3%
43	Golden, CO Estimated	12	-7.7%
44	Centennial, CO Estimated	9	-10%
44	Greenwood Village, CO Estimated	9	0%
46	Federal Heights, CO Estimated	0	n/a
46	Sterling, CO Estimated	0	-100%

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. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2021 and are left out rather than filled from another source. 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/we2021a.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. (2022). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Colorado by housing units authorized by building permits, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Colorado by housing units authorized by building permits, 2021. U.S. Census Bureau, 27 Apr. 2022, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/colorado-cities?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2022. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Colorado by housing units authorized by building permits, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/colorado-cities?period=2021.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2022) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Colorado by housing units authorized by building permits, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/colorado-cities?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_colorado_by_2021,
  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 Colorado by housing units authorized by building permits, 2021}},
  year = {2022},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/colorado-cities?period=2021. 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/we2021a.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 Colorado by housing units authorized by building permits, 2021
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/04/27
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/colorado-cities?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/colorado-cities?period=2021.
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/we2021a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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

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

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

Denver, CO, with 10,000 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Sterling, CO, with 0 in 2021.

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. 1 cities have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.