Cities in Kentucky by housing units authorized by building permits

Lexington, KY had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 27 cities in 2016, at 1,365. Paris, KY had the lowest, at 0. The median was 41 and the figure for Kentucky was 12,714. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,365Lexington, KY

Lowest0Paris, KY

Median4127 cities

Kentucky12,714History

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	Lexington, KY Estimated	1,365	+1.7%
2	Bowling Green, KY Estimated	824	+17%
3	Owensboro, KY Estimated	364	+51%
4	Richmond, KY Estimated	203	+3.6%
5	Independence, KY Estimated	197	+82.4%
6	Berea, KY Estimated	140	+75%
7	Elizabethtown, KY Estimated	129	+126.3%
8	Murray, KY Estimated	119	+17.8%
9	Nicholasville, KY Estimated	112	+1.8%
10	Hopkinsville, KY Estimated	95	+66.7%
11	Paducah, KY Estimated	59	-81.8%
12	Fort Thomas, KY Estimated	46	-36.1%
13	Jeffersontown, KY Estimated	44	+51.7%
14	Lawrenceburg, KY Estimated	41	+173.3%
15	Somerset, KY Estimated	28	+100%
16	Erlanger, KY Estimated	27	-34.1%
17	Madisonville, KY Estimated	23	-20.7%
17	Radcliff, KY Estimated	23	+475%
19	Henderson, KY Estimated	22	-79.2%
20	Campbellsville, KY Estimated	17	-15%
21	Frankfort, KY Estimated	7	+40%
22	Glasgow, KY Estimated	4	-84%
23	Newport, KY Estimated	1	n/a
24	Alexandria, KY Estimated	0	-100%
24	Ashland, KY Estimated	0	n/a
24	Covington, KY Estimated	0	-100%
24	Paris, KY 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. 2 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2016 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/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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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/kentucky-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 Kentucky 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/kentucky-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 Kentucky 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/kentucky-cities?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_kentucky_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 Kentucky 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/kentucky-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 Kentucky 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/kentucky-cities?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/kentucky-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 Kentucky by housing units authorized by building permits using official data, and cite the source.

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

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

Lexington, KY, with 1,365 in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Paris, KY, 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. 2 cities have no value for 2016 and are not ranked.