Data / Rankings / Housing units authorized by building permits / Cities in Massachusetts

Cities in Massachusetts by housing units authorized by building permits

Boston, MA had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 52 cities in 2020, at 3,532. North Adams, MA had the lowest, at 0. The median was 47 and the figure for Massachusetts was 17,025. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Highest3,532Boston, MA
Lowest0North Adams, MA
Median4752 cities
Massachusetts17,025History

All cities, 2020

Boston, MA: 3,532 countBoston, MA3,532Medford, MA: 1,199 countMedford, MA1,199Cambridge, MA: 546 countCambridge, MA546Woburn, MA: 376 countWoburn, MA376Salem, MA: 283 countSalem, MA283Gloucester, MA: 258 countGloucester, MA258Weymouth Town, MA: 256 countWeymouth Town, MA256Franklin Town, MA: 248 countFranklin Town, MA248Lowell, MA: 189 countLowell, MA189Quincy, MA: 153 countQuincy, MA153Bridgewater Town, MA: 144 countBridgewater Town, MA144Lynn, MA: 140 countLynn, MA140Everett, MA: 124 countEverett, MA124Somerville, MA: 103 countSomerville, MA103Springfield, MA: 93 countSpringfield, MA93Taunton, MA: 90 countTaunton, MA90Framingham, MA: 84 countFramingham, MA84Attleboro, MA: 83 countAttleboro, MA83Winthrop Town, MA: 70 countWinthrop Town, MA70Worcester, MA: 70 countWorcester, MA70Fall River, MA: 58 countFall River, MA58Barnstable Town, MA: 57 countBarnstable Town, MA57Newton, MA: 57 countNewton, MA57Waltham, MA: 57 countWaltham, MA57Chelsea, MA: 54 countChelsea, MA54Leominster, MA: 47 countLeominster, MA47Newburyport, MA: 47 countNewburyport, MA47North Attleborough Town, MA: 45 countNorth Attleborough Town, MA45Westfield, MA: 45 countWestfield, MA45Haverhill, MA: 42 countHaverhill, MA42Revere, MA: 40 countRevere, MA40New Bedford, MA: 33 countNew Bedford, MA33Brockton, MA: 31 countBrockton, MA31Northampton, MA: 29 countNorthampton, MA29Fitchburg, MA: 28 countFitchburg, MA28Marlborough, MA: 25 countMarlborough, MA25Peabody, MA: 24 countPeabody, MA24Chicopee, MA: 21 countChicopee, MA21Beverly, MA: 20 countBeverly, MA20Agawam Town, MA: 16 countAgawam Town, MA16Lawrence, MA: 16 countLawrence, MA16Randolph Town, MA: 14 countRandolph Town, MA14Southbridge Town, MA: 14 countSouthbridge Town, MA14Gardner, MA: 13 countGardner, MA13West Springfield Town, MA: 11 countWest Springfield Town, MA11Melrose, MA: 10 countMelrose, MA10Palmer Town, MA: 8 countPalmer Town, MA8Braintree Town, MA: 5 countBraintree Town, MA5Pittsfield, MA: 5 countPittsfield, MA5Holyoke, MA: 3 countHolyoke, MA3Malden, MA: 0 countMalden, MA0North Adams, MA: 0 countNorth Adams, MA0Boston, MA: 3,532 countBoston, MA3,532Medford, MA: 1,199 countMedford, MA1,199Cambridge, MA: 546 countCambridge, MA546Woburn, MA: 376 countWoburn, MA376Salem, MA: 283 countSalem, MA283Gloucester, MA: 258 countGloucester, MA258Weymouth Town, MA: 256 countWeymouth Town, MA256Franklin Town, MA: 248 countFranklin Town, MA248Lowell, MA: 189 countLowell, MA189Quincy, MA: 153 countQuincy, MA153Bridgewater Town, MA: 144 countBridgewater Town, MA144Lynn, MA: 140 countLynn, MA140Everett, MA: 124 countEverett, MA124Somerville, MA: 103 countSomerville, MA103Springfield, MA: 93 countSpringfield, MA93Taunton, MA: 90 countTaunton, MA90Framingham, MA: 84 countFramingham, MA84Attleboro, MA: 83 countAttleboro, MA83Winthrop Town, MA: 70 countWinthrop Town, MA70Worcester, MA: 70 countWorcester, MA70Fall River, MA: 58 countFall River, MA58Barnstable Town, MA: 57 countBarnstable Town, MA57Newton, MA: 57 countNewton, MA57Waltham, MA: 57 countWaltham, MA57Chelsea, MA: 54 countChelsea, MA54Leominster, MA: 47 countLeominster, MA47Newburyport, MA: 47 countNewburyport, MA47North Attleborough Town, MA: 45 countNorth Attleborough Town, MA45Westfield, MA: 45 countWestfield, MA45Haverhill, MA: 42 countHaverhill, MA42Revere, MA: 40 countRevere, MA40New Bedford, MA: 33 countNew Bedford, MA33Brockton, MA: 31 countBrockton, MA31Northampton, MA: 29 countNorthampton, MA29Fitchburg, MA: 28 countFitchburg, MA28Marlborough, MA: 25 countMarlborough, MA25Peabody, MA: 24 countPeabody, MA24Chicopee, MA: 21 countChicopee, MA21Beverly, MA: 20 countBeverly, MA20Agawam Town, MA: 16 countAgawam Town, MA16Lawrence, MA: 16 countLawrence, MA16Randolph Town, MA: 14 countRandolph Town, MA14Southbridge Town, MA: 14 countSouthbridge Town, MA14Gardner, MA: 13 countGardner, MA13West Springfield Town, MA: 11 countWest Springfield Town, MA11Melrose, MA: 10 countMelrose, MA10Palmer Town, MA: 8 countPalmer Town, MA8Braintree Town, MA: 5 countBraintree Town, MA5Pittsfield, MA: 5 countPittsfield, MA5Holyoke, MA: 3 countHolyoke, MA3Malden, MA: 0 countMalden, MA0North Adams, MA: 0 countNorth Adams, MA0
count. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2020
count		Change on 2019
1Boston, MA Estimated3,532+18%
2Medford, MA Estimated1,199-32.6%
3Cambridge, MA Estimated546-14%
4Woburn, MA Estimated376+235.7%
5Salem, MA Estimated283+73.6%
6Gloucester, MA Estimated258+258.3%
7Weymouth Town, MA Estimated256-1.5%
8Franklin Town, MA Estimated248-7.8%
9Lowell, MA Estimated189-47.8%
10Quincy, MA Estimated153+7%
11Bridgewater Town, MA Estimated144+220%
12Lynn, MA Estimated140+105.9%
13Everett, MA Estimated124+264.7%
14Somerville, MA Estimated103-29.5%
15Springfield, MA Estimated93+2,225%
16Taunton, MA Estimated90+36.4%
17Framingham, MA Estimated84-32.3%
18Attleboro, MA Estimated83-15.3%
19Winthrop Town, MA Estimated70-17.6%
19Worcester, MA Estimated700%
21Fall River, MA Estimated58-6.5%
22Barnstable Town, MA Estimated57-36%
22Newton, MA Estimated57-75.4%
22Waltham, MA Estimated57-14.9%
25Chelsea, MA Estimated54+12.5%
26Leominster, MA Estimated47-14.5%
26Newburyport, MA Estimated47-54.4%
28North Attleborough Town, MA Estimated45n/a
28Westfield, MA Estimated45+2.3%
30Haverhill, MA Estimated42-31.1%
31Revere, MA Estimated40-7%
32New Bedford, MA Estimated33+57.1%
33Brockton, MA Estimated31-11.4%
34Northampton, MA Estimated29-3.3%
35Fitchburg, MA Estimated28+64.7%
36Marlborough, MA Estimated25+4.2%
37Peabody, MA Estimated24+9.1%
38Chicopee, MA Estimated21-51.2%
39Beverly, MA Estimated20+53.8%
40Agawam Town, MA Estimated16+14.3%
40Lawrence, MA Estimated16-23.8%
42Randolph Town, MA Estimated14-17.6%
42Southbridge Town, MA Estimated140%
44Gardner, MA Estimated13-13.3%
45West Springfield Town, MA Estimated11-63.3%
46Melrose, MA Estimated10+42.9%
47Palmer Town, MA Estimated8+60%
48Braintree Town, MA Estimated5-61.5%
48Pittsfield, MA Estimated50%
50Holyoke, MA Estimated3-62.5%
51Malden, MA Estimated0-100%
51North Adams, MA Estimated0n/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. 5 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2020 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/Northeast%20Region/ne2020a.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. (2021). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Massachusetts by housing units authorized by building permits, 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2020a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Massachusetts by housing units authorized by building permits, 2020. U.S. Census Bureau, 3 May 2021, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2020a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/massachusetts-cities?period=2020. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2021. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Massachusetts by housing units authorized by building permits, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2020a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/massachusetts-cities?period=2020.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2021) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Massachusetts by housing units authorized by building permits, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2020a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/massachusetts-cities?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_cities_in_massachusetts_by_2020,
  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 Massachusetts by housing units authorized by building permits, 2020}},
  year = {2021},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2020a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/massachusetts-cities?period=2020. 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/Northeast\%20Region/ne2020a.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 Massachusetts by housing units authorized by building permits, 2020
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/05/03
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2020a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/massachusetts-cities?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/massachusetts-cities?period=2020.
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/Northeast%20Region/ne2020a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Rank Cities in Massachusetts by housing units authorized by building permits using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

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

Boston, MA, with 3,532 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

North Adams, MA, with 0 in 2020.

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. 5 cities have no value for 2020 and are not ranked.

Housing units authorized by building permits: other rankings

Cities in Massachusetts: more rankings