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

Cities in Michigan by housing units authorized by building permits

Grand Rapids, MI had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 84 cities in 2018, at 814. Wayne, MI had the lowest, at 0. The median was 12 and the figure for Michigan was 19,580. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Highest814Grand Rapids, MI
Lowest0Wayne, MI
Median1284 cities
Michigan19,580History

Top 40 cities, 2018

Grand Rapids, MI: 814 countGrand Rapids, MI814Lansing, MI: 261 countLansing, MI261Auburn Hills, MI: 191 countAuburn Hills, MI191Detroit, MI: 170 countDetroit, MI170Flint, MI: 161 countFlint, MI161Portage, MI: 159 countPortage, MI159Troy, MI: 156 countTroy, MI156Novi, MI: 147 countNovi, MI147Royal Oak, MI: 142 countRoyal Oak, MI142Ann Arbor, MI: 126 countAnn Arbor, MI126Rochester Hills, MI: 118 countRochester Hills, MI118Birmingham, MI: 115 countBirmingham, MI115Sterling Heights, MI: 107 countSterling Heights, MI107Kentwood, MI: 100 countKentwood, MI100Warren, MI: 92 countWarren, MI92Westland, MI: 65 countWestland, MI65Wixom, MI: 65 countWixom, MI65Fenton, MI: 60 countFenton, MI60Ferndale, MI: 59 countFerndale, MI59Livonia, MI: 58 countLivonia, MI58Niles, MI: 55 countNiles, MI55Saginaw, MI: 55 countSaginaw, MI55Kalamazoo, MI: 47 countKalamazoo, MI47Burton, MI: 46 countBurton, MI46Walker, MI: 44 countWalker, MI44Romulus, MI: 41 countRomulus, MI41Midland, MI: 39 countMidland, MI39Berkley, MI: 31 countBerkley, MI31Wyoming, MI: 30 countWyoming, MI30Dearborn, MI: 29 countDearborn, MI29Farmington Hills, MI: 26 countFarmington Hills, MI26St. Clair Shores, MI: 25 countSt. Clair Shores, MI25Bay City, MI: 24 countBay City, MI24South Lyon, MI: 22 countSouth Lyon, MI22Wyandotte, MI: 21 countWyandotte, MI21Taylor, MI: 20 countTaylor, MI20Rochester, MI: 19 countRochester, MI19Muskegon, MI: 16 countMuskegon, MI16Southfield, MI: 15 countSouthfield, MI15New Baltimore, MI: 14 countNew Baltimore, MI14Grand Rapids, MI: 814 countGrand Rapids, MI814Lansing, MI: 261 countLansing, MI261Auburn Hills, MI: 191 countAuburn Hills, MI191Detroit, MI: 170 countDetroit, MI170Flint, MI: 161 countFlint, MI161Portage, MI: 159 countPortage, MI159Troy, MI: 156 countTroy, MI156Novi, MI: 147 countNovi, MI147Royal Oak, MI: 142 countRoyal Oak, MI142Ann Arbor, MI: 126 countAnn Arbor, MI126Rochester Hills, MI: 118 countRochester Hills, MI118Birmingham, MI: 115 countBirmingham, MI115Sterling Heights, MI: 107 countSterling Heights, MI107Kentwood, MI: 100 countKentwood, MI100Warren, MI: 92 countWarren, MI92Westland, MI: 65 countWestland, MI65Wixom, MI: 65 countWixom, MI65Fenton, MI: 60 countFenton, MI60Ferndale, MI: 59 countFerndale, MI59Livonia, MI: 58 countLivonia, MI58Niles, MI: 55 countNiles, MI55Saginaw, MI: 55 countSaginaw, MI55Kalamazoo, MI: 47 countKalamazoo, MI47Burton, MI: 46 countBurton, MI46Walker, MI: 44 countWalker, MI44Romulus, MI: 41 countRomulus, MI41Midland, MI: 39 countMidland, MI39Berkley, MI: 31 countBerkley, MI31Wyoming, MI: 30 countWyoming, MI30Dearborn, MI: 29 countDearborn, MI29Farmington Hills, MI: 26 countFarmington Hills, MI26St. Clair Shores, MI: 25 countSt. Clair Shores, MI25Bay City, MI: 24 countBay City, MI24South Lyon, MI: 22 countSouth Lyon, MI22Wyandotte, MI: 21 countWyandotte, MI21Taylor, MI: 20 countTaylor, MI20Rochester, MI: 19 countRochester, MI19Muskegon, MI: 16 countMuskegon, MI16Southfield, MI: 15 countSouthfield, MI15New Baltimore, MI: 14 countNew Baltimore, MI14
count. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2018
count		Change on 2017
1Grand Rapids, MI Estimated814-7.3%
2Lansing, MI Estimated261+24.3%
3Auburn Hills, MI Estimated191-52.7%
4Detroit, MI Estimated170-83.5%
5Flint, MI Estimated161n/a
6Portage, MI Estimated159-26%
7Troy, MI Estimated156-18.3%
8Novi, MI Estimated147-71.5%
9Royal Oak, MI Estimated142-5.3%
10Ann Arbor, MI Estimated126+12.5%
11Rochester Hills, MI Estimated118-40.4%
12Birmingham, MI Estimated115+16.2%
13Sterling Heights, MI Estimated107-65.5%
14Kentwood, MI Estimated100+2%
15Warren, MI Estimated92+162.9%
16Westland, MI Estimated65-13.3%
16Wixom, MI Estimated65-28.6%
18Fenton, MI Estimated60+36.4%
19Ferndale, MI Estimated59+268.8%
20Livonia, MI Estimated58-22.7%
21Niles, MI Estimated55+1,733.3%
21Saginaw, MI Estimated55+14.6%
23Kalamazoo, MI Estimated47-83.5%
24Burton, MI Estimated46-13.2%
25Walker, MI Estimated440%
26Romulus, MI Estimated41-24.1%
27Midland, MI Estimated39-45.8%
28Berkley, MI Estimated31-41.5%
29Wyoming, MI Estimated30-34.8%
30Dearborn, MI Estimated29-54.7%
31Farmington Hills, MI Estimated26+52.9%
32St. Clair Shores, MI Estimated25+19%
33Bay City, MI Estimated24+200%
34South Lyon, MI Estimated22-37.1%
35Wyandotte, MI Estimated21+5%
36Taylor, MI Estimated20+81.8%
37Rochester, MI Estimated19-87.2%
38Muskegon, MI Estimated16+23.1%
39Southfield, MI Estimated15-81%
40New Baltimore, MI Estimated14-46.2%
40Oak Park, MI Estimated14+180%
42Grand Haven, MI Estimated12-89.1%
42Madison Heights, MI Estimated12+300%
42Norton Shores, MI Estimated12-68.4%
45Coldwater, MI Estimated11-8.3%
45Holland, MI Estimated11-26.7%
47Trenton, MI Estimated10+100%
48Battle Creek, MI Estimated9-10%
48Beverly Hills, MI Estimated9-59.1%
48Dearborn Heights, MI Estimated9-18.2%
51Owosso, MI Estimated7+250%
52East Lansing, MI Estimated6-14.3%
52Flat Rock, MI Estimated6-72.7%
52Grosse Pointe Park, MI Estimated6+500%
52Woodhaven, MI Estimated60%
56Riverview, MI Estimated5+66.7%
57Fraser, MI Estimated4-55.6%
57Grandville, MI Estimated4-33.3%
57Mount Clemens, MI Estimated4+100%
60Monroe, MI Estimated3+50%
60Pontiac, MI Estimated3-75%
62Alpena, MI Estimated2-33.3%
62Grosse Pointe Woods, MI Estimated2n/a
62Port Huron, MI Estimated2-66.7%
65Eastpointe, MI Estimated1n/a
65Hamtramck, MI Estimated1n/a
65Roseville, MI Estimated1-97.2%
65Southgate, MI Estimated1-97.6%
65Sturgis, MI Estimated1n/a
65Ypsilanti, MI Estimated1n/a
71Adrian, MI Estimated0n/a
71Allen Park, MI Estimated0n/a
71Clawson, MI Estimated0n/a
71Farmington, MI Estimated0n/a
71Garden City, MI Estimated0n/a
71Harper Woods, MI Estimated0n/a
71Hazel Park, MI Estimated0n/a
71Inkster, MI Estimated0n/a
71Jackson, MI Estimated0-100%
71Lincoln Park, MI Estimated0n/a
71Melvindale, MI Estimated0n/a
71Mount Pleasant, MI Estimated0-100%
71Sault Ste. Marie, MI Estimated0-100%
71Wayne, MI 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. 3 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2018 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/Midwest%20Region/mw2018a.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. (2019). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Michigan by housing units authorized by building permits, 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Midwest%20Region/mw2018a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Michigan by housing units authorized by building permits, 2018. U.S. Census Bureau, 20 June 2019, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Midwest%20Region/mw2018a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/michigan-cities?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Michigan by housing units authorized by building permits, 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Midwest%20Region/mw2018a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/michigan-cities?period=2018.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2019) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Michigan by housing units authorized by building permits, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Midwest%20Region/mw2018a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/michigan-cities?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_cities_in_michigan_by_2018,
  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 Michigan by housing units authorized by building permits, 2018}},
  year = {2019},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Midwest%20Region/mw2018a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/michigan-cities?period=2018. 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/Midwest\%20Region/mw2018a.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 Michigan by housing units authorized by building permits, 2018
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2019/06/20
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Midwest%20Region/mw2018a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/michigan-cities?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/michigan-cities?period=2018.
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/Midwest%20Region/mw2018a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

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

Grand Rapids, MI, with 814 in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Wayne, MI, with 0 in 2018.

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. 3 cities have no value for 2018 and are not ranked.

Housing units authorized by building permits: other rankings

Cities in Michigan: more rankings