Cities in Missouri by housing units authorized by building permits

Kansas City, MO had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 77 cities in 2018, at 2,154. St. Ann, MO had the lowest, at 0. The median was 33 and the figure for Missouri was 16,875. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest2,154Kansas City, MO

Lowest0St. Ann, MO

Median3377 cities

Missouri16,875History

Top 40 cities, 2018

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2018 count	Change on 2017
1	Kansas City, MO Estimated	2,154	-9%
2	Cape Girardeau, MO Estimated	751	+47.5%
3	St. Louis, MO Estimated	661	-15.8%
4	St. Peters, MO Estimated	618	+822.4%
5	Lee's Summit, MO Estimated	548	-29.3%
6	Springfield, MO Estimated	429	-24.7%
7	Wentzville, MO Estimated	418	-39.2%
8	Blue Springs, MO Estimated	399	+75%
9	Lake St. Louis, MO Estimated	329	+115%
10	O'Fallon, MO Estimated	317	-26.8%
11	St. Charles, MO Estimated	312	-3.1%
12	Columbia, MO Estimated	263	-79.2%
13	Nixa, MO Estimated	251	+17.8%
14	Joplin, MO Estimated	241	-16.6%
15	Republic, MO Estimated	227	+118.3%
16	Raymore, MO Estimated	198	-29.5%
17	Smithville, MO Estimated	188	+21.3%
18	Union, MO Estimated	163	+39.3%
19	Independence, MO Estimated	151	-40.8%
20	Webb City, MO Estimated	137	-14.4%
21	Farmington, MO Estimated	136	-43.8%
22	Kearney, MO Estimated	128	+2.4%
23	Rolla, MO Estimated	127	+29.6%
24	Grain Valley, MO Estimated	124	-15.6%
25	Ozark, MO Estimated	114	+1.8%
26	Branson, MO Estimated	112	+55.6%
27	Kirkwood, MO Estimated	93	-1.1%
28	Eureka, MO Estimated	81	-12.9%
29	Belton, MO Estimated	68	-31.3%
30	Jackson, MO Estimated	65	-27%
30	Troy, MO Estimated	65	-23.5%
30	Washington, MO Estimated	65	-23.5%
33	Kirksville, MO Estimated	61	-29.9%
34	Moberly, MO Estimated	56	+154.5%
35	St. Joseph, MO Estimated	50	-28.6%
36	Jefferson City, MO Estimated	48	-14.3%
37	Liberty, MO Estimated	39	-30.4%
38	West Plains, MO Estimated	38	+111.1%
39	Sikeston, MO Estimated	33	+17.9%
40	Bolivar, MO Estimated	32	+33.3%
41	Neosho, MO Estimated	30	-3.2%
41	Warrensburg, MO Estimated	30	-64.3%
43	Festus, MO Estimated	29	-21.6%
43	Maryville, MO Estimated	29	-9.4%
45	Arnold, MO Estimated	27	-27%
46	Maryland Heights, MO Estimated	25	-58.3%
47	Webster Groves, MO Estimated	23	-28.1%
48	Hannibal, MO Estimated	22	0%
49	Ellisville, MO Estimated	20	-60%
49	Lebanon, MO Estimated	20	-75.9%
51	Creve Coeur, MO Estimated	19	-17.4%
51	Kennett, MO Estimated	19	0%
53	Ballwin, MO Estimated	17	-32%
53	Excelsior Springs, MO Estimated	17	-15%
53	Fulton, MO Estimated	17	-5.6%
53	Gladstone, MO Estimated	17	-46.9%
53	Town and Country, MO Estimated	17	-26.1%
58	Mexico, MO Estimated	16	-70.4%
59	Carthage, MO Estimated	15	-80.8%
60	Monett, MO Estimated	14	-78.1%
60	Sedalia, MO Estimated	14	-6.7%
62	Harrisonville, MO Estimated	12	0%
63	Poplar Bluff, MO Estimated	10	+25%
64	Dardenne Prairie, MO Estimated	9	-52.6%
65	Grandview, MO Estimated	8	n/a
66	Bellefontaine Neighbors, MO Estimated	7	+40%
67	Clayton, MO Estimated	6	-33.3%
67	University City, MO Estimated	6	0%
69	Raytown, MO Estimated	5	-16.7%
70	Marshall, MO Estimated	3	-76.9%
71	Bridgeton, MO Estimated	2	+100%
71	Overland, MO Estimated	2	+100%
73	Ferguson, MO Estimated	0	n/a
73	Florissant, MO Estimated	0	n/a
73	Hazelwood, MO Estimated	0	-100%
73	Jennings, MO Estimated	0	n/a
73	St. Ann, MO 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/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 Missouri 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 Missouri 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/missouri-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 Missouri 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/missouri-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 Missouri 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/missouri-cities?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_missouri_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 Missouri 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/missouri-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 Missouri 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/missouri-cities?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/missouri-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  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/missouri-cities?period=2018" width="760" height="500" title="Cities in Missouri by housing units authorized by building permits, 2018, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

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

rank_places {"indicator":"building_permit_units","level":"municipality","within":"Missouri","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=building_permit_units&level=municipality&within=Missouri&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

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

Kansas City, MO, with 2,154 in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

St. Ann, MO, 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.