Cities in Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits

Philadelphia, PA had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 68 cities in 2014, at 3,973. Yeadon, PA had the lowest, at 0. The median was 3 and the figure for Pennsylvania was 25,059. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest3,973Philadelphia, PA

Lowest0Yeadon, PA

Median368 cities

Pennsylvania25,059History

Top 40 cities, 2014

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2014 count	Change on 2013
1	Philadelphia, PA Estimated	3,973	+41.1%
2	Scranton, PA Estimated	1,733	+8,565%
3	Allentown, PA Estimated	345	+2,553.8%
4	Pittsburgh, PA Estimated	338	+238%
5	West Chester, PA Estimated	215	+115%
6	Williamsport, PA Estimated	99	+1,880%
7	Carlisle, PA Estimated	87	+2,075%
8	Baldwin, PA Estimated	84	+950%
9	Jefferson Hills, PA Estimated	78	+11.4%
10	Franklin Park, PA Estimated	75	-31.2%
11	York, PA Estimated	65	+3,150%
12	Chambersburg, PA Estimated	46	-8%
12	Waynesboro, PA Estimated	46	+130%
14	Plum, PA Estimated	41	-31.7%
15	Phoenixville, PA Estimated	39	+2.6%
16	Murrysville, PA Estimated	37	+2.8%
17	Lansdale, PA Estimated	29	+7.4%
18	Bethlehem, PA Estimated	21	-73.1%
18	Pottstown, PA Estimated	21	-54.3%
20	Hanover, PA Estimated	20	-67.7%
21	Lancaster, PA Estimated	16	+700%
22	St. Marys, PA Estimated	14	-12.5%
23	Elizabethtown, PA Estimated	13	+160%
24	Hermitage, PA Estimated	11	-42.1%
25	Monroeville, PA Estimated	7	+133.3%
26	State College, PA Estimated	6	-64.7%
27	Altoona, PA Estimated	4	0%
27	Bloomsburg, PA Estimated	4	-20%
27	Coatesville, PA Estimated	4	-60%
27	Wilkes-Barre, PA Estimated	4	+33.3%
31	Dunmore, PA Estimated	3	0%
31	Ephrata, PA Estimated	3	-97.8%
31	Erie, PA Estimated	3	+50%
31	Harrisburg, PA Estimated	3	n/a
31	Munhall, PA Estimated	3	n/a
36	Bethel Park, PA Estimated	2	-50%
36	Emmaus, PA Estimated	2	n/a
36	Indiana, PA Estimated	2	-98.7%
36	Lansdowne, PA Estimated	2	0%
36	Lower Burrell, PA Estimated	2	+100%
36	Meadville, PA Estimated	2	n/a
36	West Mifflin, PA Estimated	2	+100%
43	Berwick, PA Estimated	1	n/a
43	Greensburg, PA Estimated	1	-50%
43	Norristown, PA Estimated	1	-83.3%
43	Northampton, PA Estimated	1	-80%
43	Pottsville, PA Estimated	1	0%
43	Washington, PA Estimated	1	-50%
43	Whitehall, PA Estimated	1	-83.3%
50	Butler, PA Estimated	0	-100%
50	Chester, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Columbia, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Darby, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Easton, PA Estimated	0	-100%
50	Hazleton, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Johnstown, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Kingston, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Lebanon, PA Estimated	0	-100%
50	McKeesport, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Mechanicsburg, PA Estimated	0	-100%
50	Nanticoke, PA Estimated	0	-100%
50	New Castle, PA Estimated	0	-100%
50	New Kensington, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Reading, PA Estimated	0	-100%
50	Sharon, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Wilkinsburg, PA Estimated	0	n/a
50	Wyomissing, PA Estimated	0	-100%
50	Yeadon, PA 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. 2 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2014 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/ne2014a.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. (2016). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2014a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014. U.S. Census Bureau, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2014a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/pennsylvania-cities?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2016. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2014a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/pennsylvania-cities?period=2014.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2016) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2014a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/pennsylvania-cities?period=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_pennsylvania_by_2014,
  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 Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014}},
  year = {2016},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2014a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/pennsylvania-cities?period=2014. 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/ne2014a.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 Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014
PY  - 2016
DA  - 2016/09/30
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/Northeast%20Region/ne2014a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/pennsylvania-cities?period=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/pennsylvania-cities?period=2014.
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/ne2014a.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/pennsylvania-cities?period=2014" width="760" height="500" title="Cities in Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014, 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 Pennsylvania by housing units authorized by building permits using official data, and cite the source.

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

Philadelphia, PA, with 3,973 in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Yeadon, PA, with 0 in 2014.

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 2014 and are not ranked.