Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits
Greenville, SC had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 38 cities in 2015, at 2,036. Newberry, SC had the lowest, at 0. The median was 218 and the figure for South Carolina was 31,030. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.
All cities, 2015
Full ranking
| Rank | Cities | 2015 | Change on 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greenville, SC Estimated | 2,036 | +96.3% |
| 2 | Mount Pleasant, SC Estimated | 1,341 | +0.7% |
| 3 | Charleston, SC Estimated | 1,045 | +6.9% |
| 4 | Bluffton, SC Estimated | 810 | +38.5% |
| 5 | Hanahan, SC Estimated | 635 | -13.5% |
| 6 | Fort Mill, SC Estimated | 549 | +117% |
| 7 | Rock Hill, SC Estimated | 545 | -34.7% |
| 8 | Columbia, SC Estimated | 508 | -7% |
| 9 | North Charleston, SC Estimated | 483 | +7.3% |
| 10 | Myrtle Beach, SC Estimated | 474 | +4.9% |
| 11 | Port Royal, SC Estimated | 324 | +256% |
| 12 | Clemson, SC Estimated | 300 | +92.3% |
| 13 | Greer, SC Estimated | 291 | +26.5% |
| 14 | Cayce, SC Estimated | 267 | +641.7% |
| 15 | Simpsonville, SC Estimated | 258 | +28.4% |
| 16 | North Myrtle Beach, SC Estimated | 252 | -12.2% |
| 17 | Conway, SC Estimated | 246 | -1.2% |
| 18 | Moncks Corner, SC Estimated | 232 | +28.9% |
| 19 | Summerville, SC Estimated | 231 | -61.1% |
| 20 | Hardeeville, SC Estimated | 204 | +0.5% |
| 21 | Goose Creek, SC Estimated | 180 | +45.2% |
| 22 | North Augusta, SC Estimated | 151 | +31.3% |
| 23 | Lexington, SC Estimated | 148 | +85% |
| 24 | Aiken, SC Estimated | 121 | -33.5% |
| 25 | Tega Cay, SC Estimated | 110 | -44.4% |
| 26 | Fountain Inn, SC Estimated | 98 | +63.3% |
| 27 | Hilton Head Island, SC Estimated | 93 | -36.3% |
| 28 | Easley, SC Estimated | 87 | +20.8% |
| 29 | Beaufort, SC Estimated | 80 | +150% |
| 30 | West Columbia, SC Estimated | 73 | +32.7% |
| 31 | Orangeburg, SC Estimated | 51 | +1,175% |
| 32 | Mauldin, SC Estimated | 44 | -35.3% |
| 33 | Anderson, SC Estimated | 39 | +21.9% |
| 34 | Spartanburg, SC Estimated | 20 | +33.3% |
| 35 | York, SC Estimated | 12 | +50% |
| 36 | Forest Acres, SC Estimated | 8 | -52.9% |
| 37 | Gaffney, SC Estimated | 3 | |
| 38 | Newberry, SC 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. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2015 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/so2015a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
Citation styles
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 South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt
MLA 9
Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015. U.S. Census Bureau, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2015. 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 South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2015.
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 South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{census_cities_in_south_carolina_2015,
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 South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015}},
year = {2016},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt},
urldate = {2026-10-12},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2015. 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/so2015a.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 South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2015
PY - 2016
DA - 2016/09/30
PB - U.S. Census Bureau
DB - Invokely
UR - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2015
Y2 - 2026/10/12
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2015.
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/so2015a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER -
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 South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"building_permit_units","level":"municipality","within":"South Carolina","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=building_permit_units&level=municipality&within=South%20Carolina&limit=10
Questions
Which city has the highest housing units authorized by building permits?
Greenville, SC, with 2,036 in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Which city has the lowest housing units authorized by building permits?
Newberry, SC, with 0 in 2015.
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. 1 cities have no value for 2015 and are not ranked.
Housing units authorized by building permits: other rankings
- Cities in West Virginia
- Cities in Rhode Island
- Cities in Arizona
- Counties in North Carolina
- Counties in Nebraska
- Counties in Montana
Cities in South Carolina: more rankings
- Single-family housing units authorized by building permits
- Households
- Median gross rent (monthly)
- Average household size
- Bachelor's degree or higher, population 25 and over
- Population speaking a language other than English at home
- High school graduate or higher, population 25 and over
- White (non-Hispanic) population share