Cities in Tennessee by housing units authorized by building permits

Nashville, TN had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 58 cities in 2024, at 6,799. Union City, TN had the lowest, at 3. The median was 145 and the figure for Tennessee was 44,863. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest6,799Nashville, TN

Lowest3Union City, TN

Median14558 cities

Tennessee44,863History

All cities, 2024

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2024 count	Change on 2023
1	Nashville, TN Estimated	6,799	-39.1%
2	Knoxville, TN Estimated	2,096	+90.4%
3	Clarksville, TN Estimated	2,069	-8.5%
4	Lebanon, TN Estimated	1,207	-2.1%
5	Smyrna, TN Estimated	1,173	+3%
6	Murfreesboro, TN Estimated	1,096	-17%
7	Chattanooga, TN Estimated	1,037	-7.5%
8	Gallatin, TN Estimated	1,035	-2.2%
9	Franklin, TN Estimated	945	+208.8%
10	Columbia, TN Estimated	777	+12.6%
11	Spring Hill, TN Estimated	665	+1.8%
12	Johnson City, TN Estimated	615	+65.8%
13	White House, TN Estimated	600	-9%
14	Sevierville, TN Estimated	563	+808.1%
15	Cleveland, TN Estimated	461	+17.6%
16	Cookeville, TN Estimated	422	+36.6%
17	Hendersonville, TN Estimated	291	+9.8%
18	Mount Juliet, TN Estimated	247	-9.5%
19	Shelbyville, TN Estimated	244	+10.4%
20	Morristown, TN Estimated	235	+4%
21	Oak Ridge, TN Estimated	230	-9.8%
22	La Vergne, TN Estimated	217	+16.7%
23	Collierville, TN Estimated	181	-47.5%
24	Fairview, TN Estimated	174	+45%
25	Kingsport, TN Estimated	165	-36.8%
26	Lenoir City, TN Estimated	163	+32.5%
27	Jackson, TN Estimated	159	+4.6%
28	Winchester, TN Estimated	157	+4%
29	Bristol, TN Estimated	145	+123.1%
30	Greeneville, TN Estimated	144	+63.6%
31	Brentwood, TN Estimated	121	+16.3%
32	Crossville, TN Estimated	114	-73.4%
33	Farragut, TN Estimated	106	+26.2%
34	Manchester, TN Estimated	101	-15.8%
35	Springfield, TN Estimated	94	+5.6%
36	Tullahoma, TN Estimated	88	+46.7%
37	Alcoa, TN Estimated	82	-37.4%
38	Dickson, TN Estimated	70	+12.9%
39	Maryville, TN Estimated	64	+12.3%
40	Nolensville, TN Estimated	62	-48.8%
41	Dyersburg, TN Estimated	51	+64.5%
42	East Ridge, TN Estimated	48	+20%
43	McMinnville, TN Estimated	43	-43.4%
44	Atoka, TN Estimated	41	+10.8%
45	Goodlettsville, TN Estimated	40	+21.2%
46	Bartlett, TN Estimated	39	-90.4%
46	Soddy-Daisy, TN Estimated	39	-13.3%
48	Portland, TN Estimated	37	0%
49	Clinton, TN Estimated	33	-5.7%
49	Red Bank, TN Estimated	33	+3.1%
51	Athens, TN Estimated	30	-64.7%
52	Lawrenceburg, TN Estimated	27	+8%
53	Elizabethton, TN Estimated	24	-27.3%
54	Martin, TN Estimated	23	0%
55	Oakland, TN Estimated	19	-87.6%
55	Paris, TN Estimated	19	-5%
57	Collegedale, TN Estimated	13	-58.1%
58	Union City, TN Estimated	3	-25%

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 2024 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/so2024a.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. (2025). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Tennessee by housing units authorized by building permits, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Tennessee by housing units authorized by building permits, 2024. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2025, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/tennessee-cities?period=2024. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Tennessee by housing units authorized by building permits, 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/tennessee-cities?period=2024.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2025) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Tennessee by housing units authorized by building permits, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/tennessee-cities?period=2024 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_tennessee_by_2024,
  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 Tennessee by housing units authorized by building permits, 2024}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/tennessee-cities?period=2024. 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/so2024a.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 Tennessee by housing units authorized by building permits, 2024
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/tennessee-cities?period=2024
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/tennessee-cities?period=2024.
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/so2024a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Nashville, TN, with 6,799 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Union City, TN, with 3 in 2024.

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 2024 and are not ranked.