US states by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2025, at 210,217. Alaska had the lowest, at 848. The median was 15,513 and the figure for the United States was 1.43 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest210,217Texas

Lowest848Alaska

Median15,51351 states

United States1,431,616History

All states, 2025

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2025 count	Change on 2024
1	Texas Estimated	210,217	-6.9%
2	Florida Estimated	178,297	+2.9%
3	California Estimated	103,856	+2.3%
4	North Carolina Estimated	86,167	-9.5%
5	Georgia Estimated	61,196	-10.5%
6	Arizona Estimated	51,532	-13.6%
7	South Carolina Estimated	45,862	-2.6%
8	Tennessee Estimated	43,374	-3.3%
9	New York Estimated	38,667	-16.9%
10	Washington Estimated	34,913	-7.6%
11	Colorado Estimated	33,754	+4.9%
12	Ohio Estimated	33,640	+7.1%
13	Virginia Estimated	33,094	-2.8%
14	Indiana Estimated	29,076	+9.2%
15	New Jersey Estimated	27,661	-20.8%
16	Utah Estimated	26,775	+12%
17	Pennsylvania Estimated	25,709	+3.6%
18	Wisconsin Estimated	25,569	+7.3%
19	Michigan Estimated	23,075	+6.1%
20	Minnesota Estimated	20,947	+0.2%
21	Alabama Estimated	19,061	-8%
22	Illinois Estimated	18,551	-8.7%
23	Nevada Estimated	18,540	-7.3%
24	Idaho Estimated	17,944	+1.8%
25	Missouri Estimated	17,474	-5.4%
26	Oklahoma Estimated	15,513	+13.5%
27	Arkansas Estimated	15,492	+13.2%
28	Kentucky Estimated	14,940	-8.1%
29	Oregon Estimated	14,839	+1.5%
30	Louisiana Estimated	14,203	-0.7%
31	Iowa Estimated	13,664	+8.9%
32	Maryland Estimated	13,358	-20.6%
33	Massachusetts Estimated	12,477	-13%
34	Nebraska Estimated	10,596	+1.1%
35	Kansas Estimated	10,299	+13.6%
36	Mississippi Estimated	8,405	+6.6%
37	New Mexico Estimated	7,747	+2.3%
38	Connecticut Estimated	7,273	+22.7%
39	Maine Estimated	6,979	+15.7%
40	Delaware Estimated	6,468	-9.4%
41	South Dakota Estimated	5,305	-11.8%
42	Montana Estimated	5,258	-2%
43	New Hampshire Estimated	5,030	+1.3%
44	West Virginia Estimated	3,962	-5.5%
45	Hawaii Estimated	3,708	-4.4%
46	North Dakota Estimated	2,440	+5.2%
47	Vermont Estimated	2,294	-13.6%
48	Wyoming Estimated	2,238	+4.8%
49	Rhode Island Estimated	1,738	-1.1%
50	District of Columbia Estimated	1,591	-8.4%
51	Alaska Estimated	848	-17.8%

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 states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.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. (2026). Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states (US states by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states, US states by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025. U.S. Census Bureau, 14 May 2026, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2026. Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states. US states by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2026) Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states, US states by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2025,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states: US states by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states: US states by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/14
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2025a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 210,217 in 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Alaska, with 848 in 2025.

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 state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states. Retrieved 2026-10-12.