US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2014, at 166,982. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 952. The median was 14,486 and the figure for the United States was 1.05 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest166,982Texas

Lowest952Rhode Island

Median14,48651 states

United States1,046,363History

Map of states, 2014

Under 4,000
4,000 to 8,000
8,000 to 14K
14K to 18K
18K to 29K
29K and over

count, 2014. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2014

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2014 count	Change on 2013
1	Texas Estimated	166,982	+13.2%
2	Florida Estimated	84,075	-3.1%
3	California Estimated	83,645	+3.6%
4	North Carolina Estimated	49,911	-2.7%
5	Georgia Estimated	39,423	+9%
6	New York Estimated	36,286	+11.4%
7	Washington Estimated	33,898	+2.8%
8	Colorado Estimated	28,686	+4.2%
9	Virginia Estimated	28,682	-10.2%
10	New Jersey Estimated	28,155	+16.3%
11	Tennessee Estimated	27,632	+16%
12	South Carolina Estimated	27,537	+11.4%
13	Arizona Estimated	26,997	+7.1%
14	Pennsylvania Estimated	25,059	+15.7%
15	Illinois Estimated	20,578	+32.4%
16	Ohio Estimated	19,872	-0.2%
17	Indiana Estimated	17,816	-0.7%
18	Utah Estimated	17,510	+10.7%
19	Minnesota Estimated	16,990	-1.9%
20	Oregon Estimated	16,645	+12.1%
21	Maryland Estimated	16,331	-8.9%
22	Missouri Estimated	16,003	+16.7%
23	Michigan Estimated	15,933	+1.1%
24	Louisiana Estimated	15,255	+8.8%
25	Wisconsin Estimated	14,622	+5.4%
26	Massachusetts Estimated	14,486	-0.6%
27	Oklahoma Estimated	14,179	+4.4%
28	Alabama Estimated	13,369	+13.7%
29	Nevada Estimated	13,016	+16.5%
30	North Dakota Estimated	12,178	+15.6%
31	Iowa Estimated	10,256	-5.7%
32	Kentucky Estimated	9,536	+6.5%
33	Idaho Estimated	8,797	+8.5%
34	Arkansas Estimated	7,666	+2.5%
35	Nebraska Estimated	7,605	+0.8%
36	Kansas Estimated	7,459	-10%
37	Mississippi Estimated	6,871	+1.1%
38	Connecticut Estimated	5,329	-1.8%
39	Delaware Estimated	5,194	+7.6%
40	New Mexico Estimated	4,799	-7%
41	South Dakota Estimated	4,722	-13.9%
42	District of Columbia Estimated	4,189	+28.7%
43	Montana Estimated	3,884	-20%
44	New Hampshire Estimated	3,403	+22.1%
45	Maine Estimated	3,242	-5.4%
46	Hawaii Estimated	3,066	-21%
47	West Virginia Estimated	2,677	+4%
48	Wyoming Estimated	1,901	-17.3%
49	Vermont Estimated	1,546	+3.1%
50	Alaska Estimated	1,518	+40.7%
51	Rhode Island Estimated	952	+2.6%

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/st2014a.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 state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states (US states by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2014a.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, 2014. U.S. Census Bureau, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2014a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2016. 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, 2014. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2014a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2014.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2016) 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, 2014 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2014a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2014,
  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, 2014}},
  year = {2016},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2014a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2014. 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/st2014a.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, 2014
PY  - 2016
DA  - 2016/09/30
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2014a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2014.
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/st2014a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 166,982 in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Rhode Island, with 952 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 state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states. Retrieved 2026-10-12.