US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2015, at 175,443. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 998. The median was 14,083 and the figure for the United States was 1.18 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest175,443Texas

Lowest998Rhode Island

Median14,08351 states

United States1,182,582History

Map of states, 2015

Under 5,000
5,000 to 8,000
8,000 to 14K
14K to 19K
19K to 32K
32K and over

count, 2015. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2015

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2015 count	Change on 2014
1	Texas Estimated	175,443	+5.1%
2	Florida Estimated	109,924	+30.7%
3	California Estimated	98,188	+17.4%
4	New York Estimated	74,611	+105.6%
5	North Carolina Estimated	54,757	+9.7%
6	Georgia Estimated	45,549	+15.5%
7	Washington Estimated	40,374	+19.1%
8	Tennessee Estimated	32,219	+16.6%
9	Colorado Estimated	31,871	+11.1%
10	South Carolina Estimated	31,030	+12.7%
11	New Jersey Estimated	30,560	+8.5%
12	Arizona Estimated	28,910	+7.1%
13	Virginia Estimated	28,469	-0.7%
14	Pennsylvania Estimated	22,854	-8.8%
15	Ohio Estimated	20,047	+0.9%
16	Illinois Estimated	19,571	-4.9%
17	Minnesota Estimated	19,545	+15%
18	Indiana Estimated	18,483	+3.7%
19	Missouri Estimated	18,344	+14.6%
20	Utah Estimated	18,297	+4.5%
21	Michigan Estimated	18,226	+14.4%
22	Oregon Estimated	17,510	+5.2%
23	Massachusetts Estimated	17,424	+20.3%
24	Maryland Estimated	17,057	+4.4%
25	Wisconsin Estimated	16,793	+14.8%
26	Nevada Estimated	14,083	+8.2%
27	Alabama Estimated	14,054	+5.1%
28	Louisiana Estimated	13,830	-9.3%
29	Iowa Estimated	12,097	+18%
30	Oklahoma Estimated	11,545	-18.6%
31	Kentucky Estimated	10,566	+10.8%
32	Idaho Estimated	9,954	+13.2%
33	Kansas Estimated	8,644	+15.9%
34	Arkansas Estimated	8,500	+10.9%
35	Nebraska Estimated	8,096	+6.5%
36	Mississippi Estimated	6,845	-0.4%
37	North Dakota Estimated	6,256	-48.6%
38	Connecticut Estimated	6,077	+14%
39	Hawaii Estimated	5,422	+76.8%
40	Delaware Estimated	5,221	+0.5%
41	District of Columbia Estimated	4,956	+18.3%
42	Montana Estimated	4,826	+24.3%
43	New Mexico Estimated	4,599	-4.2%
44	South Dakota Estimated	4,482	-5.1%
45	New Hampshire Estimated	3,763	+10.6%
46	Maine Estimated	3,699	+14.1%
47	West Virginia Estimated	2,814	+5.1%
48	Vermont Estimated	1,998	+29.2%
49	Wyoming Estimated	1,903	+0.1%
50	Alaska Estimated	1,298	-14.5%
51	Rhode Island Estimated	998	+4.8%

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/st2015a.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, 2015) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2015a.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, 2015. U.S. Census Bureau, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2015a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2015. 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, 2015. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2015a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2015.

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, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2015a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2015,
  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, 2015}},
  year = {2016},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2015a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2015. 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/st2015a.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, 2015
PY  - 2016
DA  - 2016/09/30
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2015a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2015.
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/st2015a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 175,443 in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Rhode Island, with 998 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 state estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized, including imputation, United States and states. Retrieved 2026-10-12.