US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2016, at 165,853. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 1,226. The median was 16,288 and the figure for the United States was 1.21 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest165,853Texas

Lowest1,226Rhode Island

Median16,28851 states

United States1,206,642History

Map of states, 2016

Under 4,000
4,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 16K
16K to 22K
22K to 35K
35K and over

count, 2016. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2016

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2016 count	Change on 2015
1	Texas Estimated	165,853	-5.5%
2	Florida Estimated	116,240	+5.7%
3	California Estimated	102,350	+4.2%
4	North Carolina Estimated	60,550	+10.6%
5	Georgia Estimated	51,675	+13.4%
6	Washington Estimated	44,077	+9.2%
7	Colorado Estimated	38,974	+22.3%
8	Tennessee Estimated	36,157	+12.2%
9	Arizona Estimated	35,578	+23.1%
10	New York Estimated	33,711	-54.8%
11	South Carolina Estimated	32,165	+3.7%
12	Virginia Estimated	31,132	+9.4%
13	New Jersey Estimated	26,793	-12.3%
14	Pennsylvania Estimated	23,303	+2%
15	Ohio Estimated	22,816	+13.8%
16	Utah Estimated	22,662	+23.9%
17	Illinois Estimated	22,603	+15.5%
18	Minnesota Estimated	21,449	+9.7%
19	Michigan Estimated	20,408	+12%
20	Oregon Estimated	19,586	+11.9%
21	Wisconsin Estimated	19,274	+14.8%
22	Missouri Estimated	18,997	+3.6%
23	Indiana Estimated	18,713	+1.2%
24	Nevada Estimated	17,952	+27.5%
25	Maryland Estimated	17,044	-0.1%
26	Massachusetts Estimated	16,288	-6.5%
27	Alabama Estimated	15,001	+6.7%
28	Louisiana Estimated	14,503	+4.9%
29	Iowa Estimated	14,317	+18.4%
30	Kentucky Estimated	12,714	+20.3%
31	Idaho Estimated	12,165	+22.2%
32	Oklahoma Estimated	12,092	+4.7%
33	Kansas Estimated	9,807	+13.5%
34	Arkansas Estimated	9,474	+11.5%
35	Nebraska Estimated	8,078	-0.2%
36	Mississippi Estimated	6,886	+0.6%
37	Delaware Estimated	5,804	+11.2%
38	South Dakota Estimated	5,686	+26.9%
39	Connecticut Estimated	5,504	-9.4%
40	New Mexico Estimated	4,863	+5.7%
41	Montana Estimated	4,781	-0.9%
42	District of Columbia Estimated	4,690	-5.4%
43	Maine Estimated	4,010	+8.4%
44	North Dakota Estimated	3,981	-36.4%
45	New Hampshire Estimated	3,796	+0.9%
46	Hawaii Estimated	3,369	-37.9%
47	West Virginia Estimated	2,544	-9.6%
48	Vermont Estimated	1,771	-11.4%
49	Wyoming Estimated	1,727	-9.2%
50	Alaska Estimated	1,503	+15.8%
51	Rhode Island Estimated	1,226	+22.8%

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/st2016a.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. (2017). 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, 2016) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2016a.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, 2016. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2017, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2016a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2017. 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, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2016a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2016.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2017) 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, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2016a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2016,
  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, 2016}},
  year = {2017},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2016a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2016. 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/st2016a.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, 2016
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2016a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2016.
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/st2016a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 165,853 in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Rhode Island, with 1,226 in 2016.

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.