US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2017, at 175,112. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 1,153. The median was 16,224 and the figure for the United States was 1.28 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest175,112Texas

Lowest1,153Rhode Island

Median16,22451 states

United States1,281,977History

Map of states, 2017

Under 4,000
4,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 16K
16K to 23K
23K to 39K
39K and over

count, 2017. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2017

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2017 count	Change on 2016
1	Texas Estimated	175,112	+5.6%
2	Florida Estimated	122,719	+5.6%
3	California Estimated	114,780	+12.1%
4	North Carolina Estimated	67,047	+10.7%
5	Georgia Estimated	51,240	-0.8%
6	Washington Estimated	45,794	+3.9%
7	Colorado Estimated	40,673	+4.4%
8	Arizona Estimated	39,472	+10.9%
9	New York Estimated	39,350	+16.7%
10	Tennessee Estimated	37,912	+4.9%
11	South Carolina Estimated	35,521	+10.4%
12	Virginia Estimated	33,760	+8.4%
13	New Jersey Estimated	28,501	+6.4%
14	Illinois Estimated	24,992	+10.6%
15	Utah Estimated	24,679	+8.9%
16	Ohio Estimated	23,917	+4.8%
17	Michigan Estimated	23,623	+15.8%
18	Pennsylvania Estimated	22,584	-3.1%
19	Minnesota Estimated	21,953	+2.3%
20	Indiana Estimated	21,664	+15.8%
21	Oregon Estimated	20,053	+2.4%
22	Wisconsin Estimated	19,545	+1.4%
23	Nevada Estimated	19,544	+8.9%
24	Missouri Estimated	18,811	-1%
25	Massachusetts Estimated	17,728	+8.8%
26	Maryland Estimated	16,224	-4.8%
27	Louisiana Estimated	15,224	+5%
28	Alabama Estimated	14,799	-1.3%
29	Idaho Estimated	14,183	+16.6%
30	Iowa Estimated	13,948	-2.6%
31	Kentucky Estimated	12,630	-0.7%
32	Oklahoma Estimated	11,092	-8.3%
33	Arkansas Estimated	10,795	+13.9%
34	Kansas Estimated	8,984	-8.4%
35	Nebraska Estimated	8,863	+9.7%
36	Mississippi Estimated	7,481	+8.6%
37	Delaware Estimated	6,601	+13.7%
38	District of Columbia Estimated	6,037	+28.7%
39	South Dakota Estimated	5,407	-4.9%
40	Montana Estimated	4,932	+3.2%
41	New Mexico Estimated	4,741	-2.5%
42	Connecticut Estimated	4,547	-17.4%
43	Maine Estimated	4,358	+8.7%
44	Hawaii Estimated	4,035	+19.8%
45	New Hampshire Estimated	3,625	-4.5%
46	North Dakota Estimated	3,411	-14.3%
47	West Virginia Estimated	2,719	+6.9%
48	Wyoming Estimated	1,926	+11.5%
49	Vermont Estimated	1,749	-1.2%
50	Alaska Estimated	1,539	+2.4%
51	Rhode Island Estimated	1,153	-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/st2017a.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. (2018). 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, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2017a.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, 2017. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2018, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2017a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2018. 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, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2017a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2017.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2018) 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, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2017a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2017,
  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, 2017}},
  year = {2018},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2017a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2017. 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/st2017a.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, 2017
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2017a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2017.
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/st2017a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 175,112 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Rhode Island, with 1,153 in 2017.

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.