US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2018, at 192,878. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 1,294. The median was 16,875 and the figure for the United States was 1.33 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest192,878Texas

Lowest1,294Rhode Island

Median16,87551 states

United States1,328,827History

Map of states, 2018

Under 5,000
5,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 17K
17K to 22K
22K to 38K
38K and over

count, 2018. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2018

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2018 count	Change on 2017
1	Texas Estimated	192,878	+10.1%
2	Florida Estimated	144,427	+17.7%
3	California Estimated	113,502	-1.1%
4	North Carolina Estimated	71,691	+6.9%
5	Georgia Estimated	59,315	+15.8%
6	Washington Estimated	47,746	+4.3%
7	Colorado Estimated	42,627	+4.8%
8	Arizona Estimated	41,664	+5.6%
9	New York Estimated	37,778	-4%
10	Tennessee Estimated	37,169	-2%
11	South Carolina Estimated	35,487	-0.1%
12	Virginia Estimated	31,977	-5.3%
13	New Jersey Estimated	27,942	-2%
14	Minnesota Estimated	25,673	+16.9%
15	Utah Estimated	25,574	+3.6%
16	Ohio Estimated	24,221	+1.3%
17	Pennsylvania Estimated	23,325	+3.3%
18	Illinois Estimated	21,510	-13.9%
19	Indiana Estimated	21,480	-0.8%
20	Oregon Estimated	20,132	+0.4%
21	Michigan Estimated	19,580	-17.1%
22	Wisconsin Estimated	19,113	-2.2%
23	Maryland Estimated	18,647	+14.9%
24	Nevada Estimated	17,645	-9.7%
25	Massachusetts Estimated	17,044	-3.9%
26	Missouri Estimated	16,875	-10.3%
27	Louisiana Estimated	15,835	+4%
28	Idaho Estimated	15,824	+11.6%
29	Alabama Estimated	14,824	+0.2%
30	Kentucky Estimated	13,826	+9.5%
31	Iowa Estimated	11,518	-17.4%
32	Oklahoma Estimated	10,502	-5.3%
33	Arkansas Estimated	10,179	-5.7%
34	Kansas Estimated	9,478	+5.5%
35	Nebraska Estimated	7,866	-11.2%
36	Mississippi Estimated	6,883	-8%
37	Delaware Estimated	6,003	-9.1%
38	Montana Estimated	5,099	+3.4%
39	South Dakota Estimated	4,963	-8.2%
40	Connecticut Estimated	4,815	+5.9%
41	New Mexico Estimated	4,813	+1.5%
42	Maine Estimated	4,697	+7.8%
43	Hawaii Estimated	4,659	+15.5%
44	District of Columbia Estimated	4,615	-23.6%
45	New Hampshire Estimated	4,445	+22.6%
46	North Dakota Estimated	3,211	-5.9%
47	West Virginia Estimated	2,887	+6.2%
48	Vermont Estimated	2,080	+18.9%
49	Wyoming Estimated	1,812	-5.9%
50	Alaska Estimated	1,677	+9%
51	Rhode Island Estimated	1,294	+12.2%

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/st2018a.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. (2019). 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, 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2018a.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, 2018. U.S. Census Bureau, 20 June 2019, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2018a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2019. 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, 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2018a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2018.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2019) 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, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2018a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2018,
  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, 2018}},
  year = {2019},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2018a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2018. 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/st2018a.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, 2018
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2019/06/20
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2018a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2018.
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/st2018a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 192,878 in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Rhode Island, with 1,294 in 2018.

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.