US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2019, at 209,895. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 1,400. The median was 17,480 and the figure for the United States was 1.39 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest209,895Texas

Lowest1,400Rhode Island

Median17,48051 states

United States1,386,048History

Map of states, 2019

Under 5,000
5,000 to 8,000
8,000 to 17K
17K to 23K
23K to 40K
40K and over

count, 2019. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2019

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2019 count	Change on 2018
1	Texas Estimated	209,895	+8.8%
2	Florida Estimated	154,302	+6.8%
3	California Estimated	110,197	-2.9%
4	North Carolina Estimated	71,307	-0.5%
5	Georgia Estimated	53,823	-9.3%
6	Washington Estimated	48,424	+1.4%
7	Arizona Estimated	46,580	+11.8%
8	New York Estimated	45,219	+19.7%
9	Tennessee Estimated	41,361	+11.3%
10	Colorado Estimated	38,633	-9.4%
11	New Jersey Estimated	36,505	+30.6%
12	South Carolina Estimated	36,034	+1.5%
13	Virginia Estimated	32,418	+1.4%
14	Utah Estimated	28,779	+12.5%
15	Minnesota Estimated	28,586	+11.3%
16	Pennsylvania Estimated	23,539	+0.9%
17	Ohio Estimated	23,047	-4.8%
18	Indiana Estimated	22,309	+3.9%
19	Oregon Estimated	22,037	+9.5%
20	Michigan Estimated	20,600	+5.2%
21	Illinois Estimated	20,524	-4.6%
22	Nevada Estimated	20,143	+14.2%
23	Maryland Estimated	18,491	-0.8%
24	Alabama Estimated	17,748	+19.7%
25	Idaho Estimated	17,716	+12%
26	Wisconsin Estimated	17,480	-8.5%
27	Missouri Estimated	17,460	+3.5%
28	Massachusetts Estimated	17,365	+1.9%
29	Louisiana Estimated	15,793	-0.3%
30	Arkansas Estimated	12,723	+25%
31	Oklahoma Estimated	12,152	+15.7%
32	Iowa Estimated	11,870	+3.1%
33	Kentucky Estimated	11,811	-14.6%
34	Nebraska Estimated	8,025	+2%
35	Kansas Estimated	7,961	-16%
36	Mississippi Estimated	6,952	+1%
37	Delaware Estimated	6,539	+8.9%
38	District of Columbia Estimated	5,945	+28.8%
39	Connecticut Estimated	5,854	+21.6%
40	New Mexico Estimated	5,020	+4.3%
41	Montana Estimated	4,776	-6.3%
42	Maine Estimated	4,760	+1.3%
43	New Hampshire Estimated	4,743	+6.7%
44	South Dakota Estimated	4,415	-11%
45	Hawaii Estimated	4,093	-12.1%
46	West Virginia Estimated	3,010	+4.3%
47	North Dakota Estimated	2,495	-22.3%
48	Vermont Estimated	1,801	-13.4%
49	Wyoming Estimated	1,708	-5.7%
50	Alaska Estimated	1,680	+0.2%
51	Rhode Island Estimated	1,400	+8.2%

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/st2019a.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. (2020). 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, 2019) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2019a.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, 2019. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2020, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2019a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2019. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2020. 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, 2019. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2019a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2019.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2020) 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, 2019 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2019a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2019 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2019,
  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, 2019}},
  year = {2020},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2019a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2019. 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/st2019a.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, 2019
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2019a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2019
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2019.
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/st2019a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 209,895 in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Rhode Island, with 1,400 in 2019.

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.