US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2020, at 230,503. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 1,374. The median was 18,058 and the figure for the United States was 1.47 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest230,503Texas

Lowest1,374Rhode Island

Median18,05851 states

United States1,471,141History

Map of states, 2020

Under 5,000
5,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 18K
18K to 25K
25K to 42K
42K and over

count, 2020. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2020

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2020 count	Change on 2019
1	Texas Estimated	230,503	+9.8%
2	Florida Estimated	164,074	+6.3%
3	California Estimated	106,075	-3.7%
4	North Carolina Estimated	80,474	+12.9%
5	Arizona Estimated	60,342	+29.5%
6	Georgia Estimated	55,827	+3.7%
7	Tennessee Estimated	49,719	+20.2%
8	Washington Estimated	43,881	-9.4%
9	South Carolina Estimated	42,340	+17.5%
10	Colorado Estimated	40,469	+4.8%
11	New York Estimated	37,330	-17.4%
12	New Jersey Estimated	36,146	-1%
13	Virginia Estimated	33,813	+4.3%
14	Utah Estimated	31,775	+10.4%
15	Ohio Estimated	29,686	+28.8%
16	Minnesota Estimated	28,148	-1.5%
17	Pennsylvania Estimated	25,706	+9.2%
18	Indiana Estimated	24,919	+11.7%
19	Wisconsin Estimated	21,226	+21.4%
20	Alabama Estimated	19,982	+12.6%
21	Missouri Estimated	19,839	+13.6%
22	Michigan Estimated	19,735	-4.2%
23	Nevada Estimated	19,716	-2.1%
24	Idaho Estimated	19,130	+8%
25	Oregon Estimated	18,665	-15.3%
26	Illinois Estimated	18,058	-12%
27	Maryland Estimated	17,982	-2.8%
28	Louisiana Estimated	17,283	+9.4%
29	Massachusetts Estimated	17,025	-2%
30	Oklahoma Estimated	13,733	+13%
31	Iowa Estimated	12,623	+6.3%
32	Arkansas Estimated	12,493	-1.8%
33	Kentucky Estimated	11,281	-4.5%
34	Nebraska Estimated	9,483	+18.2%
35	Delaware Estimated	8,455	+29.3%
36	Kansas Estimated	8,211	+3.1%
37	Mississippi Estimated	7,810	+12.3%
38	District of Columbia Estimated	7,370	+24%
39	South Dakota Estimated	6,660	+50.8%
40	Montana Estimated	5,980	+25.2%
41	Connecticut Estimated	5,471	-6.5%
42	Maine Estimated	5,304	+11.4%
43	New Mexico Estimated	5,219	+4%
44	New Hampshire Estimated	4,320	-8.9%
45	North Dakota Estimated	3,493	+40%
46	West Virginia Estimated	3,204	+6.4%
47	Hawaii Estimated	3,164	-22.7%
48	Wyoming Estimated	2,128	+24.6%
49	Vermont Estimated	2,077	+15.3%
50	Alaska Estimated	1,420	-15.5%
51	Rhode Island Estimated	1,374	-1.9%

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/st2020a.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. (2021). 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, 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2020a.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, 2020. U.S. Census Bureau, 3 May 2021, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2020a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2020. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2021. 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, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2020a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2020.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2021) 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, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2020a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2020,
  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, 2020}},
  year = {2021},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2020a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2020. 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/st2020a.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, 2020
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/05/03
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2020a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2020.
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/st2020a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 230,503 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Rhode Island, with 1,374 in 2020.

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.