US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2021, at 265,955. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 1,392. The median was 19,853 and the figure for the United States was 1.74 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest265,955Texas

Lowest1,392Rhode Island

Median19,85351 states

United States1,736,982History

Map of states, 2021

Under 5,000
5,000 to 10K
10K to 20K
20K to 30K
30K to 55K
55K and over

count, 2021. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2021

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2021 count	Change on 2020
1	Texas Estimated	265,955	+15.4%
2	Florida Estimated	213,494	+30.1%
3	California Estimated	119,436	+12.6%
4	North Carolina Estimated	94,874	+17.9%
5	Georgia Estimated	67,223	+20.4%
6	Arizona Estimated	65,334	+8.3%
7	Tennessee Estimated	57,484	+15.6%
8	Washington Estimated	56,941	+29.8%
9	Colorado Estimated	56,524	+39.7%
10	South Carolina Estimated	50,680	+19.7%
11	Pennsylvania Estimated	47,894	+86.3%
12	New York Estimated	40,135	+7.5%
13	Virginia Estimated	39,388	+16.5%
14	Utah Estimated	39,058	+22.9%
15	New Jersey Estimated	37,094	+2.6%
16	Minnesota Estimated	33,652	+19.6%
17	Ohio Estimated	30,418	+2.5%
18	Indiana Estimated	29,860	+19.8%
19	Wisconsin Estimated	25,444	+19.9%
20	Nevada Estimated	23,406	+18.7%
21	Alabama Estimated	22,100	+10.6%
22	Oregon Estimated	21,916	+17.4%
23	Idaho Estimated	21,732	+13.6%
23	Michigan Estimated	21,732	+10.1%
25	Missouri Estimated	21,372	+7.7%
26	Massachusetts Estimated	19,853	+16.6%
27	Illinois Estimated	19,658	+8.9%
28	Louisiana Estimated	19,147	+10.8%
29	Maryland Estimated	18,496	+2.9%
30	Kentucky Estimated	14,841	+31.6%
31	Oklahoma Estimated	14,733	+7.3%
32	Arkansas Estimated	14,198	+13.6%
33	Iowa Estimated	13,686	+8.4%
34	Nebraska Estimated	10,723	+13.1%
35	Kansas Estimated	9,538	+16.2%
36	Delaware Estimated	8,500	+0.5%
37	Mississippi Estimated	7,988	+2.3%
38	South Dakota Estimated	7,917	+18.9%
39	New Mexico Estimated	7,753	+48.6%
40	Montana Estimated	7,272	+21.6%
41	Maine Estimated	6,530	+23.1%
42	New Hampshire Estimated	4,892	+13.2%
43	District of Columbia Estimated	4,740	-35.7%
44	Connecticut Estimated	4,651	-15%
45	West Virginia Estimated	3,692	+15.2%
46	North Dakota Estimated	3,600	+3.1%
47	Hawaii Estimated	3,459	+9.3%
48	Wyoming Estimated	2,706	+27.2%
49	Vermont Estimated	2,319	+11.7%
50	Alaska Estimated	1,552	+9.3%
51	Rhode Island Estimated	1,392	+1.3%

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/st2021a.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. (2022). 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, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2021a.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, 2021. U.S. Census Bureau, 27 Apr. 2022, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2021a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2022. 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, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2021a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2021.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2022) 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, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2021a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  year = {2022},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2021a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2021. 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/st2021a.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, 2021
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/04/27
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2021a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2021.
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/st2021a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 265,955 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Rhode Island, with 1,392 in 2021.

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.