US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2022, at 263,007. Alaska had the lowest, at 578. The median was 19,499 and the figure for the United States was 1.68 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest263,007Texas

Lowest578Alaska

Median19,49951 states

United States1,680,368History

Map of states, 2022

Under 6,000
6,000 to 11K
11K to 19K
19K to 28K
28K to 49K
49K and over

count, 2022. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2022

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	Texas Estimated	263,007	-1.1%
2	Florida Estimated	209,961	-1.7%
3	California Estimated	120,780	+1.1%
4	North Carolina Estimated	94,118	-0.8%
5	Georgia Estimated	77,542	+15.4%
6	Arizona Estimated	61,531	-5.8%
7	New York Estimated	53,360	+33%
8	Tennessee Estimated	52,637	-8.4%
9	Washington Estimated	49,030	-13.9%
10	Colorado Estimated	48,341	-14.5%
11	South Carolina Estimated	46,038	-9.2%
12	Virginia Estimated	39,701	+0.8%
13	New Jersey Estimated	36,906	-0.5%
14	Utah Estimated	31,749	-18.7%
15	Minnesota Estimated	31,126	-7.5%
16	Ohio Estimated	30,843	+1.4%
17	Indiana Estimated	28,245	-5.4%
18	Pennsylvania Estimated	28,149	-41.2%
19	Maryland Estimated	22,860	+23.6%
20	Michigan Estimated	21,780	+0.2%
21	Wisconsin Estimated	21,072	-17.2%
22	Missouri Estimated	20,901	-2.2%
23	Illinois Estimated	20,549	+4.5%
24	Oregon Estimated	20,321	-7.3%
25	Nevada Estimated	20,031	-14.4%
26	Alabama Estimated	19,499	-11.8%
27	Idaho Estimated	18,706	-13.9%
28	Massachusetts Estimated	16,830	-15.2%
29	Louisiana Estimated	15,544	-18.8%
30	Kentucky Estimated	15,078	+1.6%
31	Arkansas Estimated	14,364	+1.2%
32	Oklahoma Estimated	13,876	-5.8%
33	Iowa Estimated	12,704	-7.2%
34	Nebraska Estimated	11,115	+3.7%
35	Kansas Estimated	9,560	+0.2%
36	South Dakota Estimated	9,421	+19%
37	New Mexico Estimated	8,633	+11.4%
38	District of Columbia Estimated	7,705	+62.6%
39	Mississippi Estimated	7,568	-5.3%
40	Maine Estimated	7,094	+8.6%
41	Montana Estimated	6,460	-11.2%
42	Delaware Estimated	6,417	-24.5%
43	Connecticut Estimated	5,926	+27.4%
44	New Hampshire Estimated	4,783	-2.2%
45	Hawaii Estimated	4,303	+24.4%
46	North Dakota Estimated	3,440	-4.4%
47	West Virginia Estimated	3,406	-7.7%
48	Wyoming Estimated	3,005	+11%
49	Vermont Estimated	2,403	+3.6%
50	Rhode Island Estimated	1,372	-1.4%
51	Alaska Estimated	578	-62.8%

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/st2022a.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. (2024). 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, 2022) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2022a.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, 2022. U.S. Census Bureau, 23 Apr. 2024, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2022a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2022. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2024. 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, 2022. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2022a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2022.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2024) 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, 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2022a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2022,
  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, 2022}},
  year = {2024},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2022a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2022. 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/st2022a.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, 2022
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/04/23
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2022a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2022.
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/st2022a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 263,007 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Alaska, with 578 in 2022.

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.