US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2023, at 232,373. Alaska had the lowest, at 937. The median was 16,863 and the figure for the United States was 1.51 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest232,373Texas

Lowest937Alaska

Median16,86351 states

United States1,511,102History

Map of states, 2023

Under 4,000
4,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 17K
17K to 25K
25K to 41K
41K and over

count, 2023. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2023

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2023 count	Change on 2022
1	Texas Estimated	232,373	-11.6%
2	Florida Estimated	193,788	-7.7%
3	California Estimated	111,760	-7.5%
4	North Carolina Estimated	98,853	+5%
5	Georgia Estimated	63,621	-18%
6	Arizona Estimated	58,433	-5%
7	New York Estimated	48,807	-8.5%
8	Tennessee Estimated	47,463	-9.8%
9	South Carolina Estimated	42,474	-7.7%
10	Colorado Estimated	39,404	-18.5%
11	Washington Estimated	37,097	-24.3%
12	Virginia Estimated	36,096	-9.1%
13	New Jersey Estimated	32,840	-11%
14	Ohio Estimated	27,318	-11.4%
15	Indiana Estimated	27,055	-4.2%
16	Minnesota Estimated	25,667	-17.5%
17	Utah Estimated	25,361	-20.1%
18	Pennsylvania Estimated	25,320	-10.1%
19	Wisconsin Estimated	21,494	+2%
20	Michigan Estimated	20,592	-5.5%
21	Alabama Estimated	20,337	+4.3%
22	Maryland Estimated	18,453	-19.3%
23	Nevada Estimated	18,451	-7.9%
24	Idaho Estimated	17,919	-4.2%
25	Oregon Estimated	17,697	-12.9%
26	Illinois Estimated	16,863	-17.9%
27	Missouri Estimated	16,781	-19.7%
28	Kentucky Estimated	15,415	+2.2%
29	Louisiana Estimated	14,247	-8.3%
30	Oklahoma Estimated	13,405	-3.4%
31	Massachusetts Estimated	13,214	-21.5%
32	Arkansas Estimated	12,842	-10.6%
33	Iowa Estimated	11,230	-11.6%
34	Kansas Estimated	9,504	-0.6%
35	Nebraska Estimated	8,877	-20.1%
36	New Mexico Estimated	8,511	-1.4%
37	Mississippi Estimated	7,700	+1.7%
38	South Dakota Estimated	7,072	-24.9%
39	Connecticut Estimated	6,272	+5.8%
40	Maine Estimated	6,183	-12.8%
41	Delaware Estimated	5,765	-10.2%
42	New Hampshire Estimated	4,555	-4.8%
43	Montana Estimated	4,307	-33.3%
44	West Virginia Estimated	4,014	+17.9%
45	Hawaii Estimated	3,791	-11.9%
46	District of Columbia Estimated	3,020	-60.8%
47	North Dakota Estimated	2,618	-23.9%
48	Vermont Estimated	2,456	+2.2%
49	Wyoming Estimated	1,681	-44.1%
50	Rhode Island Estimated	1,169	-14.8%
51	Alaska Estimated	937	+62.1%

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/st2023a.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. (2025). 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, 2023) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2023a.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, 2023. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2025, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2023a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2023. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. 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, 2023. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2023a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2023.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2025) 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, 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2023a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2023,
  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, 2023}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2023a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2023. 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/st2023a.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, 2023
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2023a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2023.
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/st2023a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 232,373 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Alaska, with 937 in 2023.

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.