US states by housing units authorized by building permits

Texas had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 51 states in 2024, at 225,756. Alaska had the lowest, at 1,032. The median was 16,823 and the figure for the United States was 1.48 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest225,756Texas

Lowest1,032Alaska

Median16,82351 states

United States1,478,000History

Map of states, 2024

Under 5,000
5,000 to 10K
10K to 17K
17K to 24K
24K to 43K
43K and over

count, 2024. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2024

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2024 count	Change on 2023
1	Texas Estimated	225,756	-2.8%
2	Florida Estimated	173,326	-10.6%
3	California Estimated	101,545	-9.1%
4	North Carolina Estimated	95,163	-3.7%
5	Georgia Estimated	68,367	+7.5%
6	Arizona Estimated	59,616	+2%
7	South Carolina Estimated	47,072	+10.8%
8	New York Estimated	46,549	-4.6%
9	Tennessee Estimated	44,863	-5.5%
10	Washington Estimated	37,778	+1.8%
11	New Jersey Estimated	34,932	+6.4%
12	Virginia Estimated	34,059	-5.6%
13	Colorado Estimated	32,185	-18.3%
14	Ohio Estimated	31,411	+15%
15	Indiana Estimated	26,633	-1.6%
16	Pennsylvania Estimated	24,810	-2%
17	Utah Estimated	23,902	-5.8%
18	Wisconsin Estimated	23,826	+10.8%
19	Michigan Estimated	21,750	+5.6%
20	Minnesota Estimated	20,913	-18.5%
21	Alabama Estimated	20,725	+1.9%
22	Illinois Estimated	20,326	+20.5%
23	Nevada Estimated	19,994	+8.4%
24	Missouri Estimated	18,464	+10%
25	Idaho Estimated	17,630	-1.6%
26	Maryland Estimated	16,823	-8.8%
27	Kentucky Estimated	16,264	+5.5%
28	Oregon Estimated	14,621	-17.4%
29	Massachusetts Estimated	14,338	+8.5%
30	Louisiana Estimated	14,310	+0.4%
31	Arkansas Estimated	13,684	+6.6%
32	Oklahoma Estimated	13,669	+2%
33	Iowa Estimated	12,544	+11.7%
34	Nebraska Estimated	10,479	+18%
35	Kansas Estimated	9,063	-4.6%
36	Mississippi Estimated	7,883	+2.4%
37	New Mexico Estimated	7,572	-11%
38	Delaware Estimated	7,141	+23.9%
39	Maine Estimated	6,034	-2.4%
40	South Dakota Estimated	6,017	-14.9%
41	Connecticut Estimated	5,926	-5.5%
42	Montana Estimated	5,367	+24.6%
43	New Hampshire Estimated	4,965	+9%
44	West Virginia Estimated	4,192	+4.4%
45	Hawaii Estimated	3,879	+2.3%
46	Vermont Estimated	2,654	+8.1%
47	North Dakota Estimated	2,319	-11.4%
48	Wyoming Estimated	2,135	+27%
49	Rhode Island Estimated	1,757	+50.3%
50	District of Columbia Estimated	1,737	-42.5%
51	Alaska Estimated	1,032	+10.1%

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/st2024a.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, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2024a.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, 2024. U.S. Census Bureau, 18 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2024a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2024. 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, 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2024a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2024.

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, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2024a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2024 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_us_states_by_housing_2024,
  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, 2024}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2024a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2024. 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/st2024a.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, 2024
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/18
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/State/st2024a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2024
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/us-states?period=2024.
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/st2024a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Texas, with 225,756 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Alaska, with 1,032 in 2024.

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.