Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits

Alexandria, VA had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 35 cities in 2014, at 1,324. Martinsville, VA had the lowest, at 1. The median was 90 and the figure for Virginia was 28,682. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,324Alexandria, VA

Lowest1Martinsville, VA

Median9035 cities

Virginia28,682History

All cities, 2014

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2014 count	Change on 2013
1	Alexandria, VA Estimated	1,324	-28.4%
2	Virginia Beach, VA Estimated	1,208	-27.3%
3	Chesapeake, VA Estimated	886	-46.6%
4	Norfolk, VA Estimated	650	-34.4%
5	Richmond, VA Estimated	551	-35.1%
6	Falls Church, VA Estimated	547	+3,318.8%
7	Suffolk, VA Estimated	348	-68.6%
8	Newport News, VA Estimated	330	+53.5%
9	Williamsburg, VA Estimated	258	+2,245.5%
10	Charlottesville, VA Estimated	173	-47.4%
11	Hampton, VA Estimated	160	-36.8%
12	Portsmouth, VA Estimated	153	-30.1%
13	Harrisonburg, VA Estimated	152	+166.7%
14	Staunton, VA Estimated	137	+522.7%
15	Manassas, VA Estimated	125	+5.9%
16	Blacksburg, VA Estimated	117	-32.4%
17	Lynchburg, VA Estimated	92	-39.5%
18	Hopewell, VA Estimated	90	+55.2%
19	Christiansburg, VA Estimated	71	-5.3%
20	Fairfax, VA Estimated	54	-1.8%
21	Roanoke, VA Estimated	49	-78.3%
22	Waynesboro, VA Estimated	48	-82.7%
23	Salem, VA Estimated	38	+35.7%
24	Poquoson, VA Estimated	24	+242.9%
25	Fredericksburg, VA Estimated	23	-55.8%
25	Winchester, VA Estimated	23	+155.6%
27	Herndon, VA Estimated	14	+55.6%
28	Colonial Heights, VA Estimated	13	+62.5%
29	Danville, VA Estimated	12	0%
30	Manassas Park, VA Estimated	11	0%
31	Bristol, VA Estimated	10	+66.7%
31	Radford, VA Estimated	10	-89.4%
33	Petersburg, VA Estimated	8	0%
34	Warrenton, VA Estimated	5	-37.5%
35	Martinsville, VA Estimated	1	-50%

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 cities are compared on one definition. 2 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2014 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2014a.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. (2016). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2014a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014. U.S. Census Bureau, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2014a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2016. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2014a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2014.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2016) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2014a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_virginia_by_2014,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation: Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014}},
  year = {2016},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2014a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2014. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South\%20Region/so2014a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation: Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits, 2014
PY  - 2016
DA  - 2016/09/30
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2014a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2014.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2014a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Rank Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

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

Alexandria, VA, with 1,324 in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Martinsville, VA, with 1 in 2014.

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 estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 2 cities have no value for 2014 and are not ranked.