Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits

Virginia Beach, VA had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 35 cities in 2015, at 1,493. Warrenton, VA had the lowest, at 0. The median was 53 and the figure for Virginia was 28,469. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,493Virginia Beach, VA

Lowest0Warrenton, VA

Median5335 cities

Virginia28,469History

All cities, 2015

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2015 count	Change on 2014
1	Virginia Beach, VA Estimated	1,493	+23.6%
2	Chesapeake, VA Estimated	1,325	+49.5%
3	Norfolk, VA Estimated	931	+43.2%
4	Suffolk, VA Estimated	798	+129.3%
5	Richmond, VA Estimated	523	-5.1%
6	Newport News, VA Estimated	512	+55.2%
7	Lynchburg, VA Estimated	281	+205.4%
8	Blacksburg, VA Estimated	233	+99.1%
9	Charlottesville, VA Estimated	231	+33.5%
10	Alexandria, VA Estimated	193	-85.4%
11	Hampton, VA Estimated	162	+1.3%
12	Roanoke, VA Estimated	155	+216.3%
13	Manassas, VA Estimated	137	+9.6%
14	Christiansburg, VA Estimated	98	+38%
15	Portsmouth, VA Estimated	94	-38.6%
16	Petersburg, VA Estimated	85	+962.5%
17	Harrisonburg, VA Estimated	63	-58.6%
18	Fredericksburg, VA Estimated	53	+130.4%
19	Hopewell, VA Estimated	48	-46.7%
20	Waynesboro, VA Estimated	43	-10.4%
21	Salem, VA Estimated	35	-7.9%
22	Falls Church, VA Estimated	33	-94%
23	Fairfax, VA Estimated	30	-44.4%
24	Staunton, VA Estimated	27	-80.3%
25	Williamsburg, VA Estimated	20	-92.2%
26	Herndon, VA Estimated	18	+28.6%
26	Poquoson, VA Estimated	18	-25%
28	Danville, VA Estimated	13	+8.3%
28	Winchester, VA Estimated	13	-43.5%
30	Bristol, VA Estimated	10	0%
30	Manassas Park, VA Estimated	10	-9.1%
32	Colonial Heights, VA Estimated	4	-69.2%
32	Radford, VA Estimated	4	-60%
34	Martinsville, VA Estimated	2	+100%
35	Warrenton, VA Estimated	0	-100%

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 2015 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/so2015a.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, 2015) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.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, 2015. U.S. Census Bureau, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2015. 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, 2015. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2015.

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, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_virginia_by_2015,
  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, 2015}},
  year = {2016},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2015. 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/so2015a.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, 2015
PY  - 2016
DA  - 2016/09/30
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2015a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2015.
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/so2015a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

Virginia Beach, VA, with 1,493 in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Warrenton, VA, with 0 in 2015.

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 2015 and are not ranked.