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 2016, at 1,583. Manassas Park, VA had the lowest, at 0. The median was 124 and the figure for Virginia was 31,132. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,583Virginia Beach, VA

Lowest0Manassas Park, VA

Median12435 cities

Virginia31,132History

All cities, 2016

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2016 count	Change on 2015
1	Virginia Beach, VA Estimated	1,583	+6%
2	Chesapeake, VA Estimated	1,065	-19.6%
3	Norfolk, VA Estimated	1,045	+12.2%
4	Suffolk, VA Estimated	707	-11.4%
5	Alexandria, VA Estimated	621	+221.8%
6	Richmond, VA Estimated	510	-2.5%
7	Fairfax, VA Estimated	274	+813.3%
8	Newport News, VA Estimated	232	-54.7%
9	Blacksburg, VA Estimated	216	-7.3%
10	Charlottesville, VA Estimated	197	-14.7%
11	Fredericksburg, VA Estimated	190	+258.5%
12	Christiansburg, VA Estimated	167	+70.4%
13	Lynchburg, VA Estimated	154	-45.2%
14	Roanoke, VA Estimated	153	-1.3%
15	Harrisonburg, VA Estimated	151	+139.7%
16	Hampton, VA Estimated	149	-8%
17	Manassas, VA Estimated	145	+5.8%
18	Portsmouth, VA Estimated	124	+31.9%
19	Petersburg, VA Estimated	77	-9.4%
20	Staunton, VA Estimated	71	+163%
21	Bristol, VA Estimated	51	+410%
22	Williamsburg, VA Estimated	49	+145%
23	Hopewell, VA Estimated	47	-2.1%
24	Poquoson, VA Estimated	43	+138.9%
25	Salem, VA Estimated	37	+5.7%
26	Warrenton, VA Estimated	36	n/a
27	Winchester, VA Estimated	30	+130.8%
28	Herndon, VA Estimated	29	+61.1%
29	Waynesboro, VA Estimated	22	-48.8%
30	Falls Church, VA Estimated	20	-39.4%
31	Radford, VA Estimated	15	+275%
32	Danville, VA Estimated	5	-61.5%
32	Martinsville, VA Estimated	5	+150%
34	Colonial Heights, VA Estimated	4	0%
35	Manassas Park, 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 2016 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/so2016a.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. (2017). 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, 2016) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.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, 2016. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2017, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2017. 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, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2016.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2017) 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, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_virginia_by_2016,
  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, 2016}},
  year = {2017},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2016. 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/so2016a.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, 2016
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2016a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2016.
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/so2016a.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.

rank_places {"indicator":"building_permit_units","level":"municipality","within":"Virginia","limit":10}
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Questions

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

Virginia Beach, VA, with 1,583 in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Manassas Park, VA, with 0 in 2016.

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 2016 and are not ranked.