Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits

Richmond, VA had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 36 cities in 2024, at 2,540. Warrenton, VA had the lowest, at 4. The median was 71 and the figure for Virginia was 34,059. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest2,540Richmond, VA

Lowest4Warrenton, VA

Median7136 cities

Virginia34,059History

All cities, 2024

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2024 count	Change on 2023
1	Richmond, VA Estimated	2,540	+11.3%
2	Suffolk, VA Estimated	680	-6.5%
3	Virginia Beach, VA Estimated	666	+22.9%
4	Chesapeake, VA Estimated	597	+18.2%
5	Lynchburg, VA Estimated	472	+74.2%
6	Norfolk, VA Estimated	438	-69.3%
7	Waynesboro, VA Estimated	390	+129.4%
8	Portsmouth, VA Estimated	300	+311%
9	Salem, VA Estimated	268	+129.1%
10	Leesburg, VA Estimated	171	+92.1%
11	Petersburg, VA Estimated	135	+462.5%
12	Poquoson, VA Estimated	133	+10.8%
13	Manassas Park, VA Estimated	118	-28.9%
14	Roanoke, VA Estimated	113	+5.6%
15	Herndon, VA Estimated	111	+3,600%
16	Winchester, VA Estimated	91	+37.9%
17	Harrisonburg, VA Estimated	87	+8.8%
18	Fairfax, VA Estimated	71	+173.1%
18	Staunton, VA Estimated	71	-71%
20	Hampton, VA Estimated	68	-34%
21	Blacksburg, VA Estimated	67	-17.3%
22	Christiansburg, VA Estimated	59	-39.2%
23	Martinsville, VA Estimated	55	+2,650%
24	Charlottesville, VA Estimated	49	-16.9%
25	Manassas, VA Estimated	46	-37.8%
26	Hopewell, VA Estimated	42	+133.3%
27	Fredericksburg, VA Estimated	37	-54.9%
28	Radford, VA Estimated	28	-20%
29	Alexandria, VA Estimated	25	-79.3%
30	Falls Church, VA Estimated	18	+5.9%
31	Colonial Heights, VA Estimated	17	+41.7%
32	Danville, VA Estimated	14	-95.2%
33	Williamsburg, VA Estimated	10	-33.3%
34	Newport News, VA Estimated	6	-99.1%
35	Bristol, VA Estimated	5	-28.6%
36	Warrenton, VA Estimated	4	+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. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2024 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/so2024a.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 estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Virginia by housing units authorized by building permits, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.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, 2024. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2025, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2024. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. 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, 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2024.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2025) 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, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2024 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_virginia_by_2024,
  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, 2024}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2024. 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/so2024a.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, 2024
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2024a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2024
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/virginia-cities?period=2024.
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/so2024a.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?

Richmond, VA, with 2,540 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Warrenton, VA, with 4 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 estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 cities have no value for 2024 and are not ranked.