Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits

Phoenix, AZ had the highest single-family housing units authorized by building permits of 44 cities in 2015, at 2,265. Nogales, AZ had the lowest, at 2. The median was 168. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest2,265Phoenix, AZ

Lowest2Nogales, AZ

Median16844 cities

All cities, 2015

count. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2015 count	Change on 2014
1	Phoenix, AZ Estimated	2,265	+40.9%
2	Gilbert, AZ Estimated	1,819	+26.8%
3	Mesa, AZ Estimated	1,746	+73.6%
4	Peoria, AZ Estimated	1,589	+53.8%
5	Goodyear, AZ Estimated	1,194	+50.8%
6	Chandler, AZ Estimated	1,150	+76.1%
7	Buckeye, AZ Estimated	1,106	+47.7%
8	Queen Creek, AZ Estimated	987	+42.4%
9	Marana, AZ Estimated	633	-0.9%
10	Scottsdale, AZ Estimated	540	+8.2%
11	Surprise, AZ Estimated	537	+67.8%
12	Prescott Valley, AZ Estimated	417	+26.7%
13	Yuma, AZ Estimated	383	+27.7%
14	Tucson, AZ Estimated	358	-30.8%
15	Maricopa, AZ Estimated	322	+13.4%
16	Lake Havasu City, AZ Estimated	283	+22%
17	Prescott, AZ Estimated	278	+36.3%
18	Sahuarita, AZ Estimated	271	+48.1%
19	Tempe, AZ Estimated	229	+308.9%
20	Kingman, AZ Estimated	205	+37.6%
21	Flagstaff, AZ Estimated	200	+29%
22	Florence, AZ Estimated	177	+21.2%
23	Oro Valley, AZ Estimated	159	+18.7%
24	San Luis, AZ Estimated	146	+7.4%
25	Somerton, AZ Estimated	127	+95.4%
26	Avondale, AZ Estimated	123	+192.9%
27	Glendale, AZ Estimated	109	+419%
28	Casa Grande, AZ Estimated	89	-16%
29	Bullhead City, AZ Estimated	79	+29.5%
29	Eloy, AZ Estimated	79	-4.8%
31	Paradise Valley, AZ Estimated	65	+30%
32	Payson, AZ Estimated	61	-3.2%
33	Sierra Vista, AZ Estimated	59	-23.4%
34	Show Low, AZ Estimated	52	-5.5%
35	Fountain Hills, AZ Estimated	46	+4.5%
36	Cottonwood, AZ Estimated	35	+20.7%
37	Chino Valley, AZ Estimated	34	+17.2%
38	Apache Junction, AZ Estimated	32	-15.8%
39	Safford, AZ Estimated	22	+37.5%
40	Camp Verde, AZ Estimated	11	+22.2%
41	Douglas, AZ Estimated	6	+50%
42	Coolidge, AZ Estimated	4	-20%
43	El Mirage, AZ Estimated	3	-95.7%
44	Nogales, AZ Estimated	2	0%

Other periods

About this ranking

Annual number of new privately owned housing units in 1-unit structures (detached and attached single-family homes) authorized by building permits, from the US Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.

Part of building_permit_units, which also counts units in buildings with two or more units. Counts housing units, not starts, completions or sales.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.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 in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits, 2015) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits, 2015. U.S. Census Bureau, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-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 in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits, 2015. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2015.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2016) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_arizona_by_2015,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation: Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits, 2015}},
  year = {2016},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2015. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West\%20Region/we2015a.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 in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation: Cities in Arizona by single-family 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/West%20Region/we2015a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2015.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2015a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2015" width="760" height="500" title="Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits, 2015, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"building_permit_single_family_units","level":"municipality","within":"Arizona","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=building_permit_single_family_units&level=municipality&within=Arizona&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

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

Phoenix, AZ, with 2,265 in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Nogales, AZ, with 2 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 in 1-unit structures authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Retrieved 2026-10-12.