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 2021, at 4,922. El Mirage, AZ had the lowest, at 11. The median was 391. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest4,922Phoenix, AZ

Lowest11El Mirage, AZ

Median39144 cities

All cities, 2021

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	2021 count	Change on 2020
1	Phoenix, AZ Estimated	4,922	+5.5%
2	Surprise, AZ Estimated	2,685	+8.8%
3	Buckeye, AZ Estimated	2,618	-21.6%
4	Queen Creek, AZ Estimated	2,196	+10.6%
5	Mesa, AZ Estimated	2,046	-27.6%
6	Goodyear, AZ Estimated	1,974	+2.4%
7	Maricopa, AZ Estimated	1,846	+21.9%
8	Peoria, AZ Estimated	1,562	+6%
9	Casa Grande, AZ Estimated	1,539	+44.2%
10	Gilbert, AZ Estimated	1,470	+19.8%
11	Marana, AZ Estimated	1,252	+37.1%
12	Tucson, AZ Estimated	1,134	+8.7%
13	Avondale, AZ Estimated	741	+35%
14	Glendale, AZ Estimated	713	+30.6%
15	Chandler, AZ Estimated	670	-18.4%
16	Coolidge, AZ Estimated	631	+19.3%
17	Yuma, AZ Estimated	628	+8.8%
18	Scottsdale, AZ Estimated	553	+14.7%
19	Prescott Valley, AZ Estimated	534	+3.7%
20	Sahuarita, AZ Estimated	533	-7.8%
21	Bullhead City, AZ Estimated	398	+30.5%
22	Lake Havasu City, AZ Estimated	396	+15.8%
23	Florence, AZ Estimated	386	-3.3%
24	Prescott, AZ Estimated	383	-1%
25	Kingman, AZ Estimated	348	-6.5%
26	Oro Valley, AZ Estimated	340	-11.7%
27	Eloy, AZ Estimated	301	+159.5%
28	San Luis, AZ Estimated	255	-30.3%
29	Apache Junction, AZ Estimated	238	+81.7%
30	Flagstaff, AZ Estimated	206	-26.4%
31	Show Low, AZ Estimated	200	+28.2%
32	Fountain Hills, AZ Estimated	181	+223.2%
33	Tempe, AZ Estimated	123	+4.2%
34	Paradise Valley, AZ Estimated	111	+37%
35	Payson, AZ Estimated	99	+33.8%
36	Chino Valley, AZ Estimated	90	-22.4%
37	Cottonwood, AZ Estimated	78	+21.9%
38	Sierra Vista, AZ Estimated	55	-43.3%
39	Somerton, AZ Estimated	33	-57.7%
40	Safford, AZ Estimated	30	-51.6%
41	Camp Verde, AZ Estimated	22	-4.3%
42	Douglas, AZ Estimated	13	+18.2%
42	Nogales, AZ Estimated	13	-38.1%
44	El Mirage, AZ Estimated	11	-75%

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/we2021a.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. (2022). 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, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.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, 2021. U.S. Census Bureau, 27 Apr. 2022, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2022. 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, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2021.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2022) 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, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_arizona_by_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  year = {2022},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2021. 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/we2021a.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, 2021
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/04/27
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/West%20Region/we2021a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/single-family-building-permits/arizona-cities?period=2021.
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/we2021a.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=2021" width="760" height="500" title="Cities in Arizona by single-family housing units authorized by building permits, 2021, 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 4,922 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

El Mirage, AZ, with 11 in 2021.

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.