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Building permits · Jul 2026

U.S. building permits

Residential building permits from the U.S. Census Bureau’s monthly Building Permits Survey — 1,413,649 housing units authorized nationwide in the 12 months through Jul 2026, with the latest month up 6.1% against a year earlier. Broken out for every state, 922 metro areas, 3,038 counties and 12,900 permit-issuing cities and towns.

A permit is an authorization, not a housing start. Some authorized units are never built, and recent months are revised upward as late reports arrive. Use permits as the leading indicator of homebuilding they are, not as a count of construction underway.

128,868
Units (latest month)
80,611
Single-family units
43,236
Multifamily (5+) units
$34,230,412,000
Reported value
Trailing 12 months: 1,413,649 units permitted · latest month +6.1% vs. a year earlier.
Total units permitted, by monthAug 2021 – Jul 2026
Aug 2021Jul 2026
Structure typeUnitsShare
Single-family (1-unit)80,61162.6%
2-unit structures3,2882.6%
3–4 unit structures1,7331.3%
Multifamily (5+ units)43,23633.6%
All units128,868100%
See what you can build →All building-permit data

Compare this area with the rest of the country: ranked leaderboards for permit volume, permits per capita, year-over-year growth, and multifamily share.

Building permits by state

Housing units authorized in the 12 months through Jul 2026.

Texas193,634Florida157,984California110,772North Carolina86,578Georgia60,146New York47,895South Carolina46,376Arizona45,514Tennessee41,652Washington39,766Virginia35,871Colorado34,023Ohio32,124New Jersey31,859Indiana27,651Utah26,587Wisconsin25,487Pennsylvania25,468Michigan22,926Minnesota22,469Alabama21,040Illinois18,681Missouri18,008Idaho17,991Oregon15,628Arkansas15,516Nevada15,176Oklahoma14,776Louisiana14,378Kentucky13,657Massachusetts13,482Maryland13,335Iowa13,042Kansas12,026Nebraska10,400Mississippi8,670New Mexico7,556Maine6,817Connecticut6,478Delaware6,375South Dakota5,905Montana5,761New Hampshire5,062West Virginia4,015Hawaii3,412Vermont2,283North Dakota2,242District of Columbia2,235Rhode Island2,085Wyoming1,988Alaska847

Top metro areas

By units permitted in the last 12 months.

  1. 1.Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX61,275
  2. 2.Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands TX59,214
  3. 3.New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ57,375
  4. 4.Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler AZ35,159
  5. 5.Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA34,696
  6. 6.Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell GA33,511
  7. 7.Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos TX23,056
  8. 8.Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater FL22,392
  9. 9.Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV21,779
  10. 10.Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford FL21,166
  11. 11.Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA20,712
  12. 12.Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia NC-SC19,485
  13. 13.Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach FL18,973
  14. 14.Raleigh-Cary NC18,703
  15. 15.Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin TN16,883
  16. 16.North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota FL16,522
  17. 17.Denver-Aurora-Centennial CO16,055
  18. 18.Chicago-Naperville-Elgin IL-IN14,801
  19. 19.Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI14,757
  20. 20.Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington PA-NJ-DE-MD14,154
All 922 metro areas →

Top counties

By units permitted in the last 12 months.

  1. 1.Los Angeles County28,583
  2. 2.Harris County28,331
  3. 3.Maricopa County27,595
  4. 4.Collin County16,561
  5. 5.Tarrant County15,480
  6. 6.Wake County14,808
  7. 7.Travis County11,766
  8. 8.Montgomery County11,744
  9. 9.Fort Bend County11,420
  10. 10.King County11,349
  11. 11.Manatee County11,093
  12. 12.Lee County11,055
  13. 13.Clark County11,004
  14. 14.Miami-Dade County10,909
  15. 15.Dallas County10,803
  16. 16.San Diego County10,414
  17. 17.Fulton County9,652
  18. 18.Denton County9,330
  19. 19.Orange County8,979
  20. 20.Kings County8,821
Full county ranking →

Rankings & leaderboards

Where housing is actually being authorized — 7 boards ranking metro areas and counties by volume, permits per capita, year-over-year change, and multifamily share.

Metro areas with the most building permits →Metropolitan and micropolitan areas ranked by housing units authorized over the last 12 months.Counties with the most building permits →U.S. counties ranked by housing units authorized over the last 12 months.Building permits per capita by county →Counties ranked by units authorized per 1,000 residents — the housing-supply rate, not raw volume.Building permits per capita by metro area →Metro areas ranked by units authorized per 1,000 residents — the housing-supply rate.Fastest-growing housing markets by building permits →Metro areas with the largest year-over-year increase in permitted units, same window both years.Housing markets with the steepest permit declines →Metro areas with the largest year-over-year drop in permitted units, same window both years.Metro areas where multifamily is the biggest share of new housing →Metro areas ranked by the share of permitted units in buildings with 5 or more units — share, not volume.

Related housing data

Home sale prices →County median sale prices — pair new supply with what the market is clearing at.Fair Market Rents →HUD rents by county, metro and bedroom count — the rent side of the same market.Who lives there →Census ACS income, demographics and housing for every state and neighborhood-scale area.

Building permit terms

What the survey counts, and what it does not.

2-unit structures3-to-4 unit structuresAuthorized vs. started vs. completedBuilding permitBuilding Permits SurveyBuildings permittedConstruction valuationCountyCoverage, lag & revisionsHousing unitMetropolitan & micropolitan areaMultifamily (5+ units)Multifamily sharePermit-issuing placeReported vs. imputed (total)Seasonal adjustmentSingle-family (1-unit)StateStructure (building)Total units permittedYear-to-date

U.S. building permits — FAQ

How many building permits were issued in the U.S. last year?+

1,413,649 new privately owned residential housing units were authorized by building permits in the 12 months through Jul 2026, and 128,868 in Jul 2026 alone, per the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey.

What share of new U.S. housing is multifamily?+

37.4% of units authorized in Jul 2026 were in structures with 2 or more units; 62.6% were single-family. Of the total, 43,236 units were in buildings with 5 or more units.

Is a building permit the same as a housing start?+

No. A permit authorizes construction; a start is ground actually broken. Permits are published earlier and are the leading indicator of the two, but not every authorized unit is built, and the lag between authorization and start varies by market and structure type.

Where does this building permit data come from?+

The U.S. Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey, a monthly census of permit-issuing jurisdictions. It is a public-domain federal statistical product, free to reuse with attribution. Figures for recent months are revised as late reports arrive, and the county, metro and place detail lands about six weeks after the reference month — later than the national release.

Why does a city or county show zero permits in some months?+

Permit activity is genuinely lumpy below the state level, and a jurisdiction that did not report in a given month contributes nothing for that month. A zero means nothing was reported, which is not the same as no construction interest.

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We'll email you when new Census Building Permits Survey data is published — the national, metro and county figures behind these rankings.

Roughly monthly, following the Census release schedule — national figures land about three weeks after the reference month, county and place detail about six. You'll get a welcome note. Unsubscribe anytime.