Geographies · Building Permits Survey
Permit-issuing place
A city, town, or jurisdiction that issues permits and reports to BPS.
A permit-issuing place is a local jurisdiction — a city, town, township, or similar — that issues building permits and reports them to the Census. The Building Permits Survey collects from roughly 20,000 of them.
Place-level data is the most granular BPS geography, but also the lumpiest: a small town may permit nothing for months, then spike. On PUMSdata, cities are explored within a single state.
Also known as: place, jurisdiction, city, municipality.
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Permit-issuing place — FAQ
What is permit-issuing place in building permits data?+
A city, town, or jurisdiction that issues permits and reports to BPS. A permit-issuing place is a local jurisdiction — a city, town, township, or similar — that issues building permits and reports them to the Census. The Building Permits Survey collects from roughly 20,000 of them.
Why does permit-issuing place matter?+
Place-level data is the most granular BPS geography, but also the lumpiest: a small town may permit nothing for months, then spike. On PUMSdata, cities are explored within a single state.
Where does this building-permit data come from?+
All figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey (BPS), a monthly census of permit-issuing jurisdictions. PUMSdata is an independent product that makes it easy to map and compare, and is not affiliated with the Census Bureau.