July 2026 residential building permits data releasedExplore →
pumsdata

Building permits · Jul 2026

Fastest-growing housing markets by building permits

Metro areas ranked by year-over-year change in residential units authorized, comparing Aug 2025–Jul 2026 vs. Aug 2024–Jul 2025 — the same calendar months in both years, so seasonal swings cancel. Syracuse NY leads, up 195.0%.

A permit is an authorization, not a housing start — some authorized units are never built. Only metro areas with 500+ units in the prior-year window are ranked, and a single large approval can carry a mid-size metro.

One time window, top 100 of 296 metro areas

Sign up to explore more years, more geographies, and build custom queries — pick any months, compare metro areas side by side, chart the change, and export the table — including the 196 metro areas below the top 100.

See what you can build →
1. Syracuse NY — +195.0% change2. Champaign-Urbana IL — +175.9% change3. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara CA — +152.2% change4. Abilene TX — +128.1% change5. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA — +122.0% change6. Rochester MN — +89.6% change7. Appleton WI — +82.1% change8. Modesto CA — +80.8% change9. Santa Rosa-Petaluma CA — +73.6% change10. Jackson MS — +67.9% change
  1. 1.Syracuse NY+195.0%
  2. 2.Champaign-Urbana IL+175.9%
  3. 3.Santa Maria-Santa Barbara CA+152.2%
  4. 4.Abilene TX+128.1%
  5. 5.San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA+122.0%
  6. 6.Rochester MN+89.6%
  7. 7.Appleton WI+82.1%
  8. 8.Modesto CA+80.8%
  9. 9.Santa Rosa-Petaluma CA+73.6%
  10. 10.Jackson MS+67.9%
Fastest-growing housing markets by building permits, 12 months to Jul 2026. Circle area is proportional to change. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
Fastest-Growing U.S. Housing Markets by Permits
#Metro areaChangeCurrent windowYear earlierUnit change
1Syracuse NY+195.0%2,540861+1,679
2Champaign-Urbana IL+175.9%2,003726+1,277
3Santa Maria-Santa Barbara CA+152.2%1,314521+793
4Abilene TX+128.1%1,916840+1,076
5San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA+122.0%7,7733,502+4,271
6Rochester MN+89.6%1,515799+716
7Appleton WI+82.1%1,424782+642
8Modesto CA+80.8%1,486822+664
9Santa Rosa-Petaluma CA+73.6%1,682969+713
10Jackson MS+67.9%1,8451,099+746
11College Station-Bryan TX+60.0%3,4052,128+1,277
12Oshkosh-Neenah WI+50.4%1,014674+340
13Burlington-South Burlington VT+47.4%1,194810+384
14Salinas CA+47.0%892607+285
15Hinesville GA+46.0%867594+273
16Providence-Warwick RI-MA+44.9%3,1642,183+981
17Jacksonville NC+40.7%1,8831,338+545
18Asheville NC+38.9%4,6673,360+1,307
19Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA+35.8%20,71215,257+5,455
20Ogden UT+35.5%3,7792,789+990
21Anderson Creek NC+35.3%2,0631,525+538
22LaGrange GA-AL+35.2%802593+209
23Salem OR+33.3%1,9091,432+477
24Visalia CA+33.2%1,9771,484+493
25Birmingham AL+32.9%4,7623,582+1,180
26Odessa TX+32.3%1,191900+291
27Wichita KS+31.0%3,9192,992+927
28Cleveland OH+30.7%4,5533,483+1,070
29Bowling Green KY+30.7%1,3511,034+317
30Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA+30.6%34,69626,558+8,138
31Colorado Springs CO+30.4%5,4694,194+1,275
32Auburn-Opelika AL+30.1%2,4081,851+557
33Amarillo TX+30.0%1,6351,258+377
34San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA+29.0%8,1726,333+1,839
35Boulder CO+28.3%2,2181,729+489
36Rexburg ID+27.6%984771+213
37Cincinnati OH-KY-IN+26.8%8,6886,854+1,834
38Spartanburg SC+26.7%4,4593,518+941
39Iowa City IA+25.6%1,3891,106+283
40Durham-Chapel Hill NC+25.6%5,8314,643+1,188
41Ann Arbor MI+25.3%1,5761,258+318
42Florence SC+25.0%1,010808+202
43Richmond-Berea KY+24.8%659528+131
44Duluth MN-WI+24.4%790635+155
45Shreveport-Bossier City LA+24.0%1,194963+231
46Portland-South Portland ME+23.9%3,7863,056+730
47Wenatchee-East Wenatchee WA+23.8%1,219985+234
48Buffalo-Cheektowaga NY+23.1%1,4051,141+264
49Missoula MT+22.3%898734+164
50Eugene-Springfield OR+22.3%1,3911,137+254
51New Haven CT+21.7%966794+172
52Rochester NY+21.3%1,7911,477+314
53Gainesville FL+21.0%2,2491,858+391
54Baton Rouge LA+20.7%4,3303,586+744
55Greenville NC+20.7%1,7691,466+303
56South Bend-Mishawaka IN-MI+20.4%1,062882+180
57Lansing-East Lansing MI+20.3%918763+155
58Salt Lake City-Murray UT+20.3%7,6296,344+1,285
59Logan UT-ID+19.8%1,4901,244+246
60Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater WA+19.4%1,7881,497+291
61New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ+19.4%57,37548,055+9,320
62Racine-Mount Pleasant WI+19.3%630528+102
63Gainesville GA+18.8%1,7621,483+279
64Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV+18.8%21,77918,334+3,445
65Madison WI+18.6%6,7085,654+1,054
66Harrisburg-Carlisle PA+18.3%1,5531,313+240
67Canton-Massillon OH+18.1%660559+101
68Dothan AL+18.0%610517+93
69Kennewick-Richland WA+17.8%2,4932,116+377
70St. George UT+17.7%2,9682,521+447
71Cedar City UT+16.0%752648+104
72Columbia SC+15.9%6,4925,600+892
73Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton NC+15.8%3,4162,951+465
74Medford OR+14.6%967844+123
75Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater FL+14.5%22,39219,556+2,836
76Cookeville TN+14.4%968846+122
77Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA-NH+14.4%10,8509,487+1,363
78Greensboro-High Point NC+13.8%4,3113,787+524
79Tyler TX+13.3%588519+69
80Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk VA-NC+12.7%5,2394,650+589
81Bend OR+12.2%2,8742,562+312
82Harrisonburg VA+12.0%915817+98
83Yuba City CA+11.7%851762+89
84Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh NY+11.5%2,3402,098+242
85Fort Collins CO+11.5%2,3782,133+245
86Greeley CO+11.4%3,4673,111+356
87Coeur dAlene ID+11.1%1,9511,756+195
88North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota FL+11.1%16,52214,875+1,647
89Kenosha WI+11.0%596537+59
90Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers AR+10.5%9,4478,550+897
91Dalton GA+9.5%551503+48
92Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent FL+8.1%3,7343,453+281
93Slidell-Mandeville-Covington LA+8.1%1,0941,012+82
94Brownsville-Harlingen TX+7.8%2,3162,148+168
95Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood MI+7.6%4,0033,719+284
96Morristown TN+7.6%667620+47
97Dover DE+7.5%1,3601,265+95
98Urban Honolulu HI+7.2%1,6151,507+108
99Sioux Falls SD-MN+7.1%2,8662,675+191
100Montgomery AL+6.3%860809+51

Top 100 of 296 ranked metro areas. Every row links to that geography’s full monthly permit history.

Other permit rankings

Metro areas with the most building permitsMetropolitan and micropolitan areas ranked by housing units authorized over the last 12 months.Counties with the most building permitsU.S. counties ranked by housing units authorized over the last 12 months.Building permits per capita by countyCounties ranked by units authorized per 1,000 residents — the housing-supply rate, not raw volume.Building permits per capita by metro areaMetro areas ranked by units authorized per 1,000 residents — the housing-supply rate.Housing markets with the steepest permit declinesMetro 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 housingMetro areas ranked by the share of permitted units in buildings with 5 or more units — share, not volume.

Go deeper

Every metro area →Monthly permit history for all metropolitan and micropolitan areas.Home sale prices →County median sale prices — pair 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.

Building permits by state

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiAll states →

Fastest-growing housing markets by building permits — FAQ

Which housing market is growing fastest?+

Syracuse NY shows the largest year-over-year increase in permitted housing units, up 195.0% comparing Aug 2025–Jul 2026 vs. Aug 2024–Jul 2025 (Census Building Permits Survey).

Can one big project put a metro area at the top?+

Yes. A single approved apartment or subdivision phase of a few hundred units is enough to produce a triple-digit percentage gain in a metro that permits a couple of thousand units a year. The 500-unit floor on the prior-year window keeps the very smallest markets off the board, but it does not make a one-project jump into a trend. The unit-change column shows the absolute size of the move; the metro's own page shows whether it arrived in a single month.

Why compare 12 months rather than a full year?+

A year-over-year comparison needs the same window in both years. The shipped monthly series does not yet reach far enough back to place a full trailing-12 window against a complete prior-year one, so this uses the widest window that is complete in both years — 12 months. It widens automatically as more history is published.

Does a permit increase mean construction increased?+

Not necessarily. Permits authorize construction and lead starts by weeks to months; some authorized units are never built. Permits are the earliest published signal of construction intent, not a count of completions.

Get the monthly permit release

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.