Building Permits by State and Metro Area
State and Metro Permit Data
View the latest national, regional and metro-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau on residential building permits. The data illustrate year-to-date (YTD) numbers of building permits for both multifamily and single-family homes, total building permits, and YTD comparisons of the previous year’s pace of permits issued.
Download the State and MSA Permit Report
Housing Permit Data Portal
NAHB’s new Housing Permit Data Portal allows for easy access of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s monthly building permits survey. Users can customize their search to view specific data at the metro, county or local builders association level.
The information available in the portal is estimated permit data such as the number of buildings, units and valuation for single-family and multifamily housing. Users can start by using the search box to find specific geographies. The chart at the bottom of the page illustrates the YTD single-family permits, and it can also show side-by-side comparisons of multiple geographical areas selected by the user.
Single-Family Permits in 2023
In 2023, all states and the District of Columbia reported declines in single-family permits except for: Hawaii (+16.7%), Maryland (+8.7%), Nevada (+5.8%), West Virginia (+4.7%), Virginia (0.8%), North Carolina (0.7%), and Alabama (0.0%). The range of declines spanned 0.1% in Idaho to 59.4% in the District of Columbia.
The ten states issuing the highest number of single-family permits combined accounted for 63.9% of the total single-family permits issued. Texas, the state with the highest number of single-family permits issued, declined 6.5%. The second highest permit-issuing state, Florida, saw a decline of 6.9%, while the next highest, North Carolina, posted an increase of 0.7%.
Multifamily Permits in 2023
In 2023, 15 states recorded growth in multifamily permits, while 35 states and the District of Columbia recorded a decline. Delaware (+96.3%) led the way with a sharp rise in multifamily permits from 562 to 1,103, while Wyoming had the greatest decline of 74.2% from 1,044 to 269. The ten states issuing the highest number of multifamily permits combined accounted for 63.2% of the multifamily permits issued.
For the year, Texas, the state with the highest number of multifamily permits issued, experienced a decline of 24.0%. Following closely, the second-highest state in multifamily permits, Florida, saw a decline of 12.4%. California, the third largest multifamily permit-issuing state, declined by 3.4%.
