States & metros

Housing starts are never published below the four Census regions, so state and metro detail uses a different measure: building permits (units authorized), available by state from 1980 and — via county files aggregated to today's metro definitions — by metro from 1990. Permits ran about 8% above starts nationally in 2024 — the gap is both timing and coverage — and they miss building in places that don't require permits, which matters most in Texas. DC is included in the rankings for completeness; comparing a city to states, its rank means little.

Head to head

California vs. Texas →California vs. Florida →Texas vs. Florida →

The 15 largest metro areas

New York Los Angeles Chicago Dallas Houston Atlanta Washington Philadelphia Miami Phoenix Boston Riverside San Francisco Detroit Seattle

Every state, 2024

Rank	State	Units permitted	Share of US	Per 1,000 residents
#1	Texas	225,756	15.3%	7.2
#2	Florida	173,326	11.7%	7.5
#3	California	101,545	6.9%	2.6
#4	North Carolina	95,163	6.4%	8.6
#5	Georgia	68,367	4.6%	6.1
#6	Arizona	59,616	4.0%	7.9
#7	South Carolina	47,072	3.2%	8.6
#8	New York	46,549	3.1%	2.3
#9	Tennessee	44,863	3.0%	6.2
#10	Washington	37,778	2.6%	4.8
#11	New Jersey	34,932	2.4%	3.7
#12	Virginia	34,059	2.3%	3.9
#13	Colorado	32,185	2.2%	5.4
#14	Ohio	31,411	2.1%	2.6
#15	Indiana	26,633	1.8%	3.8
#16	Pennsylvania	24,810	1.7%	1.9
#17	Utah	23,902	1.6%	6.8
#18	Wisconsin	23,826	1.6%	4.0
#19	Michigan	21,750	1.5%	2.1
#20	Minnesota	20,913	1.4%	3.6
#21	Alabama	20,725	1.4%	4.0
#22	Illinois	20,326	1.4%	1.6
#23	Nevada	19,994	1.4%	6.2
#24	Missouri	18,464	1.2%	3.0
#25	Idaho	17,630	1.2%	8.8
#26	Maryland	16,823	1.1%	2.7
#27	Kentucky	16,264	1.1%	3.5
#28	Oregon	14,621	1.0%	3.4
#29	Massachusetts	14,338	1.0%	2.0
#30	Louisiana	14,310	1.0%	3.1
#31	Arkansas	13,684	0.9%	4.4
#32	Oklahoma	13,669	0.9%	3.3
#33	Iowa	12,544	0.8%	3.9
#34	Nebraska	10,479	0.7%	5.2
#35	Kansas	9,063	0.6%	3.1
#36	Mississippi	7,883	0.5%	2.7
#37	New Mexico	7,572	0.5%	3.6
#38	Delaware	7,141	0.5%	6.8
#39	Maine	6,034	0.4%	4.3
#40	South Dakota	6,017	0.4%	6.5
#41	Connecticut	5,926	0.4%	1.6
#42	Montana	5,367	0.4%	4.7
#43	New Hampshire	4,965	0.3%	3.5
#44	West Virginia	4,192	0.3%	2.4
#45	Hawaii	3,879	0.3%	2.7
#46	Vermont	2,654	0.2%	4.1
#47	North Dakota	2,319	0.2%	2.9
#48	Wyoming	2,135	0.1%	3.6
#49	Rhode Island	1,757	0.1%	1.6
#50	District of Columbia	1,737	0.1%	2.5
#51	Alaska	1,032	0.1%	1.4