5/01/24 - Final annual estimates for 2023 of housing units authorized by building permits for the U.S. and by Census Region, Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place are now available. Revised monthly estimates for the U.S. and Census Regions for the prior year which have been "benchmarked" to the final annual totals are also released.
Also, annual data for 2022 was also revised and re-released. This unscheduled revision was due to receiving additional late data and corrections to data for 2022 since initial publication that either impact the aggregate estimates or allow for additional geographic data to be published. The following files for 2022 was revised and replaced: State, MSA, County, and Place-level, along with a new file containing the geographic details for Island Areas.
4/16/2024 - Special Announcement: With the release of the 2023 annual estimates of housing units authorized by building permits on May 1, 2024, the annual data for 2022 will also be revised and re-released. This unscheduled revision is due to receiving additional late data and corrections to data for 2022 since initial publication that either impact the aggregate estimates or allow for additional geographic data to be published.
The two most notable corrections and additions for 2022 were:
The following files for 2022 will be revised and replaced on May 1, 2024: State, MSA, County, and Place-level, along with a new file containing the geographic details for Island Areas.
2/26/24 - Notice: Revisions observed in the January 2024 Northeast totals are primarily attributable to a revised report from New York City. We are working with the local jurisdiction to evaluate the impact and incorporate any additional revisions for periods prior to January 2024 as necessary.
1/25/24 - Beginning with the January 2024 monthly BPS data release, Micropolitan area data will be included in the existing Metropolitan data files. Data for Micropolitan areas will be in the same format and file as the existing Metropolitan data, with an additional field added to differentiate between a Metropolitan versus Micropolitan area. In addition, all files, titles, and references that currently only reference Metropolitan or MSA data will have their name updated to CBSA (Core Based Statistical Area), which encompasses both Metropolitan and Micropolitan areas.
In addition, beginning with the January 2024 monthly release, the BPS data for CBSA's will incorporate any definitional, name or code changes according to the current Metropolitan and Micropolitan statistical area delineations that were announced by OMB effective July 2023. Please refer to: CBSA Changes for more information.
5/01/23 - Final annual estimates for 2022 of housing units authorized by building permits for the U.S. and by Census Region, Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place are now available. Revised monthly estimates for the U.S. and Census Regions for the prior year which have been "benchmarked" to the final annual totals are also released.
2/24/23 - Notice of methodology change: With the release of January 2023 data, the Building Permits survey has changed its target universe from a 2014 basis to an annually updated universe. This change allows for more accurate and quicker coverage when jurisdictions change from not issuing building permits to issuing them. For additional details on this change and the impact on the New Residential Construction and Building Permits Survey data, see our  2023 Methodology Change FAQs
The following changes are included in the January 2023 data releases. 126 jurisdictions where permit systems were discontinued since 2014 were removed from the survey data and 88 new jurisdictions that began issuing permits since 2014 were added to the survey data.
In addition, several significant geography changes were processed and are included in the January 2023 data. These include the adoption of Connecticut’s nine Councils of Governments (COGs) as the county-equivalent geographic unit and the splitting of the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska to form Chugach Census Area and Copper River Census Area. For more information on these and other geography changes please see: Changes to Counties and County Equivalent Entities: 1970-Present (census.gov)
11/17/22 - Notice of methodology change: Beginning with the January New Residential Construction release on February 16, 2023, the Building Permits survey will change its target universe from the current 2014 basis to an annually updated universe. This change will allow for more accurate and quicker coverage when jurisdictions change from not issuing building permits to issuing them. For additional details on this change and the impact on New Residential Construction, see our 2023 Methodology Change FAQs
5/02/22 - Final annual estimates for 2021 of housing units authorized by building permits for the U.S. and by Census Region, Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place are now available. Revised monthly estimates for the U.S. and Census Regions for the prior year which have been "benchmarked" to the final annual totals are also released.
2/24/22 - Notice of methodology change: With the January 2022 data month, the monthly Building Permits Survey design has changed from a representative sample to a cut-off sample. This change allows complete local and county data on new housing units authorized by permits to be published monthly going forward. Initial summary level estimates for January 2022 were released with the New Residential Construction release on February 17, 2022. Complete local, County and State estimates were first released at www.census.gov/construction/bps/ on February 24, 2022. For additional details on this change and the impact on New Residential Construction, see our updated 2022 Methodology Change FAQs
11/17/21 - Notice of methodology change: Beginning with the January 2022 New Residential Construction release on February 17, 2022, the monthly Building Permits Survey design will change from a representative sample to a cut-off sample. This change will allow complete local and county data on new housing units authorized by permits to be published on a monthly basis going forward. For additional details on this change and the impact on New Residential Construction, see our Methodology Change FAQs.
5/03/21 - Final annual estimates for 2020 of housing units authorized by building permits for the U.S. and by Census Region, Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place are now available. Revised monthly estimates for the U.S. and Census Regions for the prior year which have been "benchmarked" to the final annual totals are also released.
5/01/20 - Final annual estimates for 2019 of housing units authorized by building permits for the U.S. and by Census Region, Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place are now available. Revised monthly estimates for the U.S. and Census Regions for the prior year which have been "benchmarked" to the final annual totals are also released.
1/03/20 - The Seasonally Adjusted and Seaonal Factors tabs in the Excel file for Permits by United States and Regions has been updated to reflect updates from preliminary data that was released on December 17, 2019 with the New Residential Construction Press Release to revised data that was released on December 23, 2019.
12/23/19 - Beginning in November 2019, the U.S. and Region files will be available only in Excel format. The Excel file will contain time series of monthly unadjusted monthly units and valuations; monthly seasonally adjusted; monthly seasonal factors; and Annual units and valuations. PDF versions will no longer be produced.
Beginning in November 2019 - State and Metropolitan files will be available only in Excel format and contain current month units and valuation as well as year to date units and valuation. Text format will no longer be produced.
Beginning in November 2019 - Relative Standard Errors files will be in Excel Format and contain current month units and valuation. Text format will no longer be produced.
7/17/19 - With this release, unadjusted estimates of housing units authorized by building permits for January through December 2018 have been revised. Also, seasonally adjusted estimates of housing units authorized by building permits have been revised back to January 2013. All revised estimates are available on our website.
2/28/19 - The U.S. Census Bureau updated its 2019 economic indicator release calendar to include January-March 2019 releases following the recent lapse in federal funding. Please visit our Breifing Room for the full schedule.
2/27/19 pm - Today at approximately 12:00pm, updated December 2018 Metropolitan Area text and ASCII files were reposted. These updated files are replacing the files that were originally posted yesterday morning, February 26, 2019 that were missing approximately 65+ metro areas.
2/27/19 am - The December 2018 Metropolitan Area, current month and year-to-date, ASCII and text files have been removed temporarily due to approximately 65+ missing metro areas. We will provide updated files as soon as they become available.
2/27/19 - The U.S. Census Bureau continues to update its 2019 economic indicator release calendar in coordination with other agencies and the Office of Management and Budget to address the impacts of the recent lapse in federal funding. We will provide additional updated release dates as soon as they become available. Please visit our webpage at www.census.gov/economic-indicators.
2/6/19 - Rescheduled December 2018 release dates have been posted! The U.S. Census Bureau continues to update its 2019 economic indicator release calendar in coordination with other agencies and the Office of Management and Budget to address the impacts of the recent lapse in federal funding. We will provide additional updated release dates as soon as they become available. Please visit our webpage at www.census.gov/economic-indicators.
1/30/19 - Rescheduled November 2018 release dates have been posted! The U.S. Census Bureau continues to update its 2019 economic indicator release calendar in coordination with other agencies and the Office of Management and Budget to address the impacts of the recent lapse in federal funding. We will provide additional updated release dates as soon as they become available. Please visit our webpage at www.census.gov/economic-indicators.
1/28/19 - The U.S. Census Bureau is updating its 2019 economic indicator release calendar in coordination with other agencies and the Office of Management and Budget to address the impacts of the recent lapse in federal funding. We will provide the updated release schedule as soon as it becomes available. Please visit our webpage at www.census.gov/economic-indicators.
9/26/18 - For August 2018 Building Permits data release only, the monthly footnotes file will be available in PDF, Text, and Excel formats. Beginning with September 2018 Building Permits data release, the monthly footnotes file will only be available in Excel format.
9/20/18 - The Building Permits County files (current month and year-to-date) for July 2018 has been updated to include counties that were missing from the original file previously released on August 23, 2018.
5/16/18 - For the U.S. and Census Regions, seasonally adjusted estimates for January 2012 through March 2018 for housing units authorized by building permits will be released with the April 2018 New Residential Construction release on May 16, 2018.
5/1/18 - Final annual estimates for 2017 of housing units authorized by building permits for the U.S. and by Census Region, Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place are now available. Revised monthly estimates for the U.S. and Census Regions for the prior year which have been "benchmarked" to the final annual totals are also released.
2/16/18 - With the April 2018 release, seasonally adjusted estimates of housing units authorized by building permits will be revised back to January 2012. With each April release, seasonally adjusted data will now be revised for an additional five years beyond the revision period for unadjusted data. Research has shown that this revision span should produce more reliable seasonally adjusted time series.
9/19/17 - For information on the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma on the compilation of these data, please see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on our website.
10/1/16 - As of October 2016, Building Permits data are available free of charge.
9/25/16 - Coverage Footnotes, in Text format, are now available under Related Information.
12/26/14 - Beginning with the January 2015 release, the building permit data reflect a small increase in the universe of permit-issuing places and are labeled as the 2014 Universe.
10/8/14 - The Census Bureau identified a processing error affecting estimates for imputed data by permit-issuing place and county for August 2014, originally released on September 25, 2014. On October 8, 2014, new estimates were compiled and released, which impacted less than 6% percent of places. For the places affected, the average correction was approximately 2 housing units. Data for the metropolitan area, state and national level were unaffected by this error.
5/1/14 - Final annual estimates for 2013 of housing units authorized by building permits for the U.S. and by Census Region, Census Division, state, metropolitan area, county, and permit-issuing place will be released on May 1, 2014.
2/27/13 - On February 2013, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released detailed information on current lists of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Delineations. Building permits data for Metropolitan Statistical Areas definitions only are effective with January 2014 (released February 27, 2014). Historic building permits data will not be revised to reflect new metropolitan area definitions. For detailed information, go to New OMB Definitions.
