Building Permits in 51 U.S. Cities: What's Being Built This Fall

Morningline tracks building permits in cities across the country. This is our first look across all of them at once: 22,449 building permits in 51 cities in 28 states, from the latest 30 days of data we hold for each city (for most cities, September 10 to October 9, 2026; 2 smaller cities are counted over 60 days so their numbers aren't too thin).

Where the most work is

New York City had the most permits by far, with 3,002. Next were Chicago (2,550), Los Angeles (1,802), Philadelphia (1,199), Austin (1,051).

By reported value, the leaders were New York City ($1.17 billion), Baltimore ($606.0 million), Chicago ($531.1 million), Nashville ($410.2 million). Value depends heavily on a few big projects: one large permit can move a city up the list in a given month.

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Where new homes are going up

The most permits for new homes were in Los Angeles (371), Nashville (318), Chicago (274), Austin (209), Las Vegas (165). Across all 51 cities, 3,501 permits were for new homes, counting single-family houses, townhomes and duplexes.

The six largest projects

1. 3100 Wyman Park Dr, Baltimore: $285.3 million. A new instructional building, the "DSAI South Building," with offices for graduate students.
2. 200 Wyman Park Dr, Baltimore: $187.8 million. A new instructional building, the "DSAI North Building," with offices for graduate students.
3. 400 S La Salle St, Chicago: $151.1 million. Phase 3 of converting an existing 7-story office building into a data center.
4. 175 3 Street, Brooklyn, New York City: $70.5 million. A new 27-story mixed-use building.
5. 2929 27th Ave S, Seattle: $69.9 million. A new mixed-use building.
6. 2681 NE 191 St, Miami-Dade County: $68.0 million. A new 9-story mixed-use building with 250 apartments.

Values are what was reported on each permit. They are estimates used for permits and fees, not contract amounts.

All 51 cities

How we count

• Building permits only. Trade permits (electrical, plumbing, mechanical), signs, fences and roof-only work are not counted. Neither are certificates of occupancy, revisions or other paperwork.
• Each permit counted once, and a project filed as several permits is valued once.
• Issued permits, except in a few cities whose records don't give an issue date for every permit. There, permits are counted by the date they were filed: Atlanta, GA; Chesapeake, VA; Chula Vista, CA; Lancaster, CA; Missoula, MT; Monterey Park, CA; Omaha, NE; San Diego County, CA.
• Reported value is the valuation on the permit, leaving out obvious data-entry errors. Some cities don't publish values, shown as "Not reported."
• Sources: each city's public building permit records. Each city's page shows the exact dates covered.

Click any city above for its latest numbers, updated weekly.

Who's building all this?

Permits say what's being built and where. A Morningline report goes further: the projects that fit your trade, with the builder or owner behind each one, every weekday morning. Get a free sample report.