Glossary
Building Permits Survey
The Building Permits Survey is the Census Bureau's monthly, year-to-date and annual count of new privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits, produced under Title 13 authority and published at national, state, CBSA, county and place level as hundreds of ASCII and Excel files yearly.
What is the Building Permits Survey?
It is the permit leg of Census's residential construction measurement. Its short_description spells out the scope: 'Monthly, YTD and annual counts of new privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits at national, state, CBSA, county and place level'.
Distribution is file-heavy: estimated_size reads 'Hundreds of ASCII/Excel files per year across four regional folders', produced by the U.S. Census Bureau under Title 13 authority - the same statutory footing as other Census economic programs. Inside the New Residential Construction hub, permit authorization series appear alongside starts and completions.
Why does the BPS matter when choosing a dataset?
Place-level geography is its differentiator. Most permit products stop at county; the survey's place cut lets analysts measure individual municipalities - decisive for land-use, impact-fee and builder-activity questions.
The file-based delivery shapes engineering though: hundreds of ASCII/Excel files yearly across four regional folders means pipelines need folder-aware ingestion, not single-file assumptions. And because the BPS feeds the New Residential Construction release, its figures revise with that cycle - applications should expect the monthly-to-annual reconciliation, not treat first prints as final.
How do you evaluate Building Permits Survey data in a source?
- Confirm all five geographies. National, state, CBSA, county and place coverage is the survey's signature - partial extracts lose the place cut.
- Expect three frequencies. Monthly, year-to-date and annual counts ship together; pick per use case rather than rebuilding YTD yourself.
- Plan for file volume. Hundreds of ASCII/Excel files per year in four regional folders demands automated ingestion.
- Link the construction chain. Pair permits with starts and completions from New Residential Construction to model conversion rates.
- Note the statutory basis. Title 13 production underwrites confidentiality and quality expectations.
Related terms
- census-geography-hierarchy - the geographic nesting the five cuts follow.
- housing-starts - the next stage in the construction pipeline.
Sector hubs: homebuilding data, real-estate-operating-companies data.
Frequently asked questions
What geography does the Building Permits Survey cover?
National, state, CBSA, county and place level - the place cut distinguishes it from most permit products.
Who produces the Building Permits Survey?
The U.S. Census Bureau, under Title 13 authority, releasing hundreds of ASCII and Excel files per year across four regional folders.
Datasets containing this field
Datasets containing Building Permits Survey
6 datasets carry building permits survey in the catalog. Open one, count the fields, judge for yourself.
Data.gov Catalog - Furniture Search - 30 Matched US Government Records
title · Organization · Dataset Last Updated …+7 more
Hugging Face Datasets - Furniture Search - 77 Community Corpora
id · author · lastModified …+6 more
IKEA Global Product Catalog
NAHB Housing Economics - HMI, Starts & Market Data
US Census Characteristics of New Housing
Every listing shows the field dictionary, sample rows, and coverage before you commit. API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
Get sample rows