Highest Development Momentum
Cities ranked by the AreaProfile Growth signal
Where residential construction is both substantial relative to population and moving in the right direction.
50 locations · Calculated August 29, 2026
| # | City | Score | Permits yoy % | Permits per 1000 | Permits units 12mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntsville, AL | 83 | 87.4% | 9.6 | 2,108 |
| 2 | Fort Worth, TX | 82 | 4.0% | 11.5 | 10,867 |
| 3 | Salt Lake City, UT | 81 | 19.8% | 14.5 | 2,955 |
| 4 | Frisco, TX | 78 | -15.4% | 16.2 | 3,405 |
| 5 | Pittsburgh, PA | 77 | 103.2% | 8.0 | 2,430 |
| 6 | McKinney, TX | 77 | -2.9% | 15.1 | 3,065 |
| 7 | Jersey City, NJ | 76 | 39.1% | 9.2 | 2,657 |
| 8 | Durham, NC | 76 | 33.1% | 16.1 | 4,643 |
| 9 | Sioux Falls, SD | 75 | 3.5% | 10.9 | 2,159 |
| 10 | Knoxville, TN | 75 | -9.9% | 9.0 | 1,738 |
| 11 | Madison, WI | 73 | 14.7% | 11.3 | 3,111 |
| 12 | North Las Vegas, NV | 72 | -17.4% | 6.5 | 1,762 |
| 13 | Tacoma, WA | 71 | 155.4% | 5.7 | 1,267 |
| 14 | Raleigh, NC | 71 | -0.6% | 10.9 | 5,124 |
| 15 | Lubbock, TX | 71 | -3.4% | 8.1 | 2,109 |
| 16 | Oklahoma City, OK | 71 | 1.4% | 6.8 | 4,666 |
| 17 | Overland Park, KS | 70 | 95.4% | 5.2 | 1,026 |
| 18 | Greensboro, NC | 70 | 27.7% | 6.8 | 2,042 |
| 19 | St. Petersburg, FL | 69 | 175.3% | 10.9 | 2,841 |
| 20 | Tampa, FL | 69 | 16.8% | 7.3 | 2,888 |
| 21 | Newark, NJ | 68 | -4.7% | 8.0 | 2,472 |
| 22 | Worcester, MA | 67 | 25.2% | 3.5 | 720 |
| 23 | Miami, FL | 66 | -34.2% | 10.7 | 4,781 |
| 24 | Tallahassee, FL | 66 | 2.6% | 8.3 | 1,653 |
| 25 | Brownsville, TX | 66 | -2.0% | 7.2 | 1,352 |
| 26 | Port St. Lucie, FL | 66 | -30.9% | 11.4 | 2,517 |
| 27 | Amarillo, TX | 65 | 2.1% | 6.0 | 1,196 |
| 28 | Peoria, AZ | 65 | 4.9% | 6.8 | 1,321 |
| 29 | Chesapeake, VA | 65 | 116.4% | 5.9 | 1,476 |
| 30 | Grand Prairie, TX | 65 | -21.8% | 6.2 | 1,222 |
| 31 | Columbus, OH | 64 | -21.7% | 7.6 | 6,848 |
| 32 | Denver, CO | 64 | 95.4% | 9.0 | 6,441 |
| 33 | Atlanta, GA | 64 | -16.9% | 12.0 | 5,975 |
| 34 | Cape Coral, FL | 64 | -21.0% | 10.3 | 2,123 |
| 35 | Wichita, KS | 63 | 51.2% | 5.3 | 2,090 |
| 36 | Austin, TX | 63 | -4.6% | 7.8 | 7,547 |
| 37 | Las Vegas, NV | 63 | 13.3% | 4.0 | 2,627 |
| 38 | San Jose, CA | 62 | 239.7% | 4.9 | 4,891 |
| 39 | Lexington-Fayette urban county, KY | 62 | 54.5% | 4.3 | 1,377 |
| 40 | Modesto, CA | 62 | 247.5% | 3.5 | 768 |
| 41 | Seattle, WA | 62 | 25.0% | 6.5 | 4,827 |
| 42 | Richmond, VA | 61 | -20.0% | 11.9 | 2,714 |
| 43 | Cincinnati, OH | 61 | 268.5% | 3.2 | 984 |
| 44 | Dallas, TX | 60 | 30.1% | 5.6 | 7,307 |
| 45 | Lincoln, NE | 60 | -12.2% | 6.5 | 1,911 |
| 46 | Kansas City, MO | 60 | 8.8% | 4.6 | 2,341 |
| 47 | Bakersfield, CA | 60 | 9.9% | 4.3 | 1,750 |
| 48 | Henderson, NV | 60 | -48.3% | 6.5 | 2,106 |
| 49 | Omaha, NE | 60 | -11.5% | 7.1 | 3,487 |
| 50 | Houston, TX | 59 | -2.6% | 4.9 | 11,337 |
Methodology
Cities are ranked by the AreaProfile Growth signal: permitted units per 1,000 residents over the trailing twelve months (35%), change against the prior twelve months (25%), change against three years earlier (20%) and three-year employment growth (20%). Volume alone does not rank a city highly — pace relative to population and direction of travel both count.
What is excluded, and why
Cities under 100,000 residents, and cities for which the Census Building Permits Survey publishes no activity. Ranked on permitted units per 1,000 residents over the trailing twelve months. A location qualifies with at least 100 units authorized in that window, which is low enough to include genuinely small markets and high enough to exclude a single large project standing in for a trend.
- Minimum population: 100,000
- Minimum units authorized in the current twelve months: 100
50 of 146 published cities qualified.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — Building Permits Survey (2026)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Local Area Unemployment Statistics (la)
- U.S. Census Bureau — Population Estimates Program (Vintage 2024)
Full details of how signals and the Area Score are calculated are on the methodology page.