SOCDS Building Permits Database

This database contains data on permits for residential construction issued by about 21,000 jurisdictions collected in the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey. (Documentation available here.) You can create output tables at the State, County, MSA, CBSA (1999 MSA/PMSA and 2003 CBSA definitions.) or permit-issuing jurisdiction level. Monthly data are available from January 1997 through August 2024 for about 9,000 jurisdictions that respond to the monthly survey. The remaining jurisdictions report annual data only. Annual data are available from 1980 through 2023. State and Metropolitan Area monthly data do not include imputations of data, created by the Census Bureau, for the jurisdictions within them that report only annual data.

Note: Since the source data used in the "State Year-To-Date" report is pre-adjusted by Census to account for missing annual reporters, it will not match the statewide totals in the "Past 36 Months" report, which is aggregated from unadjusted monthly place-level data.

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  • Current summary files:


    State


    CBSA/MSA





    Previous summary files:


    State
    Year-To-Date
    Past 36 Months




    CBSA
    Year-To-Date (CBSA data begins in January 2004)
    Past 36 months (Available from December 2006)




    Metropolitan Areas
    Past 36 months Year-to-Date (Available up to December 2003)
    Past 36 months (Available up to December 2003)






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