thanna94/us-building-permits

PermitBase — U.S. Residential Building Permits 1980–2024

The most comprehensive historical residential building permit dataset available at the place level.

Place-level | Annual | 1980–2024 | SF/MF differentiated | 51 jurisdictions | 683,986 records

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Dataset Description

This dataset contains annual residential building permit data for permit-issuing places (cities, towns, and unincorporated county areas) across the United States, covering 1980 through 2024. It is derived from the U.S. Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey (BPS) and has been cleaned, normalized, and enriched with Census region labels, housing cycle annotations, and multifamily share calculations.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS)
License: CC0 1.0 (source data is U.S. federal government, public domain)
API access: permitbase.org — query the live dataset via REST API or MCP

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What Makes This Dataset Unique

Most existing permit datasets start around 2000. This dataset begins in 1980 — capturing:

• The S&L crisis (1989–1991)
• The 1990s long expansion
• The housing bubble and crash (2001–2009)
• The post-crisis recovery
• The COVID-era surge
• The current rate correction

It also provides clean SF/MF differentiation at the place level:

• 1-unit (single family)
• 2-unit (duplex)
• 3–4 unit
• 5+ unit (multifamily)
• Pre-computed MF total and MF% per record

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Schema

Column	Type	Description
Year	int	Survey year (1980–2024)
Region	string	Census region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
State_Code	int	2-digit FIPS state code
State	string	State name
County_Code	int	3-digit FIPS county code
Place	string	City, town, or unincorporated area name
Months_Reported	int	Months of data reported (0–12; <12 = partial)
SF_Units	int	1-unit (single family) units permitted
MF_2Unit	int	2-unit (duplex) units permitted
MF_34Unit	int	3–4 unit structures, total units
MF_5Plus	int	5+ unit structures, total units
MF_Total	int	Sum of MF_2Unit + MF_34Unit + MF_5Plus
Total_Units	int	SF_Units + MF_Total
MF_Pct	float	MF_Total / Total_Units (0.0–1.0)
Cycle	string	Housing market cycle label (see below)

Housing Cycle Labels

Cycle	Years
Early 80s Contraction	1980–1981
Mid-80s Expansion	1982–1988
S&L Crisis Downturn	1989–1991
90s Long Expansion	1992–2000
Housing Bubble	2001–2005
Financial Crisis Bust	2006–2009
Post-Crisis Trough	2010–2012
Long Recovery	2013–2019
COVID Shock	2020
Post-COVID Boom	2021–2022
Rate Correction	2023–present

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Coverage Notes

Region	Full Coverage	Partial / Missing
South (17 states)	1980–2021, 2023	2022 (Feb only), 2024 (Mar only)
Midwest (12 states)	1980–2020	2021–2024 not yet added
Northeast (9 states)	1980–2018	2019 (Jan only), 2020–2024 not added
West (15 states)	1980–2018	2019 (Jan only), 2020–2024 not added

For live, fully updated national data, use the PermitBase API.

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Usage Examples

import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv("national_permits_master.csv")

# National annual totals
nat = df.groupby('Year')[['SF_Units','MF_Total','Total_Units']].sum()
print(nat.loc[2005])  # Peak: 2.16M units

# Top 10 most active cities all-time
top = df.groupby(['State','Place'])['Total_Units'].sum().nlargest(10)
print(top)

# MF-heavy markets (min 5,000 units, ranked by MF share)
by_place = df.groupby(['State','Place']).agg(
    MF=('MF_Total','sum'), Tot=('Total_Units','sum')).reset_index()
by_place = by_place[by_place['Tot'] >= 5000]
by_place['MF_Pct'] = by_place['MF'] / by_place['Tot']
print(by_place.nlargest(10,'MF_Pct'))

# Texas post-GFC recovery
tx = df[(df['State']=='Texas') & (df['Year'].between(2009,2015))]
tx_yr = tx.groupby('Year')['Total_Units'].sum()
print(tx_yr.pct_change())

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API Access

The live, continuously updated dataset is available via the PermitBase REST API and MCP server:

# Annual trends for any state
curl https://api.permitbase.org/v1/permits/annual \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_key" \
  -d "state=California&year_from=2000"

# Top multifamily markets
curl https://api.permitbase.org/v1/permits/rankings \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_key" \
  -d "ranked_by=mf&limit=25"

Free tier: 50 calls/month, no credit card. Get your key at permitbase.org.

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Citation

If you use this dataset in research, please cite:

@dataset{permitbase2024,
  title     = {PermitBase: U.S. Residential Building Permits 1980--2024},
  author    = {PermitBase},
  year      = {2024},
  url       = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/thanna94/us-building-permits},
  note      = {Derived from U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS)}
}

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Related Research

• LaPoint & Cortes (2024): "Housing Is the Financial Cycle: Evidence from 100 Years of Local Building Permits"
• U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey: https://www.census.gov/construction/bps/