What America Is Building Right Now
Key findings
- General Construction is the most common permit type nationally, 37.3% of recent permit records.
- Fort Worth, TX has the highest median project value among ranked metros at $80,000.
What is America building? A source-dated look at the mix of project types and the typical dollar value by metro, from building-permit records published across hundreds of U.S. municipalities.
Study snapshot generated August 28, 2026 · 1687 municipal permit sources represented. Individual source schedules vary by city.
What's being built — permit mix (last 90 days)
| Project type | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| General Construction | 389,325 | 37.3% |
| HVAC | 146,240 | 14.0% |
| Electrical | 126,783 | 12.1% |
| Plumbing | 111,148 | 10.6% |
| Roofing | 59,634 | 5.7% |
| New Construction | 46,117 | 4.4% |
| Landscaping & Exterior | 35,411 | 3.4% |
| Interior Renovation | 30,613 | 2.9% |
| Uncategorized | 29,364 | 2.8% |
| Addition | 26,907 | 2.6% |
| Windows & Doors | 23,537 | 2.3% |
| Other | 18,621 | 1.8% |
Typical project value by metro
| Metro | Permits (90d) | Median value |
|---|---|---|
| New York City, NY | 74,341 | $32,000 |
| San Antonio, TX | 19,099 | volume-only |
| Miami, FL | 18,587 | $16,314 |
| Fort Worth, TX | 17,537 | $80,000 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 14,612 | $10,000 |
| Austin, TX | 14,457 | volume-only |
| San Diego, CA | 12,929 | $61,900 |
| Miami-Dade County, FL | 12,911 | $23,000 |
| Memphis, TN | 12,287 | $40,000 |
| Columbus, OH | 12,053 | $17,356 |
| Portland, OR | 12,000 | $22,477 |
| Baltimore, MD | 11,948 | $5,000 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 11,179 | volume-only |
| New Jersey, NJ | 10,956 | $5,652 |
| Washington, DC | 10,530 | volume-only |
Methodology
- Counts building-permit records dated within the last 90 days across 1687 U.S. municipal open-data sources. The study does not relabel every source event as a filing or an approval; individual source schedules and labels vary by city.
- Metros are aggregated by canonical slug (source-tagged label variants are de-duplicated so a city counts once).
- Median project value, not mean; metros whose sources publish no valuation are marked volume-only, never treated as $0.
- Contractor and owner fields vary by source and record. This national study does not rank people or companies from a generic permit contact field; market pages label the fields that are actually available.
Use this data
Free to cite with attribution to PermitGrab. Suggested credit:
Source: PermitGrab — "What America Is Building Right Now" — https://permitgrab.com/research/what-america-is-building
FAQ
What are Americans building the most permits for right now?
General Construction is the most common permit category, at 37.3% of recent permit records nationally.
Where does this data come from?
Building-permit records from hundreds of U.S. municipal open-data sources, aggregated by canonical metro and trade category, then published as a verified snapshot. Individual source schedules vary by city.
Can I cite this?
Yes — free to cite with attribution to PermitGrab and a link to this page.
Turn a market pattern into a research workflow
Choose the source-bounded workflow that fits your work before starting a trial. Contractor and owner fields, where available, vary by public source and record.
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