Why don't you rank cities by permit cost?

Permit fees aren't measured the same way from city to city — one jurisdiction charges a flat fee, another prices on a sliding scale tied to construction valuation, another per square foot, another as a percentage of the building permit fee. Sorting those numbers together and calling the smallest one "cheapest" would compare figures that don't measure the same thing, which is a misleading metric dressed up as a ranking. So this page ranks only what's genuinely comparable across cities — Census building-activity units — and shows each city's own published fee next to it, verbatim, for reference only.

What does the growth percentage measure?

Year-over-year change in trailing-12-month housing units authorized for new privately-owned residential construction, per the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey. It only appears when both the current and prior 12-month windows were fully reported and the prior-year total meets a minimum reporting floor — otherwise a percentage would be either impossible to compute or too volatile to be meaningful.

What does the dagger (†) next to a fee mean?

It marks a fee that's a starting tier from a valuation-based or sliding-scale schedule, not a flat final total. Open the city's permit page for the complete fee table.

Why do some cities show “no data reported” instead of a number?

That jurisdiction didn't report to the Census Bureau for that period. We show it as unreported, never as zero — assuming zero activity for a non-reporting jurisdiction would be inventing a data point that doesn't exist.

New privately-owned residential construction only

Where New Mexico is building

Two datasets, side by side. Growth ranks come from the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey — new privately-owned residential construction only, not total permit volume. The fee column is each city’s own published residential building-permit fee, shown verbatim for reference: it is never ranked, averaged, or presented as comparable across cities (why not →).

Census activity data covers 19 of the 27 New Mexico jurisdictions PermitBase tracks.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS) · data through 2026-05

New Mexico cities by building-permit growth

Ranked by trailing-12-month Census units. The fee column is reference only — see how to read this table.

#	Jurisdiction	Trailing-12 units	YoY growth	Residential permit fee *
1	Unincorporated Bernalillo Countycounty-wide totals	1,813	— county estimate	$30.00†Verifieddetails →
2	Albuquerque	1,308(8 mo)	— insufficient history	$23.50†Verifieddetails →
3	Village of Corralescounty-wide totals	835	— county estimate	$23.50Verifieddetails →
4	Rio Rancho	814	−41.9%	65% of the Building Permit Fee (non-refundable)†Verifieddetails →
5	Unincorporated Doña Ana Countycounty-wide totals	763	— county estimate	$0.20Verifieddetails →
6	Santa Fe	437(8 mo)	— insufficient history	$40.00Verifieddetails →
7	Carlsbad	316	+137.6%	$12.50Verifieddetails →
8	Las Cruces	162(3 mo)	— insufficient history	$0.20Verifieddetails →
9	Unincorporated San Juan Countycounty-wide totals	81	— county estimate	$45Verifieddetails →
10	Clovis	71	−43.7%	$28.00†Verifieddetails →
11	Farmington	40	— below floor	—
12	Los Alamos Countycounty-wide totals	11	— county estimate	$23.50Verifieddetails →
13	Deming	0(2 mo)	— insufficient history	$10.00†Verifieddetails →
—	Alamogordo	no data reported	— insufficient history	$85Verifieddetails →
—	Española	no data reported	— insufficient history	$75Verifieddetails →
—	Gallup	no data reported	— insufficient history	$15.00†Verifieddetails →
—	Hobbs	no data reported	— insufficient history	$20.00Verifieddetails →
—	Roswell	no data reported	— insufficient history	$24.00Verifieddetails →
—	Sunland Park	no data reported	— insufficient history	Calculated per the Most Current Version of the Uniform Building Code (ICC Building Valuation Data / BVD formula)†Verifieddetails →

How to read this table

Rows are ranked only by Census building-activity units — the one figure that’s measured the same way in every city. The fee column is never ranked, averaged, or sorted, because permit fees aren’t measured the same way from city to city: some jurisdictions charge a flat fee, others price on a sliding scale tied to construction valuation, others per square foot, others as a percentage of the building permit fee. Averaging or sorting those numbers together would compare figures that don’t measure the same thing — a “cheapest city” ranking built on that mix would be a misleading metric, so we don’t build one.

A dagger (†) next to a fee means it’s the starting tier from a valuation-based or sliding-scale schedule per the jurisdiction’s own published fee table — not a final total for every project. Open the linked permit page for the complete schedule.

The growth percentage only appears when a jurisdiction’s trailing-12-month and prior-12-month windows were both fully reported to the Census Bureau, and the prior-year total was at least 50 units. Below that floor a percentage swings too wildly on a small base to be meaningful, so we withhold it rather than publish a misleading rate. County-level rows never get a growth rank, since county totals can include Census imputation for non-reporting offices.

Two provenance regimes are stacked on this page: Census activity figures are self-reported by jurisdictions to the Bureau on a monthly cadence, while permit fees are independently verified by PermitBase against each department’s own published schedule (see the confidence badge and source link on each fee). A jurisdiction shown as “no data reported” did not report to the Census Bureau for that period — that is never the same as zero activity.

Frequently asked questions

Why don't you rank cities by permit cost?: Permit fees aren't measured the same way from city to city — one jurisdiction charges a flat fee, another prices on a sliding scale tied to construction valuation, another per square foot, another as a percentage of the building permit fee. Sorting those numbers together and calling the smallest one "cheapest" would compare figures that don't measure the same thing, which is a misleading metric dressed up as a ranking. So this page ranks only what's genuinely comparable across cities — Census building-activity units — and shows each city's own published fee next to it, verbatim, for reference only.
What does the growth percentage measure?: Year-over-year change in trailing-12-month housing units authorized for new privately-owned residential construction, per the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey. It only appears when both the current and prior 12-month windows were fully reported and the prior-year total meets a minimum reporting floor — otherwise a percentage would be either impossible to compute or too volatile to be meaningful.
What does the dagger (†) next to a fee mean?: It marks a fee that's a starting tier from a valuation-based or sliding-scale schedule, not a flat final total. Open the city's permit page for the complete fee table.
Why do some cities show “no data reported” instead of a number?: That jurisdiction didn't report to the Census Bureau for that period. We show it as unreported, never as zero — assuming zero activity for a non-reporting jurisdiction would be inventing a data point that doesn't exist.

See full New Mexico building-activity detail →·Look up a specific New Mexico permit fee →

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The New Mexico Growth & Permit Costs Report: one email a month when fresh Census data lands — fastest-growing New Mexico cities by trailing-12-month building activity, each paired with its own published residential permit fee. New privately-owned residential construction only.

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