Washington building permits issued
Monthly permits for new privately-owned residential construction in the Washington jurisdictions PermitBase covers — housing units authorized, buildings, and construction valuation. This is Census survey data on new-home construction, not total permit volume (commercial permits and remodels are not counted).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS) · data through 2026-07
State summary
State building-activity summary
- Latest month (2026-07)
- 1,316 units
- Year to date
- 8,888 units
- Coverage
- 30 jurisdictions
$304.7M valuation latest month · $1,941.4M valuation year to date · 22 of 30 jurisdictions reported the latest month. Sum of covered PermitBase jurisdictions only (not a full-state total). County-level jurisdictions overlapping covered cities are excluded to avoid double counting. Non-reporting jurisdictions are omitted from sums, never zero-filled.
Monthly trend
Units authorized per month across the jurisdictions PermitBase covers. Months reported by only some offices are marked, because a partially-reported month is not a quieter month.
Permits by jurisdiction
Housing units authorized for new residential construction. Ranked by trailing-12-month units; jurisdictions that did not report to the Census Bureau show “no data reported” — never assumed to be zero.
| # | Jurisdiction | Latest month units | Trailing 12 mo units | YTD units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle | 327 | 4,827 | 2,112 |
| 2 | Bellevue | 335 | 1,767 | 1,397 |
| 3 | Vancouver | 237 | 1,298 | 1,090 |
| 4 | Tacoma | 33 | 1,272 | 816 |
| 5 | Spokane | 204 | 927 | 693 |
| 6 | Bellingham | 39 | 621 | 304 |
| 7 | Spokane Valley | no data reported | 462(11 mo) | 412 |
| 8 | Stanwood | 2 | 403 | 360 |
| 9 | Port Orchard | 45 | 373(11 mo) | 173 |
| 10 | Kennewick | 39 | 306(8 mo) | 386 |
| 11 | Yakima | 14 | 256 | 139 |
| 12 | Camas | 5 | 143 | 85 |
| 13 | Bremerton | 5 | 85 | 70 |
| 14 | Renton | 1 | 79 | 63 |
| 15 | Bainbridge Island | 13 | 72 | 40 |
| 16 | Federal Way | 10 | 69(9 mo) | 49 |
| 17 | Lynden | 2 | 69 | 54 |
| 18 | Mount Vernon | 3 | 61 | 20 |
| 19 | Kent | no data reported | 51(7 mo) | 54 |
| 20 | Airway Heights | 0 | 38(11 mo) | 30 |
| 21 | Everett | no data reported | 22(3 mo) | 309 |
| 22 | Ferndale | no data reported | 17(7 mo) | 36 |
| 23 | Sequim | no data reported | 17(6 mo) | 34 |
| 24 | Oak Harbor | 1 | 14(9 mo) | 112 |
| 25 | North Bend | 1 | 13(9 mo) | 4 |
| 26 | Tukwila | no data reported | 11(8 mo) | 18 |
| 27 | Snohomish | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| 28 | Clarkston | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| — | Kirkland | no data reported | no data reported | no data reported |
| — | Snoqualmie | no data reported | no data reported | 16 |
County-wide rows join the Census county file and include every permit office in that county (incorporated cities included); their published estimates may include Census imputation for non-reporting offices. Every figure on this page traces to a specific Census BPS source file — see the PermitBase activity dataset manifest.
Get this as a monthly email
The Building Activity Report: one email a month when fresh Census data lands — top-growth cities, state totals, and notable multifamily projects. New privately-owned residential construction only.
We only use your email to send permit updates. No spam, unsubscribe anytime. Privacy.