Prairie State Wire

Single-family building permits issued in Illinois since 2010 amounted to eight per 100,000 residents, a pace that ranks 48th among the 50 states, according to a new analysis published by the Illinois Policy Institute.

The state’s rate of issuing home-building permits was adjusted for population to create a ranking showing that only Connecticut and New York had a lower home-construction pace than Illinois, according to the institute.

Using U.S. Census Bureau data, the study tracked home permits issued since the Great Recession. Illinois approved 102,010 single-family home permits over the decade-long time period, according to the institute.

Before the Great Recession, Illinois issued about 40,000 permits for single-family homes per year, but in the decade that followed, the state average was less than a quarter of that number, researchers said.

Since home construction bottomed out before 2010, Illinois’ new home-building permits rose only 17%, which is the eighth slowest recovery pace in the nation, according to Illinois Policy. 

Similarly, the number of single-family homes built in Chicago per 1,000 residents was less than nearly all of the nation’s 10 largest cities, with the exception of Los Angeles and New York, researchers said.

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Home-Building Pace Among the States, 2010-2020

Rank	State	Single-Family Building Permits per 1,000 Residents
1	Idaho	54.5
2	South Carolina	52.4
3	Delaware	50.8
4	Utah	49.5
5	North Dakota	46.1
6	North Carolina	44.0
7	Texas	41.9
8	South Dakota	37.6
9	Nevada	37.5
10	Colorado	37.4
11	Florida	36.7
12	Arizona	36.7
13	Tennessee	35.7
14	Georgia	33.1
15	Wyoming	30.5
16	Louisiana	29.9
17	Washington	29.9
18	Nebraska	28.0
19	Oklahoma	26.8
20	Montana	26.7
21	Virginia	26.3
22	Iowa	26.0
23	Alabama	25.8
24	Maine	25.6
25	Oregon	24.5
26	Arkansas	23.5
27	Minnesota	22.4
28	Indiana	22.3
29	Mississippi	20.9
30	New Mexico	20.7
31	Maryland	20.1
32	New Hampshire	19.2
33	Kansas	18.7
34	Wisconsin	18.7
35	Missouri	18.1
36	Hawaii	17.2
37	Vermont	17.2
38	Kentucky	16.8
39	Michigan	14.2
40	Alaska	14.1
41	Pennsylvania	13.1
42	Ohio	13.1
43	West Virginia	12.6
44	California	12.4
45	New Jersey	12.1
46	Massachusetts	10.8
47	Rhode Island	8.7
48	Illinois	8.0
49	Connecticut	7.7
50	New York	5.5

Source: Illinois Policy Institute