Methodology
How we score 500 US cities and all 50 states on approval processing speed, regulatory friction, and bureaucratic efficiency.
Summary
A composite of approval speed, tags, growth, and reporting coverage, scored 0–100 with peer-tier comparisons by population.
Overview
How it works
The US Building & Construction Index scores 500 cities by combining four signals into a single 0–100 composite. Speed and Tags account for the majority of the weight because approval throughput and approval-quality outcomes are the most direct measures of bureaucratic efficiency.
Cities are compared within population tiers (<50k, 50–100k, 100–250k, 250–500k, 500k+) so that scale does not drive rank — a small city with fast approvals is not penalized for being smaller than a peer.
State-level rankings aggregate independent regulatory and policy dimensions — fiscal policy, land use, labor, growth, affordability, infrastructure, cost of business, business-friendliness, and a construction-approval metric — into a composite RTI rank.
Indicators
Indicators
Approval Speed
How quickly approvals clear review vs. peers. 0–100%.
Tags
Approval quality signal derived from outcomes and complexity indicators.
Growth
Population growth momentum.
Reporting Coverage
How fully the city discloses approval data.
Fiscal
Tax and fiscal policy competitiveness (state level).
Land Use
Zoning and development regulation (state level).
Labor
Labor market conditions (state level).
Affordability
Housing and cost-of-living affordability (state level).
Infrastructure
Roads, transit, and utilities quality (state level).
Cost of Business
Operating cost burden (state level).
Business Friendliness
Pro-business regulatory climate (state level).
Caveats
Known limitations
- 01City scores are within-tier comparable; cross-tier comparisons should consider the population tier label.
- 02State approval metrics use a different scale than city rankings and should not be directly compared as ranks.