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.
The state view in this index now details permitting and approval performance from statewide permit records, published as 0-100 scores for commercial approvals, residential approvals, and approval quality (tags), alongside the resulting permitting rank. Underlying processing durations and record volumes are part of the proprietary dataset and are not published. The general state composite, combining fiscal policy, land use, labor, growth, affordability, infrastructure, cost of business, and business-friendliness, moved to the Red Tape 50 index on July 10, 2026; no data was removed and every previously published value remains available there.
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.
Approval metric (state)
State-level permitting performance scored from commercial and residential approval processing and a weighted tags signal over statewide permit records, published as 0-100 scores plus a composite Approval metric (lower = faster; not a 1-50 rank and not on the same scale as the city Speed score).
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.