When Was America Built?
Watch construction patterns sweep across the US decade by decade. 43% of homes were built 1970-2000.
What the data shows
The earliest construction clusters around the original 13 colonies and major port cities. By the 1920s, the railroads have opened up the Midwest. The post-war boom of the 1950s and 60s creates the first ring of suburbs around every major metro. The interstate highway system in the 1970s and 80s pushes development further out, creating the sprawl patterns still visible today.
The Sun Belt explosion — Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Dallas — dominates the 1990s through 2000s. The 2008 crisis shows up as a visible gap in construction before building resumes in the 2010s, concentrated in high-growth metros.