This is a paid piece from the Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

Simplified: Sioux Falls surpassed $1 billion in building permits for the first time in the city's history. And the record-setting growth isn't limited to Sioux Falls. Metro-area communities also saw tens of millions in building permit valuation in 2021.

Why it matters

  • More building permits equals growth, obviously. But the permits also give us a more specific look at how communities are growing, including where they're adding homes and businesses.
  • It's no secret that the metro area is growing beyond Sioux Falls. Earlier this year, a look at census data showed that about 20 percent of new people coming to Lincoln and Minnehaha Counties since 2010 moved to areas outside city limits.
  • The metro area building permits also show a sign of economic development successes both in individual communities and overall with the help of the Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.
"We're bringing new people and businesses to the metro area," said Jesse Fonkert, president and CEO of the alliance. "These numbers confirm what we already know about the tremendous growth happening around Sioux Falls."

Let's look closer at some individual communities

Record-setting growth was the theme across the board for 2021. Here's a closer look at the data compiled by the Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

In Harrisburg, the city saw more than $77.3 million in building permits through the end of November, a 56 percent increase from 2020, and more than double the value of permits issued in 2019.

  • That growth is strong on both the commercial and residential side, with about $20 million in commercial growth.
  • The $57 million in residential growth was split between about 40 percent for multi-family homes and 60 percent for single-family homes.

Tea also saw record growth, with $44.3 million in permits through the end of November.

  • The majority of that growth was residential – $30.5 million – with the rest split between commercial and industrial

Brandon also had a strong growth year with more than $33.5 million in building permit valuations through November. Most of this growth was residential.

Hartford surpassed $7.9 million in building permit valuation this year.

Lennox added permits for more than a dozen homes in 2021, and their total permit valuation was around $3.5 million through the end of November.

Baltic also saw strong residential growth with permits for 18 new homes, with a total year-to-date permit valuation of about $6 million. About $200,000 of that was commercial growth.

Crooks surpassed $13.8 million, with a large percentage of that (more than $7 million) due to a new Tri-Valley school planned for the town.

What happens next?

All signs point to continued growth in 2022. What remains to be seen is the rate at which that growth happens.