Responsible Residential Development: An Overview of Tyler, Texas's Residential Building Permits

Residential housing is an important indicator of economic well-being, and informed residential development can prevent condensed pockets of impoverished or underserved communities. For Tyler, Texas, the divide in housing can be difficult to analyze, so this study aims to quantify the most recent residential development happening in Tyler. The goal of this study is to identify if there are concentrated areas of high- or low-end housing as well as if there are areas being developed over others. To accomplish this, the study examines the residential building permits issued in Tyler from 2017-2019, which include the permit location and the value of the property being built. The permit locations are plotted on an interactive map, and the pinpoints are color-categorized by the value of the property. Location is evaluated by zip code, and property value is categorized in groups, such as $100,000-$200,000 or $300,000-$500,000. After plotting the residential permits, the statistical evidence suggests that most of Tyler's new high-end housing is in the 75703 area while most of the new low-end housing is in the 75701 and 75702 area. In addition to having the majority of the high-end housing, the 75703 area also has significantly more permits issued. While these findings do not account for preexisting properties nor for the race, gender, education, or income of a property's homeowner, these observations can be focal when considering future residential development goals in Tyler.