U.S. Code Violation Report 2026: The Cities Filing the Most Property Violations
ViolationNet analyzed 505,175 building and housing code violations across 66 U.S. cities in 25 states — the most current snapshot available of how American cities enforce property maintenance, safety, and zoning rules. This report shares the headline findings: which cities file the most violations, what they cite property owners for most often, and what it means if you own or manage real estate in 2026.
All figures are drawn from official municipal and county code-enforcement records aggregated by ViolationNet. See Data Sources & Methodology for how the data is collected.
Key findings
- 505,175 active code-violation records are tracked across the 66 cities in this dataset, spanning 25 states.
- About 1 in 5 violations (21.5%, ~108,800 records) are currently open — meaning the underlying issue has not yet been resolved or closed out by the city.
- New York City files more code violations than any other city by a wide margin — over 123,000 records, more than the next five cities combined.
- Overgrowth and trash are the most common violations nationally. Outside of NYC's bedbug-reporting filings, the single largest categories are tall grass/weeds/overgrowth and improper trash storage and litter.
- Vacant and neglected property is a recurring enforcement theme, with thousands of "vacant housing" and "property abatement" violations across cities.
The 15 cities filing the most code violations
| Rank | City | Code violations on record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City, NY | 123,421 |
| 2 | Philadelphia, PA | 20,474 |
| 3 | New Orleans, LA | 18,302 |
| 4 | San Antonio, TX | 17,728 |
| 5 | Louisville, KY | 15,592 |
| 6 | Columbus, OH | 13,657 |
| 7 | Sacramento, CA | 13,100 |
| 8 | Charlotte, NC | 12,252 |
| 9 | Montgomery, AL | 11,854 |
| 10 | Scottsdale, AZ | 11,184 |
| 11 | Chicago, IL | 10,937 |
| 12 | Boston, MA | 10,841 |
| 13 | Fort Worth, TX | 9,870 |
| 14 | Cape Coral, FL | 9,679 |
| 15 | Anaheim, CA | 9,647 |
New York City's total reflects both the size of its housing stock and the breadth of what its Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) records — including a very large volume of annual bedbug-report filings that other cities don't track the same way. Philadelphia, New Orleans, and San Antonio round out the cities with the deepest violation records.
What property owners get cited for most
Setting aside NYC's bedbug-report filings (a city-specific administrative requirement), the most common violations nationally fall into a handful of clear categories:
- Overgrowth — weeds, tall grass, and unmaintained lots. Combined, "weeds," "tall grass," "exterior area weeds," and similar citations are the single largest real-world category, with well over 14,000 records. It is the most common avoidable violation in America.
- Trash, litter, and improper storage. "Improper storage of trash," "litter," and large-item dumping account for tens of thousands of records.
- General property condition and maintenance. Broad "general condition" and maintenance citations are consistently among the top issues city to city.
- Vacant and abandoned property. "Vacant housing" and "property abatement" violations show up across markets. They are agency-published categories worth verifying with the issuing source; a record alone does not establish a property's condition, an owner's finances, or an intent to sell.
The takeaway for owners: the most common violations are also the most preventable. Routine lawn care, trash management, and basic exterior upkeep would clear the majority of the citations cities issue.
Why this matters for landlords and investors
Code-enforcement records can be useful due-diligence context because they document an agency-published case and its date. Whether a case affects value, a sale, financing, insurance, or an obligation depends on the property, the parties, the agency's current status, and local rules. Confirm a material record directly with the issuing agency and the appropriate professional.
Published status and timing vary by agency. Monitoring can help a property team notice newly collected matching records, then check the source record before deciding what follow-up is appropriate.
How to check any property
You can look up the code-violation history of an address in a covered city for free with ViolationNet's address lookup, or browse public records for supported cities from our cities directory. Property owners and managers can set up monitoring to receive source-backed updates after matching records are collected; timing follows the publishing source and the account's alert settings.
Methodology
This report is based on 505,175 building and housing code-violation records aggregated by ViolationNet from official municipal and county code-enforcement sources across 66 U.S. cities, current as of June 2026. Counts reflect what each jurisdiction publishes; cities differ in how much data and history they expose, so totals are best read as a measure of recorded enforcement activity, not a per-capita violation rate. Full details on sourcing, update cadence, and limitations are on our Data Sources & Methodology page.
Journalists and researchers: you're welcome to cite this report with a link to ViolationNet. For custom city or state breakdowns, contact us.