LEED is the U.S. Green Building Council’s certification system measuring sustainability in construction. Two Bay Area cities were named among the top ten U.S. cities when it came to large residential LEED projects. 

Per ABODO, via Builder Online, California as a state had around 5,255 LEED-certified spaces and projects in 2017.

In terms of residential projects, San Francisco came in third place overall, though the study grouped together San Francisco, Oakland, and Hayward — all of which had an average square footage of 122,096 for their LEED projects this year. 

San Francisco alone exceeded the state’s average square footage for LEED projects, with the city coming in at 77,000 square feet while the state average was 45,000. 

Just behind San Francisco was San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara — all grouped together to average 107,198 square feet of LEED projects. 

The Bay Area is also poised to overtake Texas, which currently takes the lead of most LEED-certified residential projects out of any state, and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area boasts the most LEED-certified projects at the city level. Texas has 6,945 LEED-certified residential projects while California boasts 5,255, which includes 2,251 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim. Washington, D.C., however, is distinguished as the nation’s “LEED-certified construction capital” for both residential and commercial construction, holding 183,363,548 residential and 310,943,355 commercial sustainable square feet.