Performance-based design using nonlinear pushover analysis, which generally involves tedious and intensive computational effort, is a highly iterative process needed to meet designer-specified and code requirements. This paper presents an effective computer-based technique that incorporates pushover analysis together with numerical optimization procedures to automate the pushover drift performance design of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. Steel reinforcement, as compared with concrete materials, appears to be the more cost-effective material, that can be effectively used to control drift beyond the occurrence of first yielding and to provide the required ductility of RC building frameworks. In this study, steel reinforcement ratios are taken as design variables during the design optimization process. Using the principle of virtual work, the nonlinear inelastic seismic drift responses generated by the pushover analysis can be explicitly expressed in terms of element design variables. An optimality criteria technique is presented in this paper for solving the explicit performance-based seismic design optimization problem for RC buildings. Two building frame examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed optimal design method.