Home Permit Activity Report for 15 US Cities

We counted roofing, HVAC, solar, fence and deck permits issued between October 30, 2025 and October 30, 2026 in the cities where we have verified the permit rules: 111,056 permits in total. Here is what the data shows.

Busiest Cities

CityPermits (tracked projects)
Los Angeles Building Permits30,774
New York Building Permits16,600
Seattle Building Permits13,214
Baltimore Building Permits7,716
Orlando Building Permits7,474
Chicago Building Permits7,366
Philadelphia Building Permits5,755
New Orleans Building Permits4,713
San Francisco Building Permits4,638
Austin Building Permits4,425
Kansas City Building Permits2,914
Cincinnati Building Permits1,798
Nashville Building Permits1,589
Pittsburgh Building Permits1,241
Raleigh Building Permits839

Counts reflect only project types with a published page in each city, so cities with fewer verified projects show lower totals.

Which Projects Generate the Most Permits

ProjectCitiesPermitsBusiest city
Roofing1339,869Los Angeles (14,845)
HVAC1553,985Los Angeles (15,929)
Solar88,922New York (5,493)
Fence113,487Chicago (1,209)
Deck114,793Chicago (1,350)

Seasonality

Across all tracked projects, the busiest month was Jul 2026 with 10,256 permits. The current month is incomplete and always reads low.

How Long Permits Take

Where cities publish both application and issue dates, the median wait ranged from 0 days (Seattle hvac) to 268 days (New York roofing).

City and projectMedian days, application to issue
Seattle HVAC0
San Francisco Roofing0
Orlando Roofing1
Orlando HVAC1
Chicago Roofing2
Chicago Fence2
Kansas City HVAC2
New York Solar5
Austin HVAC5
San Francisco Deck5
New Orleans HVAC5
Cincinnati HVAC5
Seattle Deck7
Austin Solar9
San Francisco HVAC9
Chicago Solar10
Kansas City Deck10
Raleigh Solar11
New Orleans Roofing11
Chicago Deck13
Nashville Deck13
Orlando Solar14
Nashville HVAC14
Nashville Fence19
San Francisco Fence21
Orlando Fence22
Raleigh Deck24
New Orleans Solar25
Raleigh Roofing26
Nashville Roofing27
Austin Roofing28
Raleigh HVAC30
Chicago HVAC37
New Orleans Deck39
Seattle Roofing40
Raleigh Fence41
San Francisco Solar41
Los Angeles Roofing49
New York HVAC51
New Orleans Fence52
Seattle Fence54
Austin Fence94
Austin Deck104
Los Angeles HVAC147
New York Roofing268

Method

Permits are matched to projects by permit type and description keywords, so counts are approximate. Full details: Data Sources and Methodology.

Written and maintained by the Home Permit Guide Editorial TeamPlaceholder profile

Last updated

This is a placeholder editorial profile. A named reviewer with verifiable experience will be added here. Until then, every rule on this page links to the official government source it was checked against. Read our editorial policy.

Sources

Official sources checked on . Rules change; confirm with the department before you start work.

  1. Chicago Building Permits (data.cityofchicago.org)
  2. DOB NOW: Build – Approved Permits (data.cityofnewyork.us)
  3. LADBS Building Permits Issued 2020–Present (data.lacity.org)
  4. Austin Issued Construction Permits (data.austintexas.gov)
  5. Seattle Building Permits (cos-data.seattle.gov)
  6. Orlando Permit Applications (data.cityoforlando.net)
  7. Philadelphia L&I Permits (Carto) (opendataphilly.org)
  8. Open Baltimore: DHCD Permits (baltegis.baltimorecity.gov)
  9. Metro Nashville Building Permits Issued (data.nashville.gov)
  10. Raleigh Building Permits (data-ral.opendata.arcgis.com)
  11. DataSF: Building Permits (data.sfgov.org)
  12. NOLA Permits (data.nola.gov)
  13. WPRDC: PLI Permits (data.wprdc.org)
  14. Cincinnati Building Permits (data.cincinnati-oh.gov)
  15. KCMO Permits (CPD) (data.kcmo.org)