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Washington · Permit Data

Seattle Building Permits

Data updated October 30, 2026. Newest permit in the feed: October 28, 2026. Source: Seattle Open Data: Building Permits.

By the Home Permit Guide Editorial Team 3 official sources

Reviewed by Carlos Aldaba, CBO, Certified Building Official (ICC), Building Code & Permitting Consultant ·

How to Look Up a Permit
Issued in October 2026 to date
490
Issued in the last 30 days
527
Median days, application to issue
53

These figures cover every permit in Seattle Open Data: Building Permits, not only home projects. The last 30 days run from September 29, 2026 to October 28, 2026. That is 1% below the average of 530 permits a month over the previous 12 full months.

Top Permit Types in the Last 30 Days

Permit typePermitsShare
Addition/Alteration33964%
New9618%
Demolition326%
Tenant Improvement122%
Temporary41%
Change of Use Only (No Construction)10%

Seattle's figures here cover construction permits from the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI): additions and alterations, new buildings and demolitions. Electrical and other trade permits are published in separate datasets, so 527 permits in the 30 days to October 28, 2026 is lower than the total in other large cities. Additions and alterations made up 339 of them.

Seattle permits take time. The median from application to issue was 53 days, because many projects go through plan review and correction cycles. Contractor names are rarely published, appearing on only 7% of recent records. The busiest ZIP codes in the last 30 days were 98115 (45), 98103 (42) and 98117 (34).

12-Month Permit Trend in Seattle

533 Oct 377 Nov 527 Dec 476 Jan 409 Feb 651 Mar 637 Apr 524 May 589 Jun 566 Jul 561 Aug 507 Sep 490 Oct
Building permits issued per month in Seattle. Lighter bar = current month to date.
MonthPermits issued
October 2025533
November 2025377
December 2025527
January 2026476
February 2026409
March 2026651
April 2026637
May 2026524
June 2026589
July 2026566
August 2026561
September 2026507
October 2026 (to date)490

Over the 12 full months, the busiest was March 2026 with 651 permits and the quietest was November 2025 with 377.

Busiest Areas in the Last 30 Days

ZIP codePermits
9811545
9810342
9811734
9810525
9812225
9819924
9811224
9811821
9810820
9812519

Recent Permits

The 15 most recent permits in the feed. We show the zip code rather than the street address, and never owner names.

IssuedTypeZIP code
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98125
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98101
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98116
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98104
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98103
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98103
2026-10-28New98136
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98105
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98115
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98115
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration—
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98103
2026-10-28New98115
2026-10-28Addition/Alteration98103
2026-10-2798118

How to Look Up a Building Permit in Seattle

  1. Seattle Services Portal: Open the Seattle Services Portal. You do not need to log in to search.
  2. Choose Search All Records and enter the property address or the record number.
  3. Sort the results by clicking a column title, then open a record number.
  4. The record shows the applicant team, the project description, the permit and inspection status, related permits and project documents.
  5. For permits before 2005, use SDCI's Permit and Property Records library, which holds scanned historical permits.

For what a record's fields mean, see How to Read a Building Permit Record. For lookups in other cities, see How to Look Up Building Permits for a House.

Seattle Project Permit Pages

Rules for specific home projects in Seattle, each checked against official city sources:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many building permits does Seattle issue?

Seattle issued 527 permits in the 30 days to October 28, 2026, and an average of 530 a month over the 12 full months before October 2026, according to Seattle Open Data: Building Permits.

How long does it take to get a building permit in Seattle?

For permits issued in the 30 days to October 28, 2026, the median time from application to issue was 53 days. Simple permits are often issued much faster than projects that need full plan review.

How do I look up a building permit in Seattle?

Use the Seattle Services Portal. Choose Search All Records and enter the property address or the record number.

What is the most common permit type in Seattle?

Addition/Alteration, with 339 of the 527 permits issued in the 30 days to October 28, 2026.

Back to Seattle Building Permits for Home Projects.

Sources

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

  1. Seattle Services Portal (linked above) (cosaccela.seattle.gov)
  2. Seattle SDCI: Research a Project, Permit, or Property (seattle.gov)
  3. Seattle Open Data: Building Permits (cos-data.seattle.gov)

Statistics computed by Home Permit Guide from Seattle Open Data: Building Permits, fetched October 30, 2026.