How long do building permits take in each San Francisco neighborhood?

In San Francisco, of the 18,935 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 0 days, the same as a year earlier. Of the 17,290 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 98 days of being issued, down from 123 days the year before. The city as a whole.

From the city’s permit records, by the quarter each permit was filed. Data as of 8 October 2026. Each neighborhood’s page has the quarter-by-quarter record, a chart to embed and downloads. How this is calculated.

Rank byFastest to issueFastest issue to final Most permits issued Name

Neighborhood	Permits issued filed October 2025 through September 2026	Median days to issue	A year earlier	Reached final filed October 2023 through September 2024	Median days issue to final	The year before	Never finaled since 2000
San Francisco (all)	18,935	0	0	17,290	98	123	26%
Bayview Hunters Point	477	0	4	595	127	84	21%
Bernal Heights	627	0	0	589	94	94	25%
Castro/Upper Market	692	0	0	621	103	132	29%
Excelsior	416	0	0	502	68	98	24%
Glen Park	274	0	0	274	78	137	22%
Haight Ashbury	403	0	0	405	100	129	33%
Hayes Valley	345	0	1	307	90	124	33%
Inner Richmond	487	0	0	462	84	113	30%
Inner Sunset	685	0	0	621	110	117	27%
Lone Mountain/USF	308	0	0	264	92	133	28%
Marina	704	0	0	674	116	140	29%
Mission	1,053	0	0	862	92	109	31%
Nob Hill	459	0	0	400	112	158	35%
Noe Valley	778	0	0	680	98	141	27%
Oceanview/Merced/Ingleside	345	0	0	357	69	112	21%
Outer Mission	296	0	0	272	74	121	22%
Outer Richmond	916	0	0	867	103	124	26%
Pacific Heights	678	0	0	609	106	127	32%
Portola	209	0	0	213	63	98	24%
Presidio	10	0		4			32%
Presidio Heights	387	0	0	297	109	182	31%
Russian Hill	433	0	0	408	104	142	32%
Seacliff	125	0	0	128	172	151	23%
Sunset/Parkside	1,493	0	0	1,560	84	108	23%
Twin Peaks	202	0	0	211	102	118	21%
Visitacion Valley	167	0	0	146	70	99	23%
West of Twin Peaks	1,283	0	0	1,233	99	131	20%
Western Addition	300	0	0	232	102	98	28%
North Beach	321	1	1	229	106	137	30%
Potrero Hill	417	1	0	323	107	137	26%
Tenderloin	219	1	2	239	90	147	31%
South of Market	420	2	6	362	137	147	28%
Chinatown	329	5	5	375	101	152	27%
Financial District/South Beach	2,182	6	3	1,631	99	107	19%
Japantown	95	8	8	63	91	100	29%
Mission Bay	205	9	6	166	139	132	23%
Treasure Island	23	19	26	20	206	270	31%
Lakeshore	165	28	8	61	95	88	27%
Golden Gate Park	1		11	10	40		31%
Lincoln Park	2		0	3			18%
McLaren Park	3		3	10	127	86	23%

A blank median means fewer than 5 permits in the window. “Reached final” counts the permits filed in those quarters that have a final sign-off; the median is measured from the day the permit was issued. 798 of 801,386 permits since 2000 name no neighborhood and are in the city row only.

How this is calculated

Approved means the city issued the permit; the first stage counts days from filing to issue over the permits filed in the last four complete quarters, against the four before them. Final sign-off means the city’s own status is “complete”; the second stage counts days from issue to completion over permits filed in the last four quarters that ended two or more years ago, so that most have had time to finish. Inspection records are not yet included. A median needs at least 5 permits. Never finaled is no final sign-off three years after issue (or filing, if never issued), for a permit not expired, cancelled, withdrawn, revoked, disapproved, denied or suspended; those permits are in the counts and not in the medians, which therefore understate the real wait. A permit’s neighborhood is the Analysis Neighborhood the city writes on it. Each neighborhood’s page carries the full note. How to read these records.