How long do building permits take in San Francisco's Excelsior neighborhood?

In the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 416 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 502 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 68 days of being issued, down from 98 days the year before.

From the city’s permit records, by the quarter each permit was filed. Data as of 8 October 2026. How to cite this · How this is calculated

How long until a permit is issued, and until final sign-off?

This chart as an image (SVG), with its title, source and date, free to embed under CC BY 4.0.

At a glance

Stage	Permits filed	Permits counted	Median days	Counted a year earlier	Median a year earlier
Filed to permit issued	October 2025 through September 2026	416 issued	0	616 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	502 finished	68	386 finished	98

“Counted” is the permits the median was taken over: those filed in the window that have been issued, or that have reached final sign-off. The first stage covers the last four complete quarters, since most permits are issued within the year. The second covers the last four quarters that ended two or more years ago, so that most of their permits have had time to finish. Citywide, the median was 0 days to issue and 98 days from issue to final over the same quarters.

Every quarter since 2000

Quarter filed	Filed	Issued	Median days to issue	Slowest 10%	Reached final	Median days issue to final	Slowest 10%	Never finaled	Settled
2026-Q4	6	0			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	106	73	0	21	13	21	77	0	too recent
2026-Q2	137	110	0	24	65	28	106	0	too recent
2026-Q1	115	102	0	56	54	50	121	0	too recent
2025-Q4	152	131	0	81	98	66	217	0	too recent
2025-Q3	178	171	0	84	129	54	272	0	too recent
2025-Q2	152	141	0	25	104	56	276	0	too recent
2025-Q1	143	136	0	38	107	46	253	0	too recent
2024-Q4	176	168	0	34	130	93	349	0	too recent
2024-Q3	184	178	0	30	140	57	333	0	yes
2024-Q2	168	161	0	17	129	56	279	0	yes
2024-Q1	132	126	0	10	110	69	355	0	yes
2023-Q4	167	157	0	22	123	119	350	6	yes
2023-Q3	166	155	0	42	111	86	321	38	yes
2023-Q2	164	151	0	45	111	85	334	41	yes
2023-Q1	112	99	0	49	74	108	345	27	yes
2022-Q4	132	121	0	224	90	136	417	32	yes
2022-Q3	106	100	0	73	69	140	427	29	yes
2022-Q2	116	102	0	105	75	84	388	22	yes
2022-Q1	139	127	0	71	97	139	501	33	yes
2021-Q4	121	113	0	162	87	148	498	25	yes
2021-Q3	124	114	0	43	83	98	482	30	yes
2021-Q2	107	94	0	266	65	119	426	28	yes
2021-Q1	109	103	0	131	75	109	512	29	yes
2020-Q4	148	140	0	178	110	92	461	29	yes
2020-Q3	122	101	3	88	76	126	485	32	yes
2020-Q2	60	53	4	70	30	77	366	23	yes
2020-Q1	126	123	0	273	81	113	569	36	yes
2019-Q4	194	182	0	114	115	145	683	64	yes
2019-Q3	180	171	0	35	97	107	588	69	yes
2019-Q2	174	157	0	114	109	126	552	48	yes
2019-Q1	152	140	0	20	102	104	482	39	yes
2018-Q4	198	182	0	26	108	146	397	72	yes
2018-Q3	187	169	0	178	107	133	740	56	yes
2018-Q2	207	196	0	24	111	97	461	72	yes
2018-Q1	140	132	0	32	89	99	379	45	yes
2017-Q4	162	155	0	21	96	132	565	57	yes
2017-Q3	176	169	0	61	119	84	521	44	yes
2017-Q2	169	159	0	48	108	118	471	48	yes
2017-Q1	115	110	0	29	80	84	369	32	yes
2016-Q4	143	135	0	55	80	110	434	49	yes
2016-Q3	168	160	0	25	101	69	371	51	yes
2016-Q2	122	118	0	45	70	113	330	40	yes
2016-Q1	140	134	0	182	90	82	568	43	yes
2015-Q4	155	151	0	20	74	127	382	62	yes
2015-Q3	176	171	0	38	110	92	520	58	yes
2015-Q2	154	141	0	22	87	82	609	52	yes
2015-Q1	133	129	0	84	80	106	753	38	yes
2014-Q4	155	150	0	57	95	115	428	45	yes
2014-Q3	159	151	0	30	97	97	375	45	yes
2014-Q2	131	125	0	11	81	77	314	41	yes
2014-Q1	132	128	0	23	80	114	452	42	yes
2013-Q4	128	125	0	113	70	99	319	45	yes
2013-Q3	138	136	0	23	77	114	379	54	yes
2013-Q2	140	137	0	13	85	88	343	42	yes
2013-Q1	131	125	0	37	84	64	322	39	yes
2012-Q4	119	112	0	9	74	60	314	35	yes
2012-Q3	153	149	0	13	103	83	329	38	yes
2012-Q2	160	153	0	13	111	62	365	35	yes
2012-Q1	113	106	0	14	75	50	224	29	yes
2011-Q4	118	114	0	4	83	73	326	22	yes
2011-Q3	115	106	0	6	81	66	248	26	yes
2011-Q2	138	133	0	11	84	76	356	42	yes
2011-Q1	119	112	0	8	82	75	220	29	yes
2010-Q4	137	132	0	11	87	77	383	39	yes
2010-Q3	159	156	0	30	112	64	350	39	yes
2010-Q2	171	168	0	6	91	75	284	71	yes
2010-Q1	185	178	0	1	73	42	187	99	yes
2009-Q4	223	216	0	4	140	54	326	73	yes
2009-Q3	171	167	0	6	94	80	290	65	yes
2009-Q2	166	159	0	8	93	57	324	51	yes
2009-Q1	140	137	0	6	72	61	364	54	yes
2008-Q4	140	136	0	5	77	93	339	54	yes
2008-Q3	176	173	0	5	102	72	347	63	yes
2008-Q2	159	156	0	2	85	68	244	61	yes
2008-Q1	128	122	0	2	64	80	253	47	yes
2007-Q4	200	194	0	4	104	98	443	78	yes
2007-Q3	182	179	0	2	89	84	268	70	yes
2007-Q2	175	170	0	1	97	64	232	50	yes
2007-Q1	167	164	0	0	104	62	258	26	yes
2006-Q4	152	150	0	0	81	66	287	47	yes
2006-Q3	182	176	0	0	95	68	226	41	yes
2006-Q2	216	214	0	0	108	104	317	78	yes
2006-Q1	157	153	0	0	85	70	302	30	yes
2005-Q4	182	179	0	0	94	88	224	48	yes
2005-Q3	202	195	0	0	106	94	292	48	yes
2005-Q2	181	180	0	0	95	56	335	57	yes
2005-Q1	169	166	0	0	90	95	276	54	yes
2004-Q4	172	168	0	0	84	84	313	47	yes
2004-Q3	205	202	0	55	110	64	305	56	yes
2004-Q2	185	182	0	54	115	82	355	36	yes
2004-Q1	207	203	0	49	114	83	349	69	yes
2003-Q4	187	182	0	26	99	64	375	52	yes
2003-Q3	230	225	0	3	125	109	316	76	yes
2003-Q2	187	185	0	0	93	107	312	59	yes
2003-Q1	184	173	0	132	111	84	396	38	yes
2002-Q4	162	159	0	26	88	106	346	49	yes
2002-Q3	224	218	0	243	134	82	319	55	yes
2002-Q2	205	202	0	1	129	98	338	15	yes
2002-Q1	183	178	0	57	109	104	342	1	yes
2001-Q4	206	199	0	22	106	88	338	2	yes
2001-Q3	187	181	0	1	116	90	376	0	yes
2001-Q2	166	163	0	138	92	122	449	3	yes
2001-Q1	154	151	0	62	80	92	478	1	yes
2000-Q4	174	168	0	20	98	89	352	1	yes
2000-Q3	178	174	0	34	79	85	322	0	yes
2000-Q2	191	187	0	36	99	111	443	3	yes
2000-Q1	157	152	0	38	55	120	475	2	yes

A blank median means fewer than 5 permits behind it: issued permits for the first stage, and for the second, finished permits whose final is dated after their issue (a permit never issued has no span). “Slowest 10%” is the 90th percentile: one permit in ten took at least this long. Download the table as CSV or JSON; both carry the source, license and data date.

What the numbers leave out

4,016 of the 16,926 building permits filed since 2000 (24%) have no final sign-off 3 years after they were issued or, if never issued, filed. A median over finished permits understates the real wait: the permits that never finish are not in it. Citywide, 798 of 801,386 permits since 2000 (0%) name no neighborhood and count in the city's figures only. Inspection records are not yet included: “final sign-off” is the city’s own completion date on the permit.

Project types in San Francisco's Excelsior neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (2,869 filed, 2,106 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (1,940 filed, 1,370 finished; contractors); stairs (1,120 filed, 785 finished; contractors); deck (780 filed, 535 finished; contractors). Other types: 12,100 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Outer Mission, McLaren Park, Glen Park; all of San Francisco; every neighborhood compared.

How this is calculated

Approved means the city issued the permit: the permit’s issue date. The first stage counts days from the filing date to the issue date, over permits issued on or after they were filed. Final sign-off means the city’s own status for the permit is “complete”, with its completion date; this site does not yet read inspection records, so the inspection date is not a separate stage. The second stage counts days from the issue date to the completion date, over permits that have reached it.

Permits are grouped by the quarter they were filed. A quarter’s median counts only its permits that have finished the stage, so recent quarters look faster than they will end up: their slow permits have not finished yet. Quarters that ended two or more years ago are marked settled; the rest are shaded in the chart. The headline’s first stage uses the last four complete quarters; its second uses the last four settled quarters.

The median is the middle permit: half took less, half more. The slowest 10% is the 90th percentile. A median needs at least 5 permits behind it, or it is left out. A project type is shown apart within a neighborhood only when it has 30 or more finished permits there; the rest are “other types”.

Never finaled means no final sign-off three years after the permit was issued (or filed, if never issued), and not expired, cancelled, withdrawn, revoked, disapproved, denied or suspended (the site’s “expired or cancelled” outcome). About a quarter of permits citywide end this way; often the work was done and nobody called for the final inspection. These permits are in the counts and not in the medians.

A permit’s neighborhood is the Analysis Neighborhood the city writes on the permit record (the official set of 41). Permits with none are counted citywide only; the page says how many. “Nearby” neighborhoods are the three nearest by the center of their permits. The site reloads the city’s data every night; permits filed since 1 January 2000 are included. The placement of a permit, its dates and its status are the city’s; the grouping and the words are this site’s. How to read these records.