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

In the Marina neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 704 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 674 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 116 days of being issued, down from 140 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	704 issued	0	801 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	674 finished	116	715 finished	140

“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	12	9	0	3	0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	176	136	0	21	27	12	61	0	too recent
2026-Q2	206	187	0	28	83	43	121	0	too recent
2026-Q1	189	176	1	84	98	56	169	0	too recent
2025-Q4	222	205	0	75	146	60	206	0	too recent
2025-Q3	215	200	0	77	139	66	219	0	too recent
2025-Q2	238	228	0	54	161	106	276	0	too recent
2025-Q1	205	193	0	39	136	83	340	0	too recent
2024-Q4	186	180	0	85	137	106	362	0	too recent
2024-Q3	232	216	0	40	173	99	296	0	yes
2024-Q2	242	227	0	59	187	115	374	0	yes
2024-Q1	204	195	0	70	157	134	427	0	yes
2023-Q4	211	202	0	184	157	118	475	2	yes
2023-Q3	229	208	0	76	175	110	549	33	yes
2023-Q2	251	224	1	149	183	131	565	34	yes
2023-Q1	222	196	0	70	171	159	560	27	yes
2022-Q4	248	228	1	148	186	144	522	36	yes
2022-Q3	207	189	0	103	150	118	559	37	yes
2022-Q2	209	185	0	80	133	147	551	56	yes
2022-Q1	193	184	0	133	151	164	480	25	yes
2021-Q4	197	183	0	110	143	151	621	34	yes
2021-Q3	224	207	0	65	156	181	466	51	yes
2021-Q2	207	198	3	157	152	211	696	39	yes
2021-Q1	238	227	3	279	174	170	608	48	yes
2020-Q4	265	245	32	163	188	178	768	59	yes
2020-Q3	287	260	4	150	157	156	791	106	yes
2020-Q2	131	116	5	53	56	110	542	64	yes
2020-Q1	320	287	0	188	154	178	789	131	yes
2019-Q4	364	346	0	48	166	176	750	177	yes
2019-Q3	458	438	0	60	187	140	884	240	yes
2019-Q2	410	389	0	33	183	127	620	209	yes
2019-Q1	370	349	0	33	151	148	699	199	yes
2018-Q4	405	381	0	56	183	146	885	195	yes
2018-Q3	470	444	0	89	231	149	658	210	yes
2018-Q2	446	433	0	55	214	136	783	213	yes
2018-Q1	407	374	0	62	187	118	575	183	yes
2017-Q4	413	395	0	111	194	166	765	198	yes
2017-Q3	481	458	0	204	242	174	672	206	yes
2017-Q2	416	396	0	92	214	136	828	163	yes
2017-Q1	348	337	0	77	175	134	611	153	yes
2016-Q4	379	355	0	224	188	152	706	150	yes
2016-Q3	410	398	0	249	219	176	652	167	yes
2016-Q2	390	375	0	127	213	133	509	157	yes
2016-Q1	346	324	0	74	193	150	705	123	yes
2015-Q4	298	290	0	175	153	174	732	122	yes
2015-Q3	346	330	0	110	189	175	644	138	yes
2015-Q2	345	338	0	57	204	143	537	126	yes
2015-Q1	334	323	0	72	200	156	818	113	yes
2014-Q4	338	324	0	42	181	120	515	128	yes
2014-Q3	337	320	0	34	177	90	425	133	yes
2014-Q2	359	346	0	66	217	122	542	123	yes
2014-Q1	312	306	0	46	199	106	504	100	yes
2013-Q4	331	312	0	72	176	102	421	132	yes
2013-Q3	344	328	0	40	175	119	534	143	yes
2013-Q2	366	355	0	40	191	103	464	139	yes
2013-Q1	295	286	0	13	183	113	437	91	yes
2012-Q4	273	261	0	24	153	111	439	100	yes
2012-Q3	363	348	0	33	199	135	583	133	yes
2012-Q2	259	249	0	40	135	98	503	98	yes
2012-Q1	255	241	0	36	140	98	485	93	yes
2011-Q4	272	255	0	19	146	104	521	102	yes
2011-Q3	352	344	0	23	201	97	462	108	yes
2011-Q2	256	251	0	19	141	139	436	97	yes
2011-Q1	244	231	0	17	150	84	387	70	yes
2010-Q4	231	224	0	9	122	117	342	92	yes
2010-Q3	252	242	0	34	139	108	468	92	yes
2010-Q2	295	289	0	30	188	72	488	78	yes
2010-Q1	244	236	0	12	154	86	375	70	yes
2009-Q4	303	289	0	20	180	99	359	99	yes
2009-Q3	293	282	0	13	160	97	449	104	yes
2009-Q2	313	296	0	26	183	60	349	93	yes
2009-Q1	224	215	0	26	117	99	359	65	yes
2008-Q4	368	364	0	3	147	95	316	187	yes
2008-Q3	344	333	0	6	149	91	370	137	yes
2008-Q2	326	317	0	8	135	99	451	129	yes
2008-Q1	290	280	0	5	129	80	318	111	yes
2007-Q4	332	323	0	8	142	108	314	143	yes
2007-Q3	415	398	0	4	182	68	291	164	yes
2007-Q2	371	363	0	0	159	97	285	136	yes
2007-Q1	334	330	0	28	155	78	324	123	yes
2006-Q4	282	277	0	5	134	106	324	95	yes
2006-Q3	345	341	0	0	153	79	257	133	yes
2006-Q2	309	300	0	35	143	111	353	89	yes
2006-Q1	269	264	0	25	136	106	318	64	yes
2005-Q4	229	225	0	38	97	149	356	61	yes
2005-Q3	314	308	0	0	155	111	345	81	yes
2005-Q2	302	299	0	0	140	97	309	86	yes
2005-Q1	249	241	0	28	103	90	373	69	yes
2004-Q4	243	237	0	2	112	92	380	71	yes
2004-Q3	331	325	0	57	153	106	384	100	yes
2004-Q2	299	292	0	6	164	106	301	56	yes
2004-Q1	300	296	0	0	162	72	314	70	yes
2003-Q4	274	270	0	0	151	90	279	53	yes
2003-Q3	332	327	0	15	166	94	299	61	yes
2003-Q2	300	292	0	47	164	84	368	48	yes
2003-Q1	265	260	0	0	147	70	249	26	yes
2002-Q4	263	254	0	41	133	75	214	20	yes
2002-Q3	313	303	0	22	166	86	286	34	yes
2002-Q2	261	249	0	38	135	66	304	19	yes
2002-Q1	245	234	0	21	131	92	283	6	yes
2001-Q4	185	180	0	56	84	63	227	1	yes
2001-Q3	236	230	0	71	114	84	309	1	yes
2001-Q2	226	217	0	38	118	102	324	2	yes
2001-Q1	231	219	0	56	120	96	360	3	yes
2000-Q4	223	209	0	92	100	148	392	1	yes
2000-Q3	287	281	0	38	143	148	442	0	yes
2000-Q2	314	304	0	43	174	108	425	1	yes
2000-Q1	260	248	0	48	119	143	546	6	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

9,094 of the 31,380 building permits filed since 2000 (29%) 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 Marina neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (4,620 filed, 3,379 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (4,226 filed, 3,107 finished; contractors); stairs (1,549 filed, 1,069 finished; contractors); deck (939 filed, 610 finished; contractors); roof deck (573 filed, 329 finished; contractors). Other types: 23,123 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Japantown; 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.