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

In the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 321 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 1 day, the same as a year earlier. Of the 229 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 106 days of being issued, down from 137 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	321 issued	1	285 issued	1
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	229 finished	106	247 finished	137

“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-Q3	66	46	0	25	13	37	47	0	too recent
2026-Q2	115	107	0	23	45	35	110	0	too recent
2026-Q1	90	80	4	74	49	61	149	0	too recent
2025-Q4	92	88	2	104	50	66	242	0	too recent
2025-Q3	86	77	3	126	51	97	288	0	too recent
2025-Q2	81	73	2	167	46	71	302	0	too recent
2025-Q1	79	71	2	207	51	77	279	0	too recent
2024-Q4	71	64	1	54	40	72	316	0	too recent
2024-Q3	78	72	0	37	46	72	380	0	yes
2024-Q2	83	79	0	23	59	79	290	0	yes
2024-Q1	70	68	0	68	58	192	577	0	yes
2023-Q4	93	89	1	95	66	120	467	1	yes
2023-Q3	120	103	1	70	82	158	485	27	yes
2023-Q2	83	72	1	67	54	216	498	15	yes
2023-Q1	71	66	0	75	56	114	414	9	yes
2022-Q4	85	78	0	80	55	116	287	19	yes
2022-Q3	91	88	2	190	72	216	535	15	yes
2022-Q2	105	92	2	202	62	180	791	27	yes
2022-Q1	106	98	1	175	71	133	1,151	28	yes
2021-Q4	90	83	1	143	71	141	484	11	yes
2021-Q3	90	81	0	73	56	152	658	22	yes
2021-Q2	77	72	6	206	55	129	465	18	yes
2021-Q1	91	83	25	467	59	165	812	20	yes
2020-Q4	106	94	36	288	73	151	820	17	yes
2020-Q3	87	78	12	115	61	141	637	20	yes
2020-Q2	44	39	7	169	27	105	552	13	yes
2020-Q1	106	97	0	117	57	186	837	38	yes
2019-Q4	161	153	0	97	83	194	529	66	yes
2019-Q3	167	153	0	47	81	143	661	71	yes
2019-Q2	183	171	0	41	93	128	1,008	82	yes
2019-Q1	169	147	0	119	81	97	550	69	yes
2018-Q4	161	149	0	98	54	130	543	91	yes
2018-Q3	196	184	0	89	108	155	1,091	66	yes
2018-Q2	201	181	0	36	95	108	467	81	yes
2018-Q1	136	123	0	66	70	96	920	47	yes
2017-Q4	163	155	0	86	79	129	429	71	yes
2017-Q3	206	196	0	336	107	175	797	81	yes
2017-Q2	172	166	0	67	95	120	335	67	yes
2017-Q1	131	122	0	110	64	136	520	58	yes
2016-Q4	146	138	0	144	68	158	716	63	yes
2016-Q3	179	162	0	236	79	154	572	77	yes
2016-Q2	164	158	0	89	88	190	522	65	yes
2016-Q1	171	161	0	224	96	191	860	61	yes
2015-Q4	125	114	0	104	55	147	633	58	yes
2015-Q3	197	189	0	110	96	136	720	88	yes
2015-Q2	171	160	0	57	86	201	609	69	yes
2015-Q1	167	153	0	25	90	114	612	58	yes
2014-Q4	123	116	0	96	60	142	515	52	yes
2014-Q3	154	148	0	51	80	149	546	67	yes
2014-Q2	195	189	0	62	118	106	480	69	yes
2014-Q1	193	185	0	44	128	95	783	54	yes
2013-Q4	156	151	0	96	90	99	483	59	yes
2013-Q3	186	179	0	12	102	98	439	68	yes
2013-Q2	229	217	0	27	123	119	362	88	yes
2013-Q1	178	165	0	42	90	111	583	70	yes
2012-Q4	141	136	0	14	58	81	572	68	yes
2012-Q3	152	147	0	21	73	99	315	68	yes
2012-Q2	141	136	0	51	77	85	344	53	yes
2012-Q1	133	129	0	50	70	102	363	52	yes
2011-Q4	135	127	0	31	70	142	612	47	yes
2011-Q3	153	143	0	56	88	170	422	36	yes
2011-Q2	135	132	0	16	78	137	484	49	yes
2011-Q1	128	125	0	8	80	98	386	36	yes
2010-Q4	102	94	0	72	51	103	261	43	yes
2010-Q3	86	85	0	28	37	91	412	36	yes
2010-Q2	132	127	0	17	79	104	469	44	yes
2010-Q1	120	110	1	59	65	91	340	30	yes
2009-Q4	123	116	0	52	58	94	606	37	yes
2009-Q3	133	127	0	11	60	74	264	53	yes
2009-Q2	137	127	0	27	66	92	226	50	yes
2009-Q1	145	138	0	8	78	61	321	46	yes
2008-Q4	139	132	0	22	56	96	409	64	yes
2008-Q3	172	165	0	40	66	94	422	75	yes
2008-Q2	143	137	0	12	54	138	376	65	yes
2008-Q1	137	130	0	31	65	124	384	47	yes
2007-Q4	154	147	0	42	71	149	427	58	yes
2007-Q3	146	140	0	4	60	117	385	48	yes
2007-Q2	147	144	0	31	70	88	386	53	yes
2007-Q1	116	114	0	15	61	91	369	31	yes
2006-Q4	149	147	0	37	75	106	327	42	yes
2006-Q3	166	162	0	9	68	79	360	60	yes
2006-Q2	151	147	0	8	72	105	342	49	yes
2006-Q1	145	141	0	31	78	95	360	36	yes
2005-Q4	126	122	0	0	58	86	358	47	yes
2005-Q3	175	173	0	47	88	86	374	53	yes
2005-Q2	175	172	0	30	66	76	357	79	yes
2005-Q1	153	144	0	18	52	90	209	67	yes
2004-Q4	126	122	0	92	51	91	344	41	yes
2004-Q3	135	133	0	109	74	104	272	39	yes
2004-Q2	125	118	0	62	54	78	407	40	yes
2004-Q1	142	139	0	78	63	110	366	48	yes
2003-Q4	120	110	0	102	54	66	285	39	yes
2003-Q3	142	137	0	94	72	104	357	28	yes
2003-Q2	126	121	0	36	59	83	275	33	yes
2003-Q1	135	133	0	93	52	105	361	29	yes
2002-Q4	134	126	0	40	63	94	275	30	yes
2002-Q3	144	139	0	42	64	124	331	40	yes
2002-Q2	141	137	0	51	65	57	197	12	yes
2002-Q1	144	137	0	197	67	161	742	9	yes
2001-Q4	102	95	0	87	47	139	352	3	yes
2001-Q3	118	113	0	31	47	119	345	1	yes
2001-Q2	139	133	0	35	58	110	255	3	yes
2001-Q1	125	119	0	61	47	112	378	0	yes
2000-Q4	134	126	0	52	59	131	372	1	yes
2000-Q3	131	126	0	67	55	129	415	1	yes
2000-Q2	150	145	0	53	57	121	286	2	yes
2000-Q1	145	133	0	142	35	151	461	1	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

4,238 of the 14,284 building permits filed since 2000 (30%) 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 North Beach neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (1,585 filed, 1,119 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (1,580 filed, 1,137 finished; contractors); stairs (630 filed, 414 finished; contractors); deck (271 filed, 194 finished; contractors); roof deck (185 filed, 114 finished; contractors). Other types: 11,297 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Chinatown, Russian Hill, Nob Hill; 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.