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

In the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 678 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 609 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 127 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	678 issued	0	804 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	609 finished	106	583 finished	127

“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	11	4			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	176	126	0	25	22	12	49	0	too recent
2026-Q2	185	166	0	32	76	43	108	0	too recent
2026-Q1	206	186	0	82	100	48	180	0	too recent
2025-Q4	215	200	0	117	103	63	207	0	too recent
2025-Q3	262	247	0	55	158	91	251	0	too recent
2025-Q2	205	197	0	86	131	132	325	0	too recent
2025-Q1	200	184	1	64	124	88	359	0	too recent
2024-Q4	183	176	0	128	131	118	328	0	too recent
2024-Q3	222	209	0	58	153	96	328	0	yes
2024-Q2	241	235	0	98	179	119	398	0	yes
2024-Q1	187	169	0	35	128	111	464	0	yes
2023-Q4	192	184	0	92	149	111	433	1	yes
2023-Q3	206	187	0	65	143	123	485	48	yes
2023-Q2	218	197	1	154	151	98	538	34	yes
2023-Q1	185	168	1	83	139	143	629	24	yes
2022-Q4	204	192	2	114	150	149	557	34	yes
2022-Q3	172	167	0	111	117	161	632	33	yes
2022-Q2	212	193	1	143	150	167	781	40	yes
2022-Q1	208	198	1	62	165	154	684	28	yes
2021-Q4	185	169	1	84	120	195	603	44	yes
2021-Q3	215	200	0	69	158	166	693	36	yes
2021-Q2	249	232	5	74	169	216	835	54	yes
2021-Q1	243	226	0	212	170	154	704	50	yes
2020-Q4	255	232	3	174	177	175	532	51	yes
2020-Q3	327	304	5	118	197	174	729	108	yes
2020-Q2	135	120	4	98	71	155	606	56	yes
2020-Q1	313	283	0	147	137	180	682	148	yes
2019-Q4	384	364	0	68	161	217	784	194	yes
2019-Q3	408	397	0	24	172	204	712	219	yes
2019-Q2	423	398	0	60	185	155	707	208	yes
2019-Q1	343	329	0	35	169	162	700	154	yes
2018-Q4	377	359	0	42	150	153	697	207	yes
2018-Q3	483	473	0	26	194	120	796	269	yes
2018-Q2	449	436	0	40	181	144	752	247	yes
2018-Q1	422	400	0	40	177	164	781	220	yes
2017-Q4	378	364	0	55	155	167	745	198	yes
2017-Q3	488	464	0	152	227	201	924	214	yes
2017-Q2	451	436	0	52	213	190	763	210	yes
2017-Q1	395	377	0	77	195	137	722	170	yes
2016-Q4	394	379	0	90	180	158	1,018	188	yes
2016-Q3	419	404	0	80	193	163	545	197	yes
2016-Q2	381	369	0	26	160	174	615	199	yes
2016-Q1	346	332	0	62	182	150	613	140	yes
2015-Q4	376	363	0	46	159	156	728	191	yes
2015-Q3	428	406	0	44	210	147	625	198	yes
2015-Q2	393	384	0	69	219	168	607	143	yes
2015-Q1	394	381	0	39	176	178	664	185	yes
2014-Q4	334	322	0	25	171	200	807	137	yes
2014-Q3	385	371	0	21	183	138	591	167	yes
2014-Q2	405	386	0	70	228	140	667	143	yes
2014-Q1	314	305	0	32	171	122	549	126	yes
2013-Q4	370	357	0	92	186	167	787	154	yes
2013-Q3	377	365	0	28	191	144	636	156	yes
2013-Q2	374	364	0	38	212	140	503	146	yes
2013-Q1	337	326	0	30	183	147	540	126	yes
2012-Q4	285	275	0	26	146	116	601	113	yes
2012-Q3	342	335	0	25	180	102	458	138	yes
2012-Q2	342	335	0	27	202	148	576	112	yes
2012-Q1	287	279	0	44	165	82	460	102	yes
2011-Q4	250	242	0	27	129	90	435	101	yes
2011-Q3	290	285	0	14	159	101	444	114	yes
2011-Q2	326	310	0	20	165	106	410	136	yes
2011-Q1	288	280	0	24	158	152	582	106	yes
2010-Q4	290	283	0	29	146	116	541	119	yes
2010-Q3	313	301	0	23	160	125	418	123	yes
2010-Q2	326	319	0	19	177	155	515	120	yes
2010-Q1	314	302	0	20	156	142	402	120	yes
2009-Q4	275	272	0	13	144	91	487	106	yes
2009-Q3	324	319	0	7	180	110	361	119	yes
2009-Q2	301	292	0	13	147	92	362	130	yes
2009-Q1	271	267	0	13	147	70	345	113	yes
2008-Q4	300	296	0	4	117	78	360	154	yes
2008-Q3	405	393	0	6	183	113	409	172	yes
2008-Q2	402	388	0	8	174	115	409	166	yes
2008-Q1	332	322	0	4	128	98	365	148	yes
2007-Q4	367	352	0	58	145	129	427	166	yes
2007-Q3	435	429	0	2	190	91	309	178	yes
2007-Q2	415	410	0	1	179	107	329	167	yes
2007-Q1	381	376	0	1	189	103	314	127	yes
2006-Q4	343	336	0	24	138	100	319	119	yes
2006-Q3	414	409	0	0	152	104	358	190	yes
2006-Q2	362	356	0	13	178	106	414	117	yes
2006-Q1	291	291	0	0	141	139	426	94	yes
2005-Q4	297	294	0	0	137	126	336	90	yes
2005-Q3	326	321	0	0	145	119	360	88	yes
2005-Q2	349	341	0	0	149	110	336	97	yes
2005-Q1	301	297	0	31	135	89	422	92	yes
2004-Q4	278	270	0	0	113	118	356	88	yes
2004-Q3	386	378	0	0	168	98	280	119	yes
2004-Q2	356	349	0	18	178	98	388	89	yes
2004-Q1	350	344	0	9	193	98	307	92	yes
2003-Q4	331	323	0	28	170	122	359	81	yes
2003-Q3	389	382	0	47	187	111	373	103	yes
2003-Q2	324	314	0	0	175	98	310	60	yes
2003-Q1	316	312	0	37	164	108	424	63	yes
2002-Q4	279	274	0	29	148	94	300	52	yes
2002-Q3	350	342	0	54	159	89	347	61	yes
2002-Q2	350	346	0	32	150	128	371	32	yes
2002-Q1	249	246	0	41	97	118	357	24	yes
2001-Q4	221	216	0	44	88	100	374	12	yes
2001-Q3	235	227	0	41	88	96	388	7	yes
2001-Q2	252	245	0	51	109	121	540	6	yes
2001-Q1	224	217	0	47	108	112	363	1	yes
2000-Q4	221	207	0	80	87	136	569	5	yes
2000-Q3	287	280	0	97	136	146	427	3	yes
2000-Q2	290	275	0	46	130	140	455	6	yes
2000-Q1	293	282	0	92	127	176	520	7	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

10,843 of the 33,365 building permits filed since 2000 (32%) 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 Pacific Heights neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (4,845 filed, 3,523 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (4,365 filed, 3,192 finished; contractors); stairs (1,514 filed, 952 finished; contractors); deck (949 filed, 637 finished; contractors); roof deck (336 filed, 200 finished; contractors). Other types: 24,826 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Japantown, Marina, Western Addition; 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.