How long do building permits take in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood?

In the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 420 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 2 days, down from 6 days a year earlier. Of the 362 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 137 days of being issued, down from 147 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	420 issued	2	389 issued	6
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	362 finished	137	371 finished	147

“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	5	2			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	116	86	2	30	18	30	66	0	too recent
2026-Q2	125	108	1	63	45	60	95	0	too recent
2026-Q1	119	102	3	93	57	37	128	0	too recent
2025-Q4	142	124	6	119	80	73	225	0	too recent
2025-Q3	125	117	8	79	69	96	338	0	too recent
2025-Q2	92	80	10	112	54	100	305	0	too recent
2025-Q1	104	97	4	179	57	66	252	0	too recent
2024-Q4	103	95	5	45	68	105	385	0	too recent
2024-Q3	130	123	1	63	91	96	277	0	yes
2024-Q2	131	113	6	89	85	188	384	0	yes
2024-Q1	151	139	2	45	110	146	391	0	yes
2023-Q4	106	96	0	59	76	128	610	1	yes
2023-Q3	129	115	3	145	86	134	514	27	yes
2023-Q2	162	141	9	196	109	176	644	29	yes
2023-Q1	115	105	1	134	80	126	630	22	yes
2022-Q4	152	135	4	117	96	150	536	39	yes
2022-Q3	155	139	5	160	106	140	612	31	yes
2022-Q2	149	123	5	189	103	116	586	30	yes
2022-Q1	154	138	3	180	105	102	629	37	yes
2021-Q4	162	145	3	130	113	108	401	33	yes
2021-Q3	155	141	2	128	115	190	562	25	yes
2021-Q2	193	180	26	183	136	112	489	44	yes
2021-Q1	134	112	36	246	80	112	412	34	yes
2020-Q4	172	146	44	159	110	182	652	41	yes
2020-Q3	133	116	26	218	76	122	696	48	yes
2020-Q2	59	54	44	174	32	175	527	25	yes
2020-Q1	199	168	0	223	95	169	554	80	yes
2019-Q4	289	241	0	91	132	204	688	122	yes
2019-Q3	294	265	1	92	155	217	622	114	yes
2019-Q2	337	300	0	85	157	126	836	152	yes
2019-Q1	352	327	0	100	179	140	827	146	yes
2018-Q4	350	320	0	122	179	130	709	146	yes
2018-Q3	357	323	0	260	171	175	811	146	yes
2018-Q2	415	384	1	106	227	91	562	163	yes
2018-Q1	328	298	0	103	164	111	581	128	yes
2017-Q4	305	283	0	93	153	106	393	124	yes
2017-Q3	345	312	0	90	185	140	627	127	yes
2017-Q2	301	283	0	120	164	173	688	110	yes
2017-Q1	287	263	1	169	159	172	717	103	yes
2016-Q4	304	280	0	111	154	137	561	127	yes
2016-Q3	340	329	0	96	202	130	618	119	yes
2016-Q2	332	313	0	55	194	127	577	115	yes
2016-Q1	334	305	0	85	195	139	763	109	yes
2015-Q4	302	284	0	77	179	111	727	100	yes
2015-Q3	396	367	1	102	210	135	828	151	yes
2015-Q2	353	326	2	77	218	179	672	104	yes
2015-Q1	377	348	1	73	213	132	533	131	yes
2014-Q4	343	320	1	96	180	120	620	139	yes
2014-Q3	342	317	0	84	201	113	699	113	yes
2014-Q2	433	413	1	156	276	94	720	135	yes
2014-Q1	368	349	0	56	220	104	436	126	yes
2013-Q4	349	325	1	108	193	127	566	119	yes
2013-Q3	333	313	0	53	192	116	565	118	yes
2013-Q2	414	393	0	63	242	126	606	141	yes
2013-Q1	407	388	0	52	242	158	834	134	yes
2012-Q4	362	344	0	62	230	133	676	109	yes
2012-Q3	316	300	0	36	194	119	669	103	yes
2012-Q2	338	325	1	80	205	112	520	112	yes
2012-Q1	257	245	1	86	148	122	789	91	yes
2011-Q4	206	189	0	81	128	130	683	56	yes
2011-Q3	267	253	0	64	167	71	738	71	yes
2011-Q2	281	265	0	58	196	102	480	61	yes
2011-Q1	199	185	0	38	132	93	434	42	yes
2010-Q4	207	189	0	68	128	77	414	49	yes
2010-Q3	214	199	0	98	117	76	318	60	yes
2010-Q2	206	194	0	47	124	104	354	64	yes
2010-Q1	188	178	0	59	104	94	358	60	yes
2009-Q4	216	208	0	42	126	70	298	67	yes
2009-Q3	234	222	0	21	120	123	316	81	yes
2009-Q2	235	225	0	58	128	122	332	82	yes
2009-Q1	256	241	0	21	118	106	362	111	yes
2008-Q4	228	209	0	387	115	87	372	80	yes
2008-Q3	254	240	0	25	118	91	372	106	yes
2008-Q2	298	281	0	37	126	125	404	122	yes
2008-Q1	249	225	0	25	101	130	432	88	yes
2007-Q4	310	293	0	53	118	162	448	120	yes
2007-Q3	256	234	0	18	101	160	417	91	yes
2007-Q2	289	279	0	60	144	148	626	86	yes
2007-Q1	232	228	0	116	87	118	673	96	yes
2006-Q4	210	204	0	126	87	143	484	61	yes
2006-Q3	525	512	6	47	313	141	418	127	yes
2006-Q2	351	334	13	125	196	196	430	64	yes
2006-Q1	232	224	0	155	111	133	813	54	yes
2005-Q4	205	193	0	79	71	120	447	79	yes
2005-Q3	239	226	0	153	93	149	650	86	yes
2005-Q2	245	235	0	74	108	78	519	77	yes
2005-Q1	216	212	0	113	98	118	479	63	yes
2004-Q4	201	197	0	78	95	126	490	60	yes
2004-Q3	250	242	0	69	115	129	467	70	yes
2004-Q2	210	205	0	118	84	114	482	59	yes
2004-Q1	202	197	0	83	95	105	332	58	yes
2003-Q4	213	204	0	92	96	84	324	52	yes
2003-Q3	184	183	0	112	88	122	450	48	yes
2003-Q2	172	168	0	132	93	134	535	33	yes
2003-Q1	173	166	0	76	98	119	384	31	yes
2002-Q4	180	168	0	93	87	124	362	35	yes
2002-Q3	190	181	0	96	99	126	443	29	yes
2002-Q2	254	240	0	69	153	99	311	21	yes
2002-Q1	207	197	0	89	107	77	460	7	yes
2001-Q4	181	167	0	130	91	117	399	6	yes
2001-Q3	182	178	0	76	84	92	375	2	yes
2001-Q2	246	237	0	74	102	178	343	1	yes
2001-Q1	250	234	0	69	114	142	433	1	yes
2000-Q4	242	226	0	88	99	177	409	3	yes
2000-Q3	299	268	0	63	104	177	430	6	yes
2000-Q2	276	266	0	63	130	199	591	1	yes
2000-Q1	364	346	0	65	120	195	686	4	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

7,254 of the 26,156 building permits filed since 2000 (28%) 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 South of Market neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (1,159 filed, 750 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (1,156 filed, 762 finished; contractors); stairs (837 filed, 539 finished; contractors); deck (168 filed, 116 finished; contractors); roof deck (103 filed, 63 finished; contractors). Other types: 23,340 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Tenderloin, Mission Bay, Financial District/South Beach; 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.