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

In the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 219 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 1 day, down from 2 days a year earlier. Of the 239 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 90 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	219 issued	1	336 issued	2
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	239 finished	90	227 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	3	0			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	59	40	0	28	6	5	14	0	too recent
2026-Q2	65	57	4	58	17	67	138	0	too recent
2026-Q1	55	48	10	77	34	64	153	0	too recent
2025-Q4	77	74	0	103	43	106	237	0	too recent
2025-Q3	87	80	5	112	54	100	230	0	too recent
2025-Q2	79	71	7	152	50	80	250	0	too recent
2025-Q1	106	93	0	97	64	81	309	0	too recent
2024-Q4	99	92	2	149	58	98	249	0	too recent
2024-Q3	97	91	2	80	74	112	369	0	yes
2024-Q2	115	104	2	121	77	66	318	0	yes
2024-Q1	72	62	8	166	50	102	301	0	yes
2023-Q4	61	58	2	149	38	105	420	0	yes
2023-Q3	82	70	8	134	44	158	661	20	yes
2023-Q2	106	89	9	487	61	117	363	30	yes
2023-Q1	77	71	5	148	51	142	406	18	yes
2022-Q4	147	108	14	241	71	224	624	42	yes
2022-Q3	93	85	4	181	64	115	546	20	yes
2022-Q2	119	105	6	194	61	93	390	43	yes
2022-Q1	107	94	7	131	68	116	414	29	yes
2021-Q4	105	94	24	200	67	161	335	24	yes
2021-Q3	107	93	3	231	72	114	639	21	yes
2021-Q2	118	109	2	78	84	171	697	30	yes
2021-Q1	98	82	52	215	50	138	745	32	yes
2020-Q4	101	92	58	230	67	212	1,093	27	yes
2020-Q3	149	126	14	207	71	242	956	64	yes
2020-Q2	68	59	9	159	34	66	771	30	yes
2020-Q1	181	167	0	161	89	172	828	82	yes
2019-Q4	248	231	0	85	113	231	886	118	yes
2019-Q3	235	217	0	69	103	99	844	110	yes
2019-Q2	224	202	0	86	94	134	829	110	yes
2019-Q1	200	190	0	116	104	86	668	88	yes
2018-Q4	245	231	0	60	154	90	418	83	yes
2018-Q3	212	199	0	77	109	120	692	95	yes
2018-Q2	239	220	0	145	145	129	753	78	yes
2018-Q1	236	217	0	68	122	140	558	89	yes
2017-Q4	219	204	0	186	118	134	627	74	yes
2017-Q3	196	188	0	100	105	116	604	79	yes
2017-Q2	186	171	0	93	97	110	809	70	yes
2017-Q1	159	146	0	124	83	73	488	60	yes
2016-Q4	247	232	1	363	122	108	650	102	yes
2016-Q3	226	207	0	87	124	96	504	73	yes
2016-Q2	232	217	0	51	119	146	455	90	yes
2016-Q1	246	226	0	90	123	141	638	93	yes
2015-Q4	248	237	0	97	131	91	438	97	yes
2015-Q3	215	193	0	73	104	116	1,054	86	yes
2015-Q2	235	221	0	102	117	132	479	95	yes
2015-Q1	277	267	0	96	145	104	534	112	yes
2014-Q4	212	202	0	48	112	102	611	82	yes
2014-Q3	252	234	0	122	132	111	590	92	yes
2014-Q2	250	234	0	137	135	112	415	93	yes
2014-Q1	217	206	0	74	119	93	663	82	yes
2013-Q4	223	206	0	166	129	109	512	74	yes
2013-Q3	200	191	0	68	105	71	611	79	yes
2013-Q2	221	201	0	36	139	122	669	56	yes
2013-Q1	217	206	0	42	122	66	673	74	yes
2012-Q4	159	149	0	84	79	125	807	58	yes
2012-Q3	162	151	0	70	86	115	810	57	yes
2012-Q2	162	150	1	163	89	103	736	60	yes
2012-Q1	128	117	0	59	59	90	344	53	yes
2011-Q4	131	122	0	64	67	103	363	45	yes
2011-Q3	128	121	0	70	72	84	287	43	yes
2011-Q2	117	112	0	88	61	77	588	44	yes
2011-Q1	114	108	0	87	56	86	343	48	yes
2010-Q4	111	99	0	138	56	85	518	36	yes
2010-Q3	149	134	0	37	71	74	348	55	yes
2010-Q2	121	114	0	35	68	82	387	45	yes
2010-Q1	135	129	0	32	81	77	360	39	yes
2009-Q4	131	124	0	70	68	47	313	46	yes
2009-Q3	148	139	0	16	76	52	302	63	yes
2009-Q2	149	144	0	62	89	113	371	45	yes
2009-Q1	153	147	0	28	79	62	293	55	yes
2008-Q4	164	157	0	52	81	78	375	54	yes
2008-Q3	211	207	0	5	104	75	265	81	yes
2008-Q2	181	173	0	23	82	103	272	68	yes
2008-Q1	201	188	0	32	81	120	391	70	yes
2007-Q4	228	217	0	22	98	95	348	82	yes
2007-Q3	224	212	0	4	99	98	369	80	yes
2007-Q2	217	213	0	17	63	127	472	103	yes
2007-Q1	217	213	0	46	87	168	495	74	yes
2006-Q4	155	147	0	14	73	82	525	33	yes
2006-Q3	116	114	0	108	41	105	644	35	yes
2006-Q2	131	129	0	59	54	122	350	46	yes
2006-Q1	143	142	0	84	43	175	513	52	yes
2005-Q4	127	124	0	49	43	108	278	39	yes
2005-Q3	118	113	0	123	47	100	499	38	yes
2005-Q2	147	135	0	60	56	74	243	42	yes
2005-Q1	136	128	0	109	49	72	323	41	yes
2004-Q4	156	154	0	55	58	112	291	44	yes
2004-Q3	181	178	0	74	73	124	350	62	yes
2004-Q2	162	155	0	71	48	176	604	67	yes
2004-Q1	152	148	0	105	54	116	680	53	yes
2003-Q4	131	125	0	85	47	120	560	54	yes
2003-Q3	139	136	0	96	56	81	426	63	yes
2003-Q2	162	158	0	77	64	68	213	68	yes
2003-Q1	165	161	0	115	58	66	403	74	yes
2002-Q4	123	120	0	91	42	122	635	56	yes
2002-Q3	157	142	0	90	55	138	488	64	yes
2002-Q2	209	204	0	48	64	105	299	32	yes
2002-Q1	199	186	0	72	52	160	1,292	7	yes
2001-Q4	137	125	0	82	60	111	560	6	yes
2001-Q3	175	169	0	109	65	198	763	6	yes
2001-Q2	209	205	0	135	84	91	796	5	yes
2001-Q1	191	181	0	134	79	192	1,258	6	yes
2000-Q4	140	132	0	94	59	201	882	3	yes
2000-Q3	139	131	0	75	54	156	890	2	yes
2000-Q2	191	179	0	93	73	274	944	3	yes
2000-Q1	196	180	0	106	83	335	1,004	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

5,352 of the 17,178 building permits filed since 2000 (31%) 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 Tenderloin neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: kitchen remodel (2,385 filed, 1,598 finished; contractors); bathroom remodel (2,192 filed, 1,438 finished; contractors); stairs (312 filed, 173 finished; contractors). Other types: 14,026 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Nob Hill, South of Market, Chinatown; 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.