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

In the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 300 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 232 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 102 days of being issued, up from 98 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	300 issued	0	320 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	232 finished	102	298 finished	98

“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	2			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	79	57	1	18	11	36	64	0	too recent
2026-Q2	98	83	0	23	35	72	140	0	too recent
2026-Q1	74	68	1	130	39	99	136	0	too recent
2025-Q4	101	92	0	48	60	79	215	0	too recent
2025-Q3	97	90	0	42	65	88	314	0	too recent
2025-Q2	99	96	0	90	71	74	230	0	too recent
2025-Q1	77	72	0	41	58	115	417	0	too recent
2024-Q4	68	62	0	136	43	105	325	0	too recent
2024-Q3	98	88	4	201	64	114	402	0	yes
2024-Q2	82	79	0	138	57	112	342	0	yes
2024-Q1	78	75	0	170	53	89	344	0	yes
2023-Q4	86	78	0	90	58	102	400	1	yes
2023-Q3	123	116	0	138	90	105	360	25	yes
2023-Q2	93	88	1	64	73	74	340	14	yes
2023-Q1	83	77	0	88	65	99	552	10	yes
2022-Q4	110	91	0	92	70	108	366	32	yes
2022-Q3	93	88	0	77	76	82	496	13	yes
2022-Q2	86	80	2	149	59	164	390	22	yes
2022-Q1	93	87	0	70	71	126	679	17	yes
2021-Q4	91	85	1	157	66	132	382	16	yes
2021-Q3	99	95	0	175	71	174	567	22	yes
2021-Q2	93	89	1	56	66	150	610	18	yes
2021-Q1	85	80	24	140	57	123	401	22	yes
2020-Q4	95	91	22	132	69	127	508	21	yes
2020-Q3	105	93	14	122	67	128	695	27	yes
2020-Q2	55	49	5	87	31	100	566	21	yes
2020-Q1	121	108	0	34	55	170	519	49	yes
2019-Q4	173	162	0	70	95	96	426	64	yes
2019-Q3	195	187	0	25	108	78	608	69	yes
2019-Q2	222	207	0	85	117	141	722	92	yes
2019-Q1	162	155	0	82	97	71	401	60	yes
2018-Q4	151	148	0	29	87	98	266	61	yes
2018-Q3	190	178	0	34	95	103	350	78	yes
2018-Q2	181	171	0	99	81	99	531	85	yes
2018-Q1	177	165	0	46	97	85	410	70	yes
2017-Q4	209	197	0	37	124	106	390	69	yes
2017-Q3	237	227	0	328	143	115	590	65	yes
2017-Q2	191	182	0	143	121	93	578	58	yes
2017-Q1	153	150	0	88	102	70	589	41	yes
2016-Q4	173	165	0	47	98	101	619	62	yes
2016-Q3	235	220	2	163	128	77	438	84	yes
2016-Q2	226	218	0	39	127	105	369	84	yes
2016-Q1	165	160	0	64	108	88	316	52	yes
2015-Q4	180	173	0	58	105	126	348	61	yes
2015-Q3	195	189	0	73	127	74	451	55	yes
2015-Q2	209	201	0	224	149	107	671	49	yes
2015-Q1	140	134	0	35	82	111	514	48	yes
2014-Q4	118	115	0	33	76	82	294	33	yes
2014-Q3	159	152	0	28	92	85	464	54	yes
2014-Q2	156	150	0	88	89	100	396	55	yes
2014-Q1	128	124	0	52	84	80	497	39	yes
2013-Q4	160	149	0	62	93	84	476	46	yes
2013-Q3	146	140	0	44	77	83	550	56	yes
2013-Q2	92	91	0	58	61	176	716	30	yes
2013-Q1	137	126	0	88	84	121	347	43	yes
2012-Q4	111	107	0	31	58	108	366	46	yes
2012-Q3	137	133	0	33	80	146	486	46	yes
2012-Q2	118	114	0	49	67	103	336	43	yes
2012-Q1	123	116	0	14	70	72	508	37	yes
2011-Q4	121	115	0	42	67	96	302	46	yes
2011-Q3	131	129	0	47	72	130	702	45	yes
2011-Q2	99	94	0	14	54	84	709	39	yes
2011-Q1	68	66	0	6	47	86	412	21	yes
2010-Q4	84	80	0	95	32	88	506	41	yes
2010-Q3	112	105	0	10	58	90	356	37	yes
2010-Q2	130	128	0	10	70	100	356	48	yes
2010-Q1	111	110	0	49	82	242	382	21	yes
2009-Q4	117	109	0	21	56	94	338	47	yes
2009-Q3	123	120	0	21	78	124	450	39	yes
2009-Q2	136	132	0	26	89	112	635	35	yes
2009-Q1	111	102	0	9	62	90	357	34	yes
2008-Q4	110	105	0	40	68	178	790	29	yes
2008-Q3	110	108	0	61	64	136	443	35	yes
2008-Q2	134	129	0	5	69	65	241	47	yes
2008-Q1	152	148	0	10	81	100	258	55	yes
2007-Q4	135	133	0	57	68	69	277	48	yes
2007-Q3	201	199	0	11	108	106	255	75	yes
2007-Q2	216	215	0	28	114	117	340	83	yes
2007-Q1	129	122	0	38	70	102	337	31	yes
2006-Q4	116	114	0	99	55	72	398	35	yes
2006-Q3	143	143	0	1	73	147	435	42	yes
2006-Q2	121	119	0	9	59	123	333	40	yes
2006-Q1	124	121	0	42	53	119	256	29	yes
2005-Q4	127	126	0	56	63	125	445	28	yes
2005-Q3	130	130	0	31	57	90	328	44	yes
2005-Q2	140	137	0	316	85	181	751	26	yes
2005-Q1	93	87	0	10	38	116	346	18	yes
2004-Q4	80	78	0	0	32	66	264	25	yes
2004-Q3	92	91	0	45	36	62	198	29	yes
2004-Q2	83	80	0	2	39	69	368	18	yes
2004-Q1	91	87	0	63	52	36	189	18	yes
2003-Q4	87	83	0	61	35	140	369	28	yes
2003-Q3	103	101	0	43	37	147	1,661	42	yes
2003-Q2	77	76	0	90	31	154	368	28	yes
2003-Q1	90	81	0	55	30	148	443	31	yes
2002-Q4	74	71	0	69	27	164	444	28	yes
2002-Q3	71	69	0	77	38	206	783	22	yes
2002-Q2	84	82	0	75	45	89	442	9	yes
2002-Q1	73	72	0	41	45	106	266	3	yes
2001-Q4	93	92	0	95	66	246	1,079	4	yes
2001-Q3	68	68	0	43	30	102	356	0	yes
2001-Q2	67	66	0	38	36	95	320	3	yes
2001-Q1	78	77	0	69	47	152	538	1	yes
2000-Q4	99	96	0	104	62	312	505	1	yes
2000-Q3	102	100	0	26	52	94	483	1	yes
2000-Q2	66	61	0	49	31	192	745	2	yes
2000-Q1	59	55	0	97	30	242	495	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

3,577 of the 12,975 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 Western Addition neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: kitchen remodel (2,623 filed, 2,004 finished; contractors); bathroom remodel (2,344 filed, 1,806 finished; contractors); stairs (546 filed, 385 finished; contractors); deck (272 filed, 208 finished; contractors). Other types: 9,088 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Japantown, Hayes Valley, Pacific Heights; 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.