Building Permits in California

How much does a building permit cost in California?

Most building permits in the United States cost between $150 and $2,000, with a national median around $1,300. Permit fees are usually set as a percentage of the declared project value — commonly 0.5% to 2% — or on a per-$1,000-of-valuation schedule, so a larger California project pays a proportionally larger permit fee.

California Building Permit Activity

Across 82 California cities we tracked 40,410 new building permits in the last 30 days, representing $1.0B in declared construction value. That's down 12.9% from the prior 30 days.

Contractor trade mix in California

Fastest-growing California markets this month

• Newport Beach — 1,191 permits, up 230.8% vs the prior month
• Inverness — 13 permits, up 116.7% vs the prior month
• Chula Vista — 264 permits, up 71.4% vs the prior month
• Bolinas — 18 permits, up 63.6% vs the prior month
• Dixon — 123 permits, up 55.7% vs the prior month

Biggest project in California this month

$33.1M multiple attached dwellings permit in San Jose at 477 S 1st St.

California Construction Market

We're tracking 343,021 active building permits across 82 California cities, led by Los Angeles with 100383 tracked permits. Among contractor profiles with a recorded trade, General Construction accounts for 22.9%.

PermitGrab aggregates public permit records from official California sources. Publishing schedules and available fields vary by jurisdiction; each city page shows its source and newest available record date.

Browse the cities above to explore specific markets, or sign up for Pro to get alerts when new records are available and unlock the contact fields each source publishes.

Frequently Asked Questions About California Building Permits