Building Permits in Illinois

How much does a building permit cost in Illinois?

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 Illinois project pays a proportionally larger permit fee.

Illinois Building Permit Activity

Across 86 Illinois cities we tracked 4,613 new building permits in the last 30 days, representing $932M in declared construction value. That's down 46.6% from the prior 30 days.

Contractor trade mix in Illinois

Fastest-growing Illinois markets this month

• Chicago Heights — 37 permits, up 1750.0% vs the prior month
• LYNWOOD — 10 permits, up 233.3% vs the prior month
• Matteson — 15 permits, up 200.0% vs the prior month
• STONE PARK — 18 permits, up 80.0% vs the prior month
• Lake County — 559 permits, up -8.5% vs the prior month

Biggest project in Illinois this month

$177.3M permit - new construction permit in Chicago at 1904 W Adams St, filed by James Mchugh Construction Co.

Illinois Construction Market

We're tracking 270,577 active building permits across 86 Illinois cities, led by Chicago with 26735 tracked permits. Among contractor profiles with a recorded trade, Landscaping & Exterior accounts for 18.5%.

PermitGrab aggregates public permit records from official Illinois 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 Illinois Building Permits