Building Permits in Pennsylvania

How much does a building permit cost in Pennsylvania?

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 Pennsylvania project pays a proportionally larger permit fee.

Pennsylvania Building Permit Activity

Across 3 Pennsylvania cities we tracked 4,486 new building permits in the last 30 days, representing $164M in declared construction value. That's up 0.4% from the prior 30 days.

Contractor trade mix in Pennsylvania

Fastest-growing Pennsylvania markets this month

• Philadelphia — 3,633 permits, up 1.1% vs the prior month
• Pittsburgh — 839 permits, up -2.1% vs the prior month
• Reading — 14 permits, up -12.5% vs the prior month

Biggest project in Pennsylvania this month

$37.4M building & development application permit in Pittsburgh at 3550 Terrace St #246.

Pennsylvania Construction Market

We're tracking 28,050 active building permits across 3 Pennsylvania cities, led by Philadelphia with 23515 tracked permits. Among contractor profiles with a recorded trade, HVAC accounts for 20.2%.

PermitGrab aggregates public permit records from official Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania Building Permits