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

In the Chinatown neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 329 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 5 days, the same as a year earlier. Of the 375 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 101 days of being issued, down from 152 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	329 issued	5	386 issued	5
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	375 finished	101	324 finished	152

“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	8	4			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	102	74	4	34	16	22	56	0	too recent
2026-Q2	87	75	4	46	27	49	97	0	too recent
2026-Q1	89	78	4	73	45	48	168	0	too recent
2025-Q4	122	102	7	95	52	36	237	0	too recent
2025-Q3	139	132	2	69	95	134	230	0	too recent
2025-Q2	107	96	10	104	76	116	322	0	too recent
2025-Q1	84	78	7	101	55	60	266	0	too recent
2024-Q4	83	80	4	87	61	99	279	0	too recent
2024-Q3	117	104	4	123	82	92	329	0	yes
2024-Q2	189	177	3	42	143	93	386	0	yes
2024-Q1	100	86	1	110	68	76	317	0	yes
2023-Q4	113	102	4	78	82	144	429	1	yes
2023-Q3	125	113	7	126	84	126	282	24	yes
2023-Q2	122	109	6	135	85	174	493	20	yes
2023-Q1	109	94	6	192	72	183	468	18	yes
2022-Q4	125	112	8	164	83	158	582	24	yes
2022-Q3	89	86	4	152	66	151	492	19	yes
2022-Q2	108	93	4	83	71	141	601	23	yes
2022-Q1	103	97	6	85	75	143	925	24	yes
2021-Q4	81	69	8	130	56	100	383	18	yes
2021-Q3	94	89	7	90	67	164	384	22	yes
2021-Q2	81	73	28	158	57	148	429	14	yes
2021-Q1	67	61	30	216	50	158	860	12	yes
2020-Q4	86	78	50	214	66	122	718	12	yes
2020-Q3	80	68	22	163	42	68	333	30	yes
2020-Q2	34	31	26	233	17	70	639	16	yes
2020-Q1	132	128	0	171	71	161	469	54	yes
2019-Q4	182	163	0	107	95	173	580	67	yes
2019-Q3	209	195	0	51	112	111	489	83	yes
2019-Q2	157	143	0	85	86	100	516	56	yes
2019-Q1	161	153	0	43	101	100	324	51	yes
2018-Q4	186	172	0	90	99	96	573	75	yes
2018-Q3	197	188	1	78	113	134	445	75	yes
2018-Q2	171	162	5	167	106	144	415	58	yes
2018-Q1	161	150	0	62	100	83	595	51	yes
2017-Q4	183	173	0	87	105	111	545	65	yes
2017-Q3	198	184	0	40	110	120	454	69	yes
2017-Q2	176	164	0	45	93	136	544	71	yes
2017-Q1	136	132	0	42	85	95	426	43	yes
2016-Q4	180	165	0	70	84	107	524	79	yes
2016-Q3	176	159	2	114	95	120	513	60	yes
2016-Q2	145	132	0	36	72	106	436	62	yes
2016-Q1	186	169	0	42	103	104	474	65	yes
2015-Q4	166	152	0	85	95	132	629	60	yes
2015-Q3	169	151	0	41	80	110	439	71	yes
2015-Q2	194	183	0	35	108	88	432	75	yes
2015-Q1	144	140	1	29	100	120	344	39	yes
2014-Q4	145	138	0	30	85	98	300	51	yes
2014-Q3	171	158	0	36	96	87	354	61	yes
2014-Q2	201	194	0	34	133	108	587	55	yes
2014-Q1	148	138	0	20	92	100	761	42	yes
2013-Q4	183	167	0	66	113	105	335	52	yes
2013-Q3	213	206	0	26	121	85	372	82	yes
2013-Q2	248	230	0	21	133	105	439	94	yes
2013-Q1	131	127	0	50	78	112	903	48	yes
2012-Q4	157	152	0	43	91	89	749	59	yes
2012-Q3	165	158	0	42	78	110	666	80	yes
2012-Q2	163	156	0	38	103	112	440	53	yes
2012-Q1	121	112	0	30	73	70	269	38	yes
2011-Q4	148	140	0	21	100	82	249	38	yes
2011-Q3	135	131	0	16	70	92	692	55	yes
2011-Q2	126	117	0	21	63	98	870	53	yes
2011-Q1	147	139	0	10	97	71	349	38	yes
2010-Q4	137	121	0	32	70	125	544	48	yes
2010-Q3	157	147	0	48	77	111	652	60	yes
2010-Q2	131	123	0	28	62	154	556	57	yes
2010-Q1	114	112	0	26	72	104	341	36	yes
2009-Q4	153	143	0	14	86	72	270	52	yes
2009-Q3	132	125	0	50	75	113	655	46	yes
2009-Q2	181	175	0	14	104	114	281	60	yes
2009-Q1	121	116	0	18	61	91	390	49	yes
2008-Q4	169	161	0	15	85	91	335	58	yes
2008-Q3	160	157	0	6	79	119	337	70	yes
2008-Q2	174	164	0	10	99	74	359	55	yes
2008-Q1	181	173	0	11	113	110	326	42	yes
2007-Q4	192	186	0	22	89	139	346	69	yes
2007-Q3	162	148	0	7	66	160	432	51	yes
2007-Q2	143	142	0	11	78	177	434	33	yes
2007-Q1	134	132	0	27	96	126	448	24	yes
2006-Q4	135	131	0	76	82	174	302	28	yes
2006-Q3	127	127	0	46	58	90	415	36	yes
2006-Q2	159	157	0	27	84	109	453	48	yes
2006-Q1	148	148	0	18	64	78	387	42	yes
2005-Q4	162	155	0	51	71	108	314	55	yes
2005-Q3	166	165	0	57	86	147	303	55	yes
2005-Q2	188	185	0	67	96	160	348	59	yes
2005-Q1	166	160	0	27	77	94	312	52	yes
2004-Q4	148	145	0	42	67	93	367	50	yes
2004-Q3	148	147	0	69	61	84	558	57	yes
2004-Q2	191	186	0	54	95	116	743	65	yes
2004-Q1	116	115	0	67	51	105	375	46	yes
2003-Q4	128	124	0	52	58	130	394	40	yes
2003-Q3	121	116	0	33	53	87	350	38	yes
2003-Q2	151	148	0	69	71	78	258	39	yes
2003-Q1	108	105	0	62	53	98	350	22	yes
2002-Q4	139	136	0	72	57	80	288	40	yes
2002-Q3	139	135	0	42	76	116	411	31	yes
2002-Q2	180	175	0	141	59	93	370	19	yes
2002-Q1	151	150	0	96	59	126	552	14	yes
2001-Q4	198	190	0	52	66	121	604	7	yes
2001-Q3	109	106	0	100	45	122	320	2	yes
2001-Q2	163	158	0	67	75	155	577	1	yes
2001-Q1	183	179	13	281	74	140	918	3	yes
2000-Q4	140	134	0	90	67	133	568	2	yes
2000-Q3	142	141	0	55	46	224	779	1	yes
2000-Q2	133	126	0	50	53	266	415	0	yes
2000-Q1	186	177	5	61	68	256	624	3	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

4,170 of the 15,521 building permits filed since 2000 (27%) 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 Chinatown neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (823 filed, 547 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (802 filed, 556 finished; contractors); stairs (431 filed, 289 finished; contractors); roof deck (63 filed, 35 finished; contractors); deck (61 filed, 38 finished; contractors). Other types: 13,839 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Financial District/South Beach, North Beach, Nob Hill; 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.