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

In the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 685 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 621 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 110 days of being issued, down from 117 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	685 issued	0	829 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	621 finished	110	503 finished	117

“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			1			0	too recent
2026-Q3	161	118	0	23	18	22	55	0	too recent
2026-Q2	194	163	0	42	82	34	96	0	too recent
2026-Q1	202	191	0	39	132	49	159	0	too recent
2025-Q4	231	213	0	43	150	66	198	0	too recent
2025-Q3	201	193	0	43	143	46	197	0	too recent
2025-Q2	238	235	0	35	190	72	233	0	too recent
2025-Q1	220	209	0	40	171	78	296	0	too recent
2024-Q4	201	192	0	51	147	87	268	0	too recent
2024-Q3	237	227	0	47	171	99	339	0	yes
2024-Q2	207	198	0	41	154	92	318	0	yes
2024-Q1	202	191	0	35	163	123	383	0	yes
2023-Q4	172	164	0	148	133	130	478	4	yes
2023-Q3	196	189	0	37	151	94	374	27	yes
2023-Q2	191	179	0	93	138	108	490	31	yes
2023-Q1	173	160	0	56	109	117	504	45	yes
2022-Q4	159	143	0	135	105	178	498	32	yes
2022-Q3	162	159	0	127	131	143	609	20	yes
2022-Q2	190	180	0	68	134	132	436	40	yes
2022-Q1	203	190	0	122	147	173	743	37	yes
2021-Q4	180	162	0	39	128	130	469	34	yes
2021-Q3	197	183	0	71	128	118	585	49	yes
2021-Q2	180	167	0	110	127	153	714	34	yes
2021-Q1	175	168	0	142	120	116	412	46	yes
2020-Q4	176	161	0	212	128	152	532	32	yes
2020-Q3	194	169	5	185	109	118	687	67	yes
2020-Q2	89	76	4	62	50	71	439	34	yes
2020-Q1	225	210	0	142	113	184	688	88	yes
2019-Q4	279	242	0	119	129	167	625	123	yes
2019-Q3	334	312	0	38	158	98	565	140	yes
2019-Q2	296	284	0	19	154	100	570	127	yes
2019-Q1	256	245	0	79	131	221	813	109	yes
2018-Q4	265	249	0	86	144	124	850	100	yes
2018-Q3	277	259	0	51	139	107	474	113	yes
2018-Q2	290	278	0	143	140	118	433	126	yes
2018-Q1	237	226	0	103	120	150	595	103	yes
2017-Q4	294	285	0	122	171	105	571	109	yes
2017-Q3	358	342	0	302	208	178	838	120	yes
2017-Q2	297	287	0	115	179	127	509	102	yes
2017-Q1	231	220	0	126	126	111	557	86	yes
2016-Q4	280	266	0	104	156	134	524	104	yes
2016-Q3	311	304	0	105	176	133	758	117	yes
2016-Q2	311	302	0	49	184	112	596	108	yes
2016-Q1	232	220	0	74	133	113	743	81	yes
2015-Q4	263	257	0	37	133	143	512	113	yes
2015-Q3	283	268	0	113	168	152	584	97	yes
2015-Q2	264	247	0	102	157	101	401	90	yes
2015-Q1	263	253	0	45	153	124	463	99	yes
2014-Q4	217	210	0	39	132	143	529	72	yes
2014-Q3	254	243	0	34	156	122	545	81	yes
2014-Q2	235	225	0	45	151	113	654	70	yes
2014-Q1	204	196	0	22	134	97	373	57	yes
2013-Q4	236	230	0	26	137	114	382	82	yes
2013-Q3	233	226	0	19	142	92	385	74	yes
2013-Q2	255	251	0	7	158	97	408	80	yes
2013-Q1	206	202	0	10	125	107	427	67	yes
2012-Q4	210	209	0	24	135	77	350	66	yes
2012-Q3	230	222	0	10	156	98	394	55	yes
2012-Q2	220	218	0	7	144	88	429	68	yes
2012-Q1	176	172	0	12	120	76	353	43	yes
2011-Q4	228	226	0	8	133	70	365	77	yes
2011-Q3	264	261	0	16	161	83	357	89	yes
2011-Q2	208	198	0	26	137	77	355	50	yes
2011-Q1	197	192	0	10	121	56	322	59	yes
2010-Q4	209	203	0	15	126	90	351	68	yes
2010-Q3	261	256	0	20	141	96	368	97	yes
2010-Q2	272	266	0	4	135	71	291	111	yes
2010-Q1	198	190	0	7	126	56	426	56	yes
2009-Q4	216	213	0	19	143	80	327	57	yes
2009-Q3	248	243	0	6	140	50	349	87	yes
2009-Q2	185	180	0	39	101	67	421	68	yes
2009-Q1	211	205	0	7	110	80	344	87	yes
2008-Q4	227	219	0	7	127	93	324	76	yes
2008-Q3	293	282	0	3	144	87	316	111	yes
2008-Q2	261	259	0	12	145	68	263	94	yes
2008-Q1	233	223	0	11	121	83	350	92	yes
2007-Q4	267	250	0	10	105	98	311	128	yes
2007-Q3	314	306	0	5	139	80	380	131	yes
2007-Q2	307	302	0	0	158	86	376	108	yes
2007-Q1	296	290	0	22	168	80	370	85	yes
2006-Q4	244	239	0	0	134	82	349	52	yes
2006-Q3	292	287	0	0	160	86	248	60	yes
2006-Q2	281	277	0	44	152	90	312	53	yes
2006-Q1	236	234	0	0	127	71	270	69	yes
2005-Q4	230	225	0	0	121	90	279	76	yes
2005-Q3	294	292	0	0	162	84	268	90	yes
2005-Q2	269	266	0	0	145	114	295	90	yes
2005-Q1	228	225	0	0	128	92	265	73	yes
2004-Q4	252	245	0	21	124	114	377	86	yes
2004-Q3	272	269	0	0	136	98	293	93	yes
2004-Q2	258	248	0	57	144	118	378	85	yes
2004-Q1	206	203	0	1	116	70	304	64	yes
2003-Q4	221	215	0	1	116	102	402	80	yes
2003-Q3	255	249	0	3	146	84	259	90	yes
2003-Q2	251	244	0	2	136	78	251	91	yes
2003-Q1	270	265	0	8	116	62	244	134	yes
2002-Q4	207	205	0	66	119	90	350	62	yes
2002-Q3	245	237	0	0	145	79	354	69	yes
2002-Q2	238	231	0	21	129	91	283	31	yes
2002-Q1	191	189	0	206	103	75	336	7	yes
2001-Q4	187	182	0	85	106	94	234	7	yes
2001-Q3	184	176	0	40	97	82	327	5	yes
2001-Q2	169	164	0	32	108	101	320	3	yes
2001-Q1	176	172	0	27	102	95	278	3	yes
2000-Q4	209	197	0	56	101	99	354	4	yes
2000-Q3	217	207	0	14	112	88	258	2	yes
2000-Q2	270	258	0	30	132	116	285	2	yes
2000-Q1	230	217	0	70	79	176	445	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

6,817 of the 24,938 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 Inner Sunset neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (3,920 filed, 2,888 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (3,224 filed, 2,313 finished; contractors); stairs (1,621 filed, 1,088 finished; contractors); deck (1,328 filed, 890 finished; contractors); roof deck (157 filed, 91 finished; contractors). Other types: 17,714 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Golden Gate Park, Twin Peaks, Haight Ashbury; 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.