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

In the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 778 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 680 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 98 days of being issued, down from 141 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	778 issued	0	911 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	680 finished	98	673 finished	141

“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	10	3			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	178	133	0	22	29	20	51	0	too recent
2026-Q2	229	189	0	40	104	38	109	0	too recent
2026-Q1	237	225	0	53	140	46	134	0	too recent
2025-Q4	251	231	0	83	143	82	232	0	too recent
2025-Q3	246	237	0	58	163	87	283	0	too recent
2025-Q2	268	257	0	49	189	100	315	0	too recent
2025-Q1	227	209	0	87	150	82	319	0	too recent
2024-Q4	222	208	0	100	148	83	358	0	too recent
2024-Q3	245	231	0	47	184	89	362	0	yes
2024-Q2	225	212	0	126	175	96	348	0	yes
2024-Q1	198	187	0	47	156	110	438	0	yes
2023-Q4	224	212	0	98	165	111	429	4	yes
2023-Q3	258	242	0	85	190	123	378	41	yes
2023-Q2	278	231	0	117	187	150	484	62	yes
2023-Q1	220	210	0	50	166	126	401	40	yes
2022-Q4	201	176	0	522	130	164	512	39	yes
2022-Q3	200	183	0	141	136	107	549	43	yes
2022-Q2	252	233	0	169	175	155	655	58	yes
2022-Q1	229	218	0	78	168	149	511	44	yes
2021-Q4	197	176	0	112	132	174	599	43	yes
2021-Q3	230	211	0	233	165	188	676	44	yes
2021-Q2	218	204	0	319	152	180	687	39	yes
2021-Q1	205	187	0	310	147	154	552	32	yes
2020-Q4	217	203	12	214	152	126	703	50	yes
2020-Q3	263	235	4	215	161	163	932	78	yes
2020-Q2	102	87	4	72	43	66	316	50	yes
2020-Q1	281	266	0	138	147	189	549	116	yes
2019-Q4	355	338	0	122	180	148	756	146	yes
2019-Q3	393	383	0	43	219	108	648	160	yes
2019-Q2	381	350	0	40	196	133	676	153	yes
2019-Q1	305	293	0	68	166	148	787	122	yes
2018-Q4	342	330	0	154	194	174	1,045	135	yes
2018-Q3	333	323	0	55	181	107	454	136	yes
2018-Q2	357	344	0	81	197	176	538	142	yes
2018-Q1	315	302	0	119	167	140	677	131	yes
2017-Q4	351	337	0	60	192	142	631	139	yes
2017-Q3	406	387	0	215	224	146	678	152	yes
2017-Q2	345	333	0	54	196	140	640	122	yes
2017-Q1	297	288	0	82	166	147	662	111	yes
2016-Q4	293	277	0	125	146	176	620	121	yes
2016-Q3	333	316	0	134	168	132	647	140	yes
2016-Q2	374	357	0	72	202	140	604	146	yes
2016-Q1	349	335	0	136	194	132	760	138	yes
2015-Q4	359	341	0	105	175	158	709	155	yes
2015-Q3	351	331	0	168	159	154	653	159	yes
2015-Q2	359	344	0	100	202	152	666	133	yes
2015-Q1	342	331	0	45	201	110	587	122	yes
2014-Q4	309	298	0	160	167	146	783	117	yes
2014-Q3	357	341	0	55	195	118	655	136	yes
2014-Q2	388	376	0	42	232	106	558	131	yes
2014-Q1	343	335	0	39	212	137	533	120	yes
2013-Q4	309	301	0	237	180	141	721	105	yes
2013-Q3	343	334	0	81	198	131	640	122	yes
2013-Q2	315	306	0	96	189	111	559	109	yes
2013-Q1	324	322	0	81	189	118	579	118	yes
2012-Q4	265	259	0	50	176	148	549	71	yes
2012-Q3	330	321	0	34	211	100	529	98	yes
2012-Q2	275	265	0	41	166	106	548	92	yes
2012-Q1	247	238	0	106	163	119	492	71	yes
2011-Q4	242	235	0	26	145	99	521	85	yes
2011-Q3	303	296	0	12	186	81	342	95	yes
2011-Q2	287	285	0	18	189	100	399	85	yes
2011-Q1	255	244	0	20	175	77	346	63	yes
2010-Q4	272	260	0	79	186	100	482	65	yes
2010-Q3	338	325	0	30	208	84	497	103	yes
2010-Q2	344	333	0	15	210	90	356	103	yes
2010-Q1	259	250	0	34	160	90	383	74	yes
2009-Q4	297	294	0	14	186	108	401	84	yes
2009-Q3	296	289	0	19	175	66	310	97	yes
2009-Q2	317	309	0	13	216	74	359	76	yes
2009-Q1	305	297	0	9	160	88	413	103	yes
2008-Q4	291	284	0	31	152	104	479	98	yes
2008-Q3	351	337	0	4	177	87	333	113	yes
2008-Q2	360	353	0	7	184	115	289	121	yes
2008-Q1	344	333	0	7	161	89	377	131	yes
2007-Q4	377	367	0	7	159	111	441	144	yes
2007-Q3	406	393	0	3	193	78	341	139	yes
2007-Q2	339	332	0	1	164	88	333	109	yes
2007-Q1	335	330	0	75	173	115	585	106	yes
2006-Q4	317	310	0	16	147	101	331	120	yes
2006-Q3	356	347	0	26	172	112	414	109	yes
2006-Q2	330	322	0	36	172	116	472	99	yes
2006-Q1	347	342	0	0	183	91	381	112	yes
2005-Q4	331	325	0	1	154	84	385	112	yes
2005-Q3	392	384	0	17	190	108	412	128	yes
2005-Q2	399	390	0	6	202	109	438	126	yes
2005-Q1	281	276	0	156	148	114	363	84	yes
2004-Q4	301	292	0	32	168	118	332	82	yes
2004-Q3	413	403	0	41	195	120	466	145	yes
2004-Q2	364	355	0	55	182	106	376	119	yes
2004-Q1	291	283	0	95	143	90	363	85	yes
2003-Q4	271	270	0	1	142	98	447	82	yes
2003-Q3	349	343	0	73	165	86	340	124	yes
2003-Q2	274	267	0	113	144	108	379	77	yes
2003-Q1	283	280	0	9	138	88	360	87	yes
2002-Q4	275	263	0	140	133	120	480	83	yes
2002-Q3	321	312	0	137	164	109	381	94	yes
2002-Q2	359	344	0	56	163	91	306	46	yes
2002-Q1	308	299	0	17	172	98	291	15	yes
2001-Q4	253	250	0	101	124	100	324	11	yes
2001-Q3	327	321	0	58	185	97	349	5	yes
2001-Q2	353	338	0	127	188	126	431	7	yes
2001-Q1	283	274	0	185	156	104	390	9	yes
2000-Q4	313	301	0	113	165	121	406	3	yes
2000-Q3	342	328	0	108	179	120	405	2	yes
2000-Q2	345	334	0	80	198	148	493	2	yes
2000-Q1	298	293	0	165	143	161	595	1	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

8,799 of the 32,250 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 Noe Valley neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (4,669 filed, 3,402 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (3,842 filed, 2,770 finished; contractors); stairs (2,707 filed, 1,804 finished; contractors); deck (1,767 filed, 1,161 finished; contractors); roof deck (405 filed, 239 finished; contractors). Other types: 22,798 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Glen Park, Twin Peaks, Castro/Upper Market; 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.