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

In the Outer Mission neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 296 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 272 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 74 days of being issued, down from 121 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	296 issued	0	353 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	272 finished	74	297 finished	121

“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	3	1			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	61	42	0	22	11	20	64	0	too recent
2026-Q2	87	80	0	45	40	40	98	0	too recent
2026-Q1	98	84	0	35	52	41	170	0	too recent
2025-Q4	99	90	0	32	66	70	214	0	too recent
2025-Q3	117	108	0	84	87	82	264	0	too recent
2025-Q2	85	81	0	34	62	45	222	0	too recent
2025-Q1	79	76	0	38	62	65	240	0	too recent
2024-Q4	91	88	0	47	70	68	237	0	too recent
2024-Q3	110	108	0	23	86	70	292	0	yes
2024-Q2	113	110	0	30	85	69	313	0	yes
2024-Q1	84	77	0	42	54	80	312	0	yes
2023-Q4	68	62	0	104	47	101	361	0	yes
2023-Q3	95	89	0	39	70	118	360	19	yes
2023-Q2	111	103	0	43	76	119	464	24	yes
2023-Q1	101	96	0	35	76	109	372	17	yes
2022-Q4	113	102	4	279	75	143	486	21	yes
2022-Q3	96	92	0	55	62	157	496	25	yes
2022-Q2	82	71	2	255	55	170	599	16	yes
2022-Q1	81	77	1	111	58	104	378	19	yes
2021-Q4	101	91	0	95	75	93	506	15	yes
2021-Q3	105	103	0	161	76	107	501	21	yes
2021-Q2	83	75	0	112	60	90	660	16	yes
2021-Q1	103	95	0	156	67	97	643	25	yes
2020-Q4	89	84	12	241	64	132	729	16	yes
2020-Q3	88	78	10	152	58	164	513	19	yes
2020-Q2	28	26	6	174	20	94	1,050	6	yes
2020-Q1	101	89	0	313	60	164	405	32	yes
2019-Q4	105	97	0	481	59	178	624	33	yes
2019-Q3	139	129	0	80	75	105	437	52	yes
2019-Q2	136	127	0	94	73	135	625	52	yes
2019-Q1	97	91	0	115	61	186	761	30	yes
2018-Q4	126	119	0	20	84	114	347	34	yes
2018-Q3	114	106	0	154	68	98	467	33	yes
2018-Q2	124	110	0	94	66	98	590	47	yes
2018-Q1	117	104	0	89	65	75	524	39	yes
2017-Q4	119	110	0	151	68	126	391	41	yes
2017-Q3	148	142	0	60	76	122	399	62	yes
2017-Q2	130	118	0	95	77	141	547	38	yes
2017-Q1	83	76	0	98	54	102	715	19	yes
2016-Q4	108	97	0	99	59	134	663	37	yes
2016-Q3	123	117	0	65	75	107	440	35	yes
2016-Q2	112	106	0	97	65	126	548	35	yes
2016-Q1	106	103	0	269	73	165	802	24	yes
2015-Q4	116	111	0	35	71	113	742	38	yes
2015-Q3	108	100	0	23	54	84	276	47	yes
2015-Q2	108	105	0	23	72	98	460	28	yes
2015-Q1	109	98	0	46	72	96	399	26	yes
2014-Q4	98	92	0	19	53	117	497	37	yes
2014-Q3	90	86	0	22	43	112	332	40	yes
2014-Q2	105	98	0	22	71	132	329	24	yes
2014-Q1	76	76	0	84	51	112	381	23	yes
2013-Q4	90	86	0	85	65	106	327	20	yes
2013-Q3	96	94	0	56	61	84	458	32	yes
2013-Q2	103	100	0	11	64	104	358	32	yes
2013-Q1	82	79	0	12	58	104	424	18	yes
2012-Q4	76	72	0	23	45	122	341	26	yes
2012-Q3	88	87	0	10	60	105	423	26	yes
2012-Q2	98	96	0	24	71	62	271	19	yes
2012-Q1	99	94	0	15	60	71	229	33	yes
2011-Q4	86	84	0	6	65	77	294	16	yes
2011-Q3	125	122	0	8	88	62	224	31	yes
2011-Q2	102	100	0	4	70	88	430	21	yes
2011-Q1	107	105	0	30	83	89	272	19	yes
2010-Q4	96	93	0	14	56	105	686	35	yes
2010-Q3	103	100	0	6	69	74	425	30	yes
2010-Q2	127	123	0	11	74	95	316	46	yes
2010-Q1	108	107	0	6	46	59	270	57	yes
2009-Q4	136	134	0	6	73	63	305	58	yes
2009-Q3	114	109	0	21	67	63	297	34	yes
2009-Q2	119	110	0	6	60	62	365	38	yes
2009-Q1	87	86	0	4	48	62	263	30	yes
2008-Q4	103	99	0	5	60	84	284	30	yes
2008-Q3	127	118	0	4	71	75	197	34	yes
2008-Q2	146	146	0	4	79	93	255	43	yes
2008-Q1	86	81	0	4	46	128	243	24	yes
2007-Q4	126	123	0	4	62	75	252	38	yes
2007-Q3	125	120	0	3	77	83	302	20	yes
2007-Q2	107	104	0	0	66	68	228	20	yes
2007-Q1	122	118	0	37	63	96	337	30	yes
2006-Q4	129	122	0	0	72	87	297	19	yes
2006-Q3	132	128	0	0	70	82	234	32	yes
2006-Q2	103	103	0	0	57	76	263	24	yes
2006-Q1	113	111	0	0	70	108	319	20	yes
2005-Q4	99	99	0	0	58	69	331	15	yes
2005-Q3	120	119	0	0	64	64	306	33	yes
2005-Q2	130	125	0	0	68	70	270	21	yes
2005-Q1	112	112	0	157	66	123	371	17	yes
2004-Q4	133	132	0	30	68	102	314	26	yes
2004-Q3	161	159	0	2	84	104	370	39	yes
2004-Q2	115	114	0	0	70	96	204	23	yes
2004-Q1	129	124	0	0	71	64	182	27	yes
2003-Q4	146	146	0	257	78	151	511	33	yes
2003-Q3	120	118	0	0	67	93	244	31	yes
2003-Q2	112	111	0	2	57	92	249	29	yes
2003-Q1	104	100	0	31	59	70	290	23	yes
2002-Q4	119	117	0	0	59	103	475	34	yes
2002-Q3	138	133	0	0	86	58	260	29	yes
2002-Q2	144	138	0	52	78	116	363	6	yes
2002-Q1	122	122	0	30	62	106	312	2	yes
2001-Q4	127	121	0	42	57	95	311	2	yes
2001-Q3	155	154	0	248	67	122	499	5	yes
2001-Q2	127	122	0	19	64	78	250	0	yes
2001-Q1	100	96	0	28	47	106	345	2	yes
2000-Q4	139	138	0	27	66	103	238	1	yes
2000-Q3	142	136	0	29	68	141	403	1	yes
2000-Q2	137	136	0	32	60	75	445	0	yes
2000-Q1	105	99	0	149	48	114	622	2	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

2,521 of the 11,666 building permits filed since 2000 (22%) 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 Outer Mission neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (2,084 filed, 1,559 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (1,307 filed, 942 finished; contractors); stairs (749 filed, 512 finished; contractors); deck (403 filed, 278 finished; contractors). Other types: 8,343 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Excelsior, Oceanview/Merced/Ingleside, Glen Park; 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.