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

In the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 433 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 408 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 104 days of being issued, down from 142 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	433 issued	0	486 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	408 finished	104	438 finished	142

“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	5	1			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	108	79	0	15	16	25	34	0	too recent
2026-Q2	128	107	0	40	51	21	96	0	too recent
2026-Q1	113	106	0	26	77	54	175	0	too recent
2025-Q4	153	141	0	97	80	84	253	0	too recent
2025-Q3	118	108	0	82	71	84	285	0	too recent
2025-Q2	141	133	0	63	95	61	326	0	too recent
2025-Q1	134	124	0	53	101	94	276	0	too recent
2024-Q4	129	121	0	79	91	112	330	0	too recent
2024-Q3	123	116	0	36	98	97	342	0	yes
2024-Q2	157	147	0	45	112	108	363	0	yes
2024-Q1	144	133	0	124	104	106	329	0	yes
2023-Q4	139	127	0	70	94	90	428	5	yes
2023-Q3	172	158	0	28	131	123	352	33	yes
2023-Q2	157	144	1	64	113	137	348	27	yes
2023-Q1	127	120	1	91	95	153	639	20	yes
2022-Q4	151	131	3	163	99	188	673	24	yes
2022-Q3	119	104	0	118	88	152	553	15	yes
2022-Q2	147	142	1	85	118	172	589	17	yes
2022-Q1	149	131	0	110	109	173	569	18	yes
2021-Q4	134	124	2	82	94	155	697	24	yes
2021-Q3	149	139	0	71	106	166	730	25	yes
2021-Q2	158	147	2	138	108	180	727	37	yes
2021-Q1	162	152	12	123	112	180	614	35	yes
2020-Q4	138	121	3	161	84	162	589	40	yes
2020-Q3	182	161	6	126	102	178	633	63	yes
2020-Q2	77	68	5	137	34	146	394	37	yes
2020-Q1	213	197	0	163	97	182	701	96	yes
2019-Q4	271	256	0	67	129	237	802	117	yes
2019-Q3	279	268	0	74	117	135	629	146	yes
2019-Q2	262	246	0	54	120	143	654	130	yes
2019-Q1	222	214	0	72	107	166	716	106	yes
2018-Q4	226	214	0	56	104	114	620	104	yes
2018-Q3	311	303	0	101	170	166	688	125	yes
2018-Q2	306	289	0	105	153	165	657	132	yes
2018-Q1	267	254	0	32	123	205	686	132	yes
2017-Q4	247	233	0	80	101	155	744	131	yes
2017-Q3	348	332	0	475	188	183	668	140	yes
2017-Q2	270	255	0	140	144	167	601	105	yes
2017-Q1	205	194	0	54	88	133	542	104	yes
2016-Q4	208	195	0	172	90	192	814	99	yes
2016-Q3	280	266	0	244	143	167	792	122	yes
2016-Q2	246	233	0	61	125	177	661	102	yes
2016-Q1	199	195	0	89	106	188	878	83	yes
2015-Q4	238	225	0	82	123	163	765	100	yes
2015-Q3	275	259	0	58	142	150	581	109	yes
2015-Q2	256	245	0	81	144	196	615	93	yes
2015-Q1	232	222	0	72	115	136	785	103	yes
2014-Q4	229	218	0	64	122	124	698	93	yes
2014-Q3	216	211	0	69	115	153	570	92	yes
2014-Q2	225	220	0	61	126	136	688	90	yes
2014-Q1	173	167	0	21	97	98	368	67	yes
2013-Q4	205	198	0	36	98	119	539	93	yes
2013-Q3	219	212	0	6	96	109	350	102	yes
2013-Q2	197	191	0	24	110	94	473	74	yes
2013-Q1	183	179	0	12	114	78	358	62	yes
2012-Q4	205	194	0	11	112	118	553	73	yes
2012-Q3	213	206	0	54	119	153	726	81	yes
2012-Q2	199	191	0	56	124	99	520	56	yes
2012-Q1	180	174	0	27	119	102	595	46	yes
2011-Q4	178	174	0	10	106	100	540	55	yes
2011-Q3	216	212	0	7	119	110	476	78	yes
2011-Q2	216	208	0	9	111	141	468	76	yes
2011-Q1	157	153	0	29	96	119	506	48	yes
2010-Q4	133	132	0	7	67	98	406	44	yes
2010-Q3	189	182	0	12	81	105	569	83	yes
2010-Q2	210	201	0	23	98	114	531	93	yes
2010-Q1	161	153	0	23	79	103	452	67	yes
2009-Q4	168	164	0	8	78	95	289	72	yes
2009-Q3	170	165	0	7	62	88	365	83	yes
2009-Q2	169	162	0	25	89	69	415	65	yes
2009-Q1	172	166	0	8	88	90	352	60	yes
2008-Q4	198	192	0	13	94	94	346	74	yes
2008-Q3	242	233	0	2	98	144	286	102	yes
2008-Q2	215	206	0	5	84	103	347	86	yes
2008-Q1	203	197	0	22	95	101	338	80	yes
2007-Q4	233	225	0	9	103	100	349	97	yes
2007-Q3	244	236	0	4	101	122	260	98	yes
2007-Q2	220	215	0	0	100	103	386	89	yes
2007-Q1	192	190	0	2	80	112	306	76	yes
2006-Q4	157	150	0	0	65	118	347	60	yes
2006-Q3	192	189	0	1	78	118	436	82	yes
2006-Q2	219	209	0	0	102	104	304	79	yes
2006-Q1	156	150	0	17	81	92	262	51	yes
2005-Q4	159	158	0	39	68	114	291	62	yes
2005-Q3	206	200	0	0	100	121	342	74	yes
2005-Q2	185	184	0	1	94	100	354	65	yes
2005-Q1	175	171	0	39	78	133	362	63	yes
2004-Q4	192	187	0	3	93	90	473	67	yes
2004-Q3	243	235	0	0	92	90	277	98	yes
2004-Q2	196	193	0	7	103	84	349	63	yes
2004-Q1	144	138	0	0	61	104	339	47	yes
2003-Q4	151	148	0	82	73	119	279	51	yes
2003-Q3	190	186	0	2	98	108	336	48	yes
2003-Q2	161	153	0	60	80	83	309	42	yes
2003-Q1	161	157	0	32	78	95	347	29	yes
2002-Q4	147	143	0	60	54	110	418	39	yes
2002-Q3	168	162	0	16	84	100	331	34	yes
2002-Q2	131	131	0	34	59	112	285	17	yes
2002-Q1	145	135	0	68	52	91	304	5	yes
2001-Q4	159	149	0	65	72	100	597	6	yes
2001-Q3	158	156	0	71	73	123	457	4	yes
2001-Q2	154	149	0	34	73	96	334	2	yes
2001-Q1	127	121	0	69	56	96	322	4	yes
2000-Q4	150	137	0	76	58	136	649	4	yes
2000-Q3	139	130	0	6	45	126	354	0	yes
2000-Q2	175	169	0	120	63	122	425	2	yes
2000-Q1	148	142	0	49	49	139	542	0	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

6,352 of the 19,993 building permits filed since 2000 (32%) 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 Russian Hill neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (3,069 filed, 2,224 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (3,022 filed, 2,219 finished; contractors); stairs (887 filed, 594 finished; contractors); deck (425 filed, 281 finished; contractors); roof deck (310 filed, 176 finished; contractors). Other types: 14,642 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Nob Hill, North Beach, Chinatown; 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.