Method and sources

Every number on this site is computed from official city permit records. Nothing is estimated by hand, and pages are rebuilt from the data.

Sources

• Austin: City of Austin Development Services, Issued Construction Permits (3syk-w9eu). Licence: Public Domain U.S. Government. Latest issue date in our copy: Oct 19, 2026.
• Los Angeles: Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS), LADBS Building Permits Issued (pi9x-tg5x). Licence: No licence field; portal terms of use (data.lacity.org/terms-of-use). Latest issue date in our copy: Oct 17, 2026.
• Seattle: Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI), Building Permits (76t5-zqzr). Licence: Public Domain (attribution: City of Seattle). Latest issue date in our copy: Oct 16, 2026.

Records are collected through each portal's public API, respecting its robots rules. We request only permit numbers, types, unit counts, dates, status and ZIP code: no names, addresses or contact details.

What we measure

Wait = calendar days from the application date to the issue date. This includes time the applicant spends on corrections, so it is longer than "days in City control" figures some cities publish.

• Window: each city's trailing 365 days, ending on the latest issue date in that city's feed (Seattle ADUs use an earlier window, explained on that page).
• Outliers: gaps below zero or above 1,500 days are dropped as data errors; each page reports how many.
• Minimum sample: no statistic, ZIP row or page is shown for fewer than 25 permits.
• Median = half of permits issued faster. Middle half = the 25th to 75th percentile. Slowest tenth = the 90th percentile.
• Voided permits are excluded. Feeds that list only issued permits (Austin, Los Angeles) can't show applications still waiting.

Project-type definitions

• Austin, All new housing permits: Permits for new residential buildings that add at least one housing unit (permit classes for single-family, secondary apartment, two-family, three-to-four and five-plus family).
• Austin, New single-family homes: New single-family house permits (Austin permit class code 101).
• Austin, Two-unit homes and secondary apartments: New two-family buildings and secondary apartments (Austin permit class codes 102 and 103). Austin's backyard units and duplex-style second homes are filed under these classes.
• Austin, Apartment buildings (3+ units): New buildings with three or more units (Austin permit class codes 104 and 105).
• Los Angeles, All permits that add housing: LADBS permits with a net gain in dwelling units or ADUs, including new buildings, additions and conversions.
• Los Angeles, New one- and two-family homes: New-building permits for one- or two-family dwellings.
• Los Angeles, New buildings that create an ADU: New-building permits where LADBS records at least one accessory dwelling unit (the adu_changed field). Garage conversions and other ADU alterations are not separable in this feed and are excluded.
• Los Angeles, New apartment buildings: New-building permits LADBS classes as Apartment.
• Seattle, All new housing permits: SDCI construction permits of type New that add at least one housing unit.
• Seattle, Permits that include an ADU: New-construction permits whose dwelling-unit type includes an attached or detached accessory dwelling unit (AADU or DADU), with or without a new house.

Known limitations

• Seattle's open data stopped recording dwelling-unit type on recently issued permits, so recent Seattle permits can't be split by home type.
• Los Angeles ADU alterations (such as garage conversions) can't be separated from other alterations in this feed and are excluded from the ADU figure.
• San Francisco and New York City are collected but not yet published here.

Data download

stats.json (all figures on this site). Built Oct 21, 2026.

Affiliate disclosure

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