Building Permits Search: NYC, LA, Chicago, Seattle

Recently issued building permits in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle

Building Permits Search reads the permit files that four big cities publish as open data and gives you the newest ones in a single format. Each permit has the date issued, address, type of work, a plain description, estimated cost and, where the city publishes it, the contractor. You can narrow the list by permit category, ZIP code, project cost and keyword, or ask for only the permits you have not seen before.

There is no account, API key or login to set up. Pick your cities and start the run.

Contractors, suppliers, solar and roofing companies use permit lists to find jobs that have just been approved. Real estate investors and appraisers use them to see what is being built or torn down in a neighborhood, and local reporters use them to follow big projects.

How to use it

1. Click Try for free and open the Input tab.
2. Choose your cities, then add a category, a ZIP code or a keyword if you want a narrower list.
3. Click Start, then open the Output tab.

To get only fresh permits every day, turn on Only permits not seen before and run it on a schedule. The Actor remembers what it already gave you for that exact set of filters.

Example inputs

New buildings in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle over the last 30 days:

{
    "cities": ["los-angeles", "chicago", "seattle"],
    "categories": ["new-building"],
    "daysBack": 30,
    "maxItems": 100
}

Roofing permits of $20,000 or more in all four cities:

{
    "categories": ["roofing"],
    "minCostUsd": 20000,
    "daysBack": 14,
    "maxItems": 100
}

Anything that mentions solar in Manhattan, with a contractor named:

{
    "cities": ["nyc"],
    "keywords": ["solar"],
    "zipCodes": ["100"],
    "onlyWithContractor": true,
    "maxItems": 50
}

What you get

For each permit: city, state, permit number, the city's own permit type, a simple category, status, work description, address, ZIP code, issue date, estimated cost in dollars, latitude and longitude. Where the city publishes them you also get the contractor name, license number and license type. Seattle permits include a link to the city's record.

Categories are new building, alteration or addition, general building work (New York only), demolition, roofing, electrical, plumbing and mechanical, signs, fences and scaffolds, and other.

A shortened example:

{
    "city": "Chicago",
    "state": "IL",
    "permitNumber": "B200517451",
    "permitType": "EXPRESS PERMIT PROGRAM - Electrical Work",
    "category": "electrical",
    "status": "ACTIVE",
    "description": "LINE VOLTAGE ELECTRICAL WORK. ADD 1 CIRCUITS TO EXISTING 200 AMP SERVICE DISCONNECTING MEANS. RECEPTACLE OUTLETS: 1 . LIGHTING OUTLETS: 0.",
    "address": "9216 S PAXTON AVE",
    "issuedDate": "2026-10-26",
    "estimatedCostUsd": 1500,
    "contractorName": "NOLAN ELECTRIC CONSTR. CO. INC",
    "contractorLicenseType": "ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR"
}

Which city publishes what

City	Contractor name	License number	ZIP code	Dataset
New York City	Yes	Yes	Yes	DOB NOW: Build, Approved Permits
Los Angeles	No	No	Yes	Building Permits Issued 2020 to Present
Chicago	Yes, when one is listed	No	No	Building Permits
Seattle	On some permits	No	Yes	Building Permits

New York's file lists work by trade, such as plumbing or sprinklers, and does not say whether a job is a new building or an alteration. Those permits show up as general building work. New York business names are cut off at 25 characters in the city's file.

Pricing

You pay per use. There is no monthly fee.

What	Price
Each permit returned	$0.003
Starting a run	$0.00005

Getting 500 permits costs $1.50, which is $3 per 1,000. A search that finds nothing costs only the start fee. Set Maximum cost per run in the run options, or use Max results, to cap what a single run can spend.

Questions

Do I need an account or key with the cities?

No. The Actor uses each city's public data portal.

Where does the data come from, and how fresh is it?

New York City Department of Buildings, the City of Los Angeles, the City of Chicago and the City of Seattle, through their open-data portals. The files update every day, but they can trail the city's own permit system by a few days. In late October 2026 the newest Seattle permits were about four days old, so very short date windows can come back empty.

Why did I get fewer results than I asked for?

Usually the filters. A category, ZIP code or minimum cost narrows each city, and a city that does not publish a field cannot match a filter on it. Chicago is left out when you filter by ZIP code, and Los Angeles has no contractors, so it drops out when you ask for permits with a contractor.

Does a permit mean the work has happened?

No. A permit means the city approved the work. It may not have started, and some permits are never used.

Something is wrong or missing. Where do I report it?

Open a thread in the Issues tab with the input you used and the permit number. I answer within a few days.

Good to know

Owner names, phone numbers and mailing addresses are not included, because they are about private people and are not needed to find the work. The address is the address of the project.

This is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of the cities. Data can be incomplete or out of date, so confirm anything important with the city. This is not legal advice.

Chicago data: this site provides applications using data that has been modified for use from its original source, www.cityofchicago.org, the official website of the City of Chicago. The City of Chicago makes no claims as to the content, accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of any of the data provided at this site. The data provided at this site is subject to change at any time. It is understood that the data provided at this site is being used at one's own risk.