Boston Building Permits Scraper

Overview

Extract 700,000+ Boston building permits from the official city open data portal. Get permit numbers, addresses, contractors, estimated costs, issue/expiration dates, occupancy types, and GPS coordinates. Filter by permit type, work type, date range, address, ward, cost range, and square footage.

Features

• Search by keywords to find specific results
• Filter results by category or type
• Includes location and address data
• Control output volume with configurable result limits
• Built-in proxy support for reliable data collection

Use Cases

• Track - Track state and local government data and permits
• Monitor - Monitor regulatory filings and public records
• Build - Build databases for civic tech and transparency projects
• Aggregate - Aggregate local government data for community research

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
maxItems	integer	Maximum number of permits to scrape. Set to 0 for unlimited.	100
permitType	string	Filter by permit type description (e.g., 'Long Form/Alteration', 'Short Form ...
workType	string	Filter by work type code (e.g., 'INTEXT' for Interior/Exterior, 'COB' for Cit...
status	string	Filter by permit status (e.g., 'Open', 'Closed')
dateFrom	string	Filter permits issued on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
dateTo	string	Filter permits issued on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
address	string	Search for permits containing this text in the address field
city	string	Filter by city (e.g., 'Boston', 'Dorchester', 'West Roxbury')
zip	string	Filter by ZIP code (e.g., '02109')
ward	integer	Filter by ward number (1-22)
minCost	integer	Filter permits with declared valuation at or above this amount (in dollars)
maxCost	integer	Filter permits with declared valuation at or below this amount (in dollars)
occupancyType	string	Filter by occupancy type (e.g., 'Res' for Residential, 'Comm' for Commercial,...
minSqFeet	integer	Filter permits for projects at or above this square footage
sortBy	string	Field to sort results by	issued_date
sortOrder	string	Sort direction	desc
proxyConfiguration	object	Proxy settings for the scraper. Usually not needed for this public API.

Output Example

Each result contains structured data like this:

{
  "permitNumber": "LIC-2025-001",
  "address": "123 Main St",
  "city": "San Francisco",
  "zip": "94105",
  "permitType": "Sample permitType",
  "workType": "Sample workType",
  "status": "Active",
  "issuedDate": "2025-01-15",
  "expirationDate": "2025-01-15",
  "declaredValuation": "Sample declaredValuation",
  "applicant": "Sample applicant"
}

Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-result pricing:

• $0.001 per result
• $1.00 per 1,000 results

No monthly fees. You only pay for what you scrape. Apify Free plan includes $5/month in platform credits.

How to Run

Apify Console

1. Go to the Boston Building Permits Scraper actor page
2. Configure your input parameters
3. Click Start and wait for the results
4. Download data in JSON, CSV, or Excel format

API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/fortuitous_pirate~boston-permits-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"maxItems": 10}'

Python SDK

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("fortuitous_pirate/boston-permits-scraper").call(
    run_input={"maxItems": 10}
)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Integration

Connect Boston Building Permits Scraper with your existing tools and workflows:

• API access - Programmatic access via Apify API
• Webhooks - Get notified when scraping completes
• Scheduling - Set up recurring runs on any schedule
• Zapier / Make - Connect with 5,000+ apps via Apify integrations
• Python / Node.js SDKs - Native client libraries for easy integration