Dataset
US Building Permit Data
Building permit data is the public record of construction work authorized by US cities and counties: every roof, addition, system replacement, and new build. Builty collects these records directly from thousands of local jurisdictions and structures them into one consistent, address-level national dataset: 300M+ records covering more than 80% of the US population, with 25+ years of history and 100+ attributes parsed from the permit text.
300M+
Permit records structured
80%+
Of the US population covered
25+ yrs
Of permit history
100+
Structured attributes
What's in the data
One structure, whatever the jurisdiction's dialect
Every record is normalized to the same fields, whatever format the issuing jurisdiction used.
| Field | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
street_address | 1428 Fair Oaks Blvd | Normalized and address-matched |
locality / county / state / zip | Sacramento · CA · 95864 | With FIPS and CBSA codes |
projects | Structure.Roofing | Builty taxonomy; a permit can carry several |
work_type / record_type | Alteration · Building Permit | Standardized across jurisdictions |
status | Final | Mapped from ~29,000 raw status phrases |
date_submitted / issued / finaled | 2023-08-04 | One timeline, one format |
project_value | $11,000 | Declared job value where published |
attributes | material, capacity, count… | Parsed from the description text |
contacts | contractor · owner · applicant | Where the jurisdiction publishes them |
risk scores | 0-100 | 10+ proprietary scores (optional) |
Transformation
What a raw permit looks like, and what you get
Jurisdictions publish trade shorthand with no key and no shared field names. This is a real record.
Raw record, as published
Builty structured output
"T/O R/R RESHEET 20 SQ W/ 30 YR LAM DIM COMP"Roof · Sacramento, CA
Project: Structure.Roofing · Scope: Tear-off + re-sheath · Material: 30-yr dimensional composition shingle · Area: 20 squares (2,000 ft²)
Use cases
What people build with it
The same record answers a different question in each market.
Insurance
Property condition for underwriting and a pre-loss baseline for claims: roof age, systems, structural change.
Mortgage & valuation
Permit-verified improvement history for AVMs, collateral checks, and construction-loan monitoring.
Construction & suppliers
Project leads by type and geography, pipeline forecasting, and competitor tracking.
Capital markets
Permit volume as a leading indicator of construction activity, months ahead of reported figures.
Government & research
Address-level ground truth where national statistics only publish sampled counts.
Proptech platforms
Property history embedded directly into your own product, via API or bulk delivery.
Coverage
Collected at the source
Collected directly from local permitting authorities. Builty is the source of record, not a reseller of another vendor's feed.
Thousands of jurisdictions80%+ of the US populationAll 50 states representedResidential & commercialHistorical + ongoing updates
Coverage is deepest in the metros where construction activity concentrates. State-by-state detail:
Arizona building permit dataCalifornia building permit dataColorado building permit dataFlorida building permit dataMassachusetts building permit dataNew York building permit dataNorth Carolina building permit dataOhio building permit dataOregon building permit dataTexas building permit dataVirginia building permit dataWashington building permit data
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is building permit data?
Building permit data is the public record of construction work authorized by a city or county: new builds, roofs, additions, electrical and plumbing work, solar, pools, and more. Each permit is a dated, government-issued record of a physical change to a property. Aggregated nationally, permits are the most complete public record of what has actually been built across the US property stock.
Are building permits public record?
Yes. Building permits are public records issued by local government. The difficulty isn't access; it's that every jurisdiction publishes them in its own format, its own field names, and its own shorthand, so they can't be compared or used at scale without standardization.
How many building permit jurisdictions are there in the US?
There are thousands of separate permitting jurisdictions in the United States, each running its own system with no shared standard between them. Federal statistics don't close this gap: the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey collects from roughly 8,600 jurisdictions and statistically imputes the rest, and reports only monthly counts, not address-level records.
Where can I get nationwide building permit data?
Builty provides nationwide US building permit data as a single structured dataset, collected directly from local jurisdictions and normalized to one schema. It's delivered by API, bulk file, subscription feed, or a no-code web portal.
How far back does the data go?
Builty's permit history spans 25+ years. Depth varies by jurisdiction, since each publishes what its own system retained, and records with placeholder dates from legacy systems are flagged rather than treated as real.
How current is the data?
Records are collected on an ongoing basis and delivered on the cadence you choose. Publication lag varies by jurisdiction (some publish daily, others in periodic batches), and that timing is carried with the data rather than hidden.
What formats is it delivered in?
A REST API for address-level lookups, bulk files for a geography or property set, an ongoing subscription feed scoped to your book, and a web portal for analysts. No forced migration.
Vertical datasets
Cut for a specific question
Each vertical dataset is the national record narrowed to one kind of construction, with the attributes that matter for it parsed out.
Structure & Materials
Vertical dataset
New Construction →
Every new building authorized, with the dates that bracket the build, so a property's age comes from the permit rather than an assessor estimate. ADUs included.
Vertical dataset
Multifamily →
Apartment and condo construction with the unit count parsed out, so supply is measured in units, not filings.
Vertical dataset
Roofing →
Roof replacement and repair with tear-off, material, and warranty term, and roof age derived at the address from the permit.
Vertical dataset
Building Materials →
What buildings are actually made of: roof coverings, siding, structural systems, glazing, and brand where the permit names it.
Systems & Energy
Vertical dataset
HVAC, Electrical & Plumbing →
Mechanical systems installed and replaced, with capacity and fuel, and systems age derived per trade at the address.
Vertical dataset
Solar & Storage →
Distributed generation as it is authorized: system size, modules, inverters, battery capacity, and EV charging.
Vertical dataset
Fire Protection →
Sprinkler and suppression systems by type, standard, and install date, at address level.
Infrastructure
See the data for your geography
Tell us the market and use case, and we'll send a real sample, not a brochure.
Request a Sample