State coverage

Massachusetts Building Permit Data

Massachusetts building permit data is the public record of construction authorized by Massachusetts cities and towns. Builty holds 7.5M+ structured Massachusetts permit records from 115 issuing jurisdictions across 12 counties, covering 1998 to the present, matched to addresses and normalized to a single schema.

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7.5M+
Structured permit records
115
Issuing jurisdictions
12
Counties covered
1998 to today
Sustained coverage
Coverage

Where the records are

Massachusetts permits at town level rather than county level, so volume is spread unusually wide: Boston is the largest single stream at only about 9% of state records.

JurisdictionShare of state recordsNotable for
Boston9.0%Dense urban stock, change of use and deep renovation
Worcester5.8%Central Massachusetts' largest stream
New Bedford3.4%Older coastal housing stock, systems replacement
Barnstable Town3.3%Cape Cod coastal exposure and seasonal property
Andover3.1%Representative of the state's town-level permitting
Brookline2.7%Dense inner-ring suburb, historic stock

Coverage continues across the remaining 109 jurisdictions. Ask for the full jurisdiction list →

What's in the data

What's in the Massachusetts data

FieldCoverageNotes
street_address + geoCompleteCounty, locality, ZIP, CBSA and FIPS codes on every record
descriptionNearly completeThe free text the jurisdiction published
projectsMost recordsBuilty taxonomy labels across ten categories
record_type / work_typeNearly completeStandardized across every issuing authority
attributesMost recordsParsed detail such as utility type, dwelling type, structure type
DatesMost recordsSubmitted, issued, finaled, on one timeline

Records outside the usable window are flagged, so a date is either real or explicitly unknown.

Roughly 0.2M of these records come from 9 retired permitting platforms that Massachusetts jurisdictions have since replaced. That history stays in the data when a locality changes systems.

Use cases

What Massachusetts data answers

Historic stock & renovation
Some of the oldest housing stock in the country, with a correspondingly heavy renovation record.
Coastal exposure
Cape Cod and South Coast storm, elevation, and mitigation work.
Systems replacement
Heating, electrical, and plumbing replacement across century-old housing.
Housing supply
New residential construction and unit counts by city and town.
Property condition
Roof, systems, and structural history at address level.
Market research
A century of records in the deepest jurisdictions, in one schema.
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Are Massachusetts building permits public record?
Yes. Building permits issued by Massachusetts jurisdictions are public records. Each one publishes them in its own format and its own system, which is why a statewide view requires collecting and standardizing them jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
How do I look up a building permit in Massachusetts?
For a single property, the issuing jurisdiction's permit portal is the place to start, since permits are issued locally rather than by the state. For many properties at once, or for analysis across jurisdictions, a standardized dataset is the practical route: Builty holds 7.5M+ Massachusetts permit records in one consistent structure.
How far back does Massachusetts permit data go?
Massachusetts carries sustained coverage from 1998 to the present. Individual jurisdictions reach back further, and some records carry placeholder dates from legacy systems; those are identified as placeholders, so the stated window is the one the data actually supports.
Which Massachusetts city has the most building permits?
Boston, at roughly 9% of state records, followed by Worcester. Because Massachusetts permits at town level, no single jurisdiction dominates the way it does in most states.
Does Builty cover Massachusetts towns, not just cities?
Yes. Town-level permitting is the norm in Massachusetts, and the state has one of the highest jurisdiction counts in the coverage set as a result.
Can I get data for a single county or city?
Yes. Delivery can be scoped to any set of Massachusetts jurisdictions, project types, or date ranges, by API, bulk file, or ongoing feed.
Related

Keep reading

Infrastructure
Data Centers & Power →
Structure & Materials
Multifamily →
Overview
US Building Permit Data →

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