Find the office that issues your building permit
360 US permit jurisdictions across 43 states. Every entry links to that jurisdiction's own official page, names the permit platform it runs on where we could identify it, and records the date we last retrieved it.
Start with the question you actually have
Do I need a permit?The reliable rule, the project types that always need one, and what skipping it really costs.How do I look up a permit?Find records on any property, including when nothing comes back online.Which office has jurisdiction?City, county or state — and why your mailing address does not answer this.There is unpermitted workWhat it means for a sale, and the realistic options for resolving it.My permit expired or is still openThe difference between the two, and how to close each one.I received a stop work orderWhat to do in the first hour, and the sequence for getting it lifted.
Browse by state
Alabama 10Alaska 5Arizona 8Arkansas 5California 19Colorado 11Delaware 2Florida 29Georgia 30Hawaii 4Idaho 9Illinois 12Indiana 5Iowa 10Kansas 2Kentucky 5Louisiana 6Maryland 5Michigan 7Minnesota 9Mississippi 3Missouri 9Montana 3Nebraska 28Nevada 5New Hampshire 1New Jersey 2New Mexico 5New York 4North Carolina 15North Dakota 6Ohio 2Oregon 4South Carolina 8South Dakota 8Tennessee 15Texas 9Utah 8Virginia 14Washington 3West Virginia 2Wisconsin 8Wyoming 5
Why we name the permit platform
Most jurisdictions do not build their own permit system; they buy one. We identified the platform for 119 of the jurisdictions listed here — Accela Citizen Access, Tyler EnerGov / Tyler 311, iWorQ, MyGov and others — because knowing which one you are about to use tells you more than any generic instruction can: whether an account is required before you can search, how the address matching behaves, and what usually goes wrong.
What this directory does differently
- We only list what we verified. Every jurisdiction here had its official page retrieved and read. Where we could not, there is no page — 18 states are missing for that reason, and we would rather say so than pad the count.
- We publish no fee amounts and no processing times. Both are set locally and change without notice. A stale figure in a directory is worse than no figure.
- We link to the source, not to copies of it. Forms are revised and offices reject superseded versions, so hosting our own copies would actively harm you.
- We show the date. Every jurisdiction page states when we last retrieved its official source.
The full standard is on our methodology page.