Answers · Chicago building permits
How many building permits does Chicago issue each month?
The City of Chicago issued 2,744 building permits in the 30 days to 2026-07-29 — every permit type, citywide — counted directly in the City's own file, dataset ydr8-5enu. Across 90 days, 5,319 distinct contractors appear on at least one permit. Both figures are counts, not estimates or projections.
Inside a single 30-day window, 1,998 distinct contractors pulled at least one permit (measured 2026-07-29). The larger 90-day figure is not three times the 30-day one, because most contractors pull permits in some months and not others.
A month of permits is not a month of leads. Permit types range from a sign to a new building, and reported cost is whatever the applicant filed.
How this is measured
- Dataset
- ydr8-5enu
- Publisher
- City of Chicago
- Filter
- Every permit with an issue date inside the trailing 30 days. No permit-type filter, no cost floor, no ward or community-area filter.
- Measured
- 2026-07-29
Caveat. The count moves. The City files permits continuously and back-fills late records, so a 30-day window measured on a different day returns a different number.
Permit Signal
Permit Signal delivers the same file each morning, cut to one trade. The first delivery is three real records, free, with the government source link on every row.