Data report Bay Area ADU Permit Clock 2026 Updated 2026-10-20 109 cities and counties
How long does an ADU permit take in the Bay Area?
Months from ADU application to building permit, for 5,578 ADUs permitted in 2023–2025. The dot is the median wait in each city; the bar spans the middle half of applicants. The dashed line is the Bay Area median, 6.0 months.
6.0months
Bay Area median. The middle half of applicants waited 3.8 to 10.5 months. Pick your city to see where it lands among 52 ranked jurisdictions.
Median Middle half (25th to 75th percentile) Bay Area median 52 jurisdictions with 20+ matched permits
- 1Pleasant Hill 1.5
- 2Mill Valley 2.3
- 3Oakley 3.0
- 4Livermore 3.0
- 5Albany 3.2
- 6Larkspur 3.2
- 7Benicia 3.3
- 8Atherton 3.4
- 9San Rafael 4.1
- 10Alameda 4.3
- 11Concord 4.3
- 12Uninc. Sonoma 4.3
- 13Corte Madera 4.5
- 14Uninc. Solano 4.6
- 15Sunnyvale 4.6
- 16Tiburon 4.8
- 17El Cerrito 4.8
- 18Uninc. Napa 5.1
- 19Palo Alto 5.1
- 20Walnut Creek 5.3
- 21Hillsborough 5.3
- 22Mountain View 5.4
- 23San Anselmo 5.4
- 24San Jose 5.4
- 25Novato 5.6
- 26Hayward 5.7
- 27Belmont 6.0
- 28Lafayette 6.2
- 29San Leandro 6.2
- 30Uninc. Contra Costa 6.2
- 31Milpitas 6.2
- 32San Carlos 6.3
- 33Los Gatos 6.3
- 34Santa Rosa 6.4
- 35Uninc. San Mateo 7.0
- 36Fremont 7.0
- 37Los Altos 7.2
- 38Uninc. Marin 7.2
- 39Oakland 7.3
- 40Campbell 7.8
- 41Richmond 8.0
- 42Piedmont 8.0
- 43Uninc. Santa Clara 8.2
- 44Saratoga 8.3
- 45Vallejo 8.3
- 46Santa Clara 8.4
- 47East Palo Alto 8.6
- 48Ross 9.0
- 49Burlingame 9.1
- 50San Pablo 10.4
- 51San Francisco 13.0
- 52Half Moon Bay 15.9
| San Jose Santa Clara | 5.4 | 9.3 | 402 | 2.2 | +4% | 13.1 |
| San Francisco San Francisco | 13.0 | 22.7 | 227 | 3.4 | -34% | 18.5 |
| Oakland Alameda | 7.3 | 13.1 | 203 | 2.7 | -16% | 18.2 |
| Palo Alto Santa Clara | 5.1 | 7.2 | 129 | 7.8 | +81% | 14.2 |
| Unincorporated Sonoma County Sonoma | 4.3 | 7.5 | 121 | 2.3 | +33% | 14.9 |
| Fremont Alameda | 7.0 | 11.6 | 117 | 2.6 | +89% | 15.4 |
| Unincorporated Contra Costa County Contra Costa | 6.2 | 9.6 | 116 | 2.3 | +62% | 13.3 |
| Berkeley Alameda | — | — | 104 | 4.7 | -2% | 12.3 |
| Unincorporated Alameda County Alameda | — | — | 102 | 2.9 | +168% | 11.1 |
| Saratoga Santa Clara | 8.3 | 12.4 | 89 | 9.3 | +103% | — |
| Los Altos Santa Clara | 7.2 | 10.4 | 83 | 8.6 | +108% | 14.6 |
| Santa Rosa Sonoma | 6.4 | 10.2 | 79 | 1.9 | +20% | 12.5 |
| San Mateo San Mateo | — | — | 78 | 4.2 | +33% | 12.3 |
| Santa Clara Santa Clara | 8.4 | 12.2 | 76 | 3.8 | +52% | 11.3 |
| Menlo Park San Mateo | n/c | — | 75 | 10.4 | +326% | 11.6 |
| Sunnyvale Santa Clara | 4.6 | 7.4 | 74 | 3.3 | +20% | 12.5 |
| Unincorporated Santa Clara County Santa Clara | 8.2 | 10.9 | 73 | 3.3 | +70% | 12.6 |
| Richmond Contra Costa | 8.0 | 14.6 | 67 | 2.9 | +28% | 16.1 |
| Unincorporated Marin County Marin | 7.2 | 12.0 | 63 | 2.8 | +73% | 14.6 |
| Napa Napa | 6.7 * | 12.8 | 63 | 3.2 | +37% | 8.6 |
| Concord Contra Costa | 4.3 | 7.6 | 58 | 2.1 | +111% | 8.7 |
| Hayward Alameda | 5.7 | 8.3 | 57 | 2.1 | +67% | 14.5 |
| Redwood City San Mateo | — | — | 57 | 3.9 | -2% | 10.1 |
| Unincorporated San Mateo County San Mateo | 7.0 | 11.1 | 56 | 3.0 | +44% | 10.9 |
| Mountain View Santa Clara | 5.4 | 8.2 | 56 | 5.1 | +165% | 12.9 |
| Vacaville Solano | — | — | 54 | 2.0 | +482% | 8.2 |
| Alameda Alameda | 4.3 | 5.9 | 53 | 3.7 | +12% | 9.4 |
| San Leandro Alameda | 6.2 | 9.0 | 52 | 2.6 | +69% | 14.7 |
| Hillsborough San Mateo | 5.3 | 8.5 | 49 | 12.7 | +92% | 18.2 |
| Campbell Santa Clara | 7.8 | 12.9 | 49 | 5.8 | +53% | 11.5 |
| South San Francisco San Mateo | — | — | 48 | 3.6 | +58% | 11.5 |
| Livermore Alameda | 3.0 | 5.0 | 46 | 2.0 | +2% | 13.3 |
| Los Gatos Santa Clara | 6.3 | 11.2 | 44 | 5.3 | +8% | 12.8 |
| Antioch Contra Costa | — | — | 43 | 1.4 | +165% | 6.1 |
| Burlingame San Mateo | 9.1 | 12.3 | 41 | 6.4 | +53% | 17.3 |
| Cupertino Santa Clara | 13.5 * | 16.2 | 36 | 2.9 | +44% | 16.7 |
| Milpitas Santa Clara | 6.2 | 15.9 | 35 | 2.6 | +91% | 13.3 |
| Pleasanton Alameda | — | — | 34 | 1.9 | +159% | 8.3 |
| Lafayette Contra Costa | 6.2 | 9.3 | 33 | 4.3 | +144% | 13.1 |
| Gilroy Santa Clara | — | — | 33 | 2.5 | +90% | 8.4 |
| Daly City San Mateo | — | — | 32 | 2.0 | -54% | 15.3 |
| San Bruno San Mateo | n/c | — | 32 | 3.4 | +1% | 10.4 |
| Vallejo Solano | 8.3 | 13.1 | 31 | 1.0 | +3% | 12.0 |
| Union City Alameda | — | — | 31 | 2.3 | +121% | 8.5 |
| San Rafael Marin | 4.1 | 5.7 | 31 | 2.7 | +37% | 11.0 |
| San Carlos San Mateo | 6.3 | 7.8 | 31 | 3.7 | +11% | 11.7 |
| Walnut Creek Contra Costa | 5.3 | 8.7 | 30 | 2.3 | +62% | 12.1 |
| El Cerrito Contra Costa | 4.8 | 7.6 | 29 | 3.9 | +42% | 10.8 |
| East Palo Alto San Mateo | 8.6 | 16.5 | 28 | 6.5 | +67% | 14.1 |
| Los Altos Hills Santa Clara | 15.1 * | 19.0 | 28 | 8.8 | +12% | 25.3 |
| Dublin Alameda | — | — | 27 | 2.0 | +131% | 8.5 |
| Atherton San Mateo | 3.4 | 5.1 | 27 | 10.7 | -5% | 23.3 |
| Pittsburg Contra Costa | — | — | 26 | 1.5 | +353% | 4.4 |
| Belmont San Mateo | 6.0 | 7.5 | 25 | 3.8 | +63% | 13.0 |
| Petaluma Sonoma | — | — | 25 | 1.4 | -7% | 16.3 |
| Newark Alameda | — | — | 24 | 2.1 | +64% | 16.2 |
| Martinez Contra Costa | n/c | — | 23 | 2.4 | +141% | 8.0 |
| Pleasant Hill Contra Costa | 1.5 | 3.1 | 22 | 2.5 | +69% | 7.7 |
| Mill Valley Marin | 2.3 | 4.8 | 21 | 5.0 | +7% | 15.1 |
| Morgan Hill Santa Clara | — | — | 21 | 2.3 | +137% | 6.7 |
| San Pablo Contra Costa | 10.4 | 16.5 | 21 | 4.6 | +97% | 11.9 |
| Novato Marin | 5.6 | 7.4 | 21 | 1.7 | +34% | 13.4 |
| Woodside San Mateo | — | — | 21 | 9.6 | +59% | 17.8 |
| Brentwood Contra Costa | — | — | 20 | 1.0 | +36% | 7.5 |
| Unincorporated Napa County Napa | 5.1 | 10.5 | 18 | 2.0 | +67% | 18.8 |
| Tiburon Marin | 4.8 | 9.6 | 18 | 6.7 | +350% | 13.8 |
| Piedmont Alameda | 8.0 | 12.5 | 18 | 4.8 | -9% | 15.8 |
| Pacifica San Mateo | n/c | — | 17 | 1.6 | -32% | 10.2 |
| San Anselmo Marin | 5.4 | 10.0 | 16 | 3.9 | +53% | 9.0 |
| Fairfield Solano | 3.7 * | 5.7 | 16 | 0.5 | +145% | 7.6 |
| Larkspur Marin | 3.2 | 5.9 | 16 | 6.0 | — | 9.5 |
| Danville Contra Costa | — | — | 16 | 1.3 | -45% | 14.7 |
| Orinda Contra Costa | 4.1 * | 7.7 | 15 | 2.2 | +22% | 11.1 |
| Albany Alameda | 3.2 | 4.8 | 14 | 2.8 | -12% | 13.6 |
| Unincorporated Solano County Solano | 4.6 | 7.1 | 14 | 2.2 | -25% | 9.1 |
| Ross Marin | 9.0 | 12.1 | 12 | 14.3 | +227% | 15.3 |
| Half Moon Bay San Mateo | 15.9 | 22.7 | 11 | 3.8 | -19% | 17.3 |
| Monte Sereno Santa Clara | 6.8 * | 15.4 | 11 | 8.8 | -6% | 21.7 |
| Benicia Solano | 3.3 | 4.5 | 11 | 1.4 | +191% | 9.0 |
| Portola Valley San Mateo | n/c | — | 10 | 6.5 | +29% | — |
| Sausalito Marin | 6.4 * | 15.4 | 10 | 5.8 | +43% | 20.5 |
| St. Helena Napa | n/c | — | 10 | 5.3 | -6% | 8.9 |
| Windsor Sonoma | n/c | — | 10 | 1.3 | +150% | 6.9 |
| Pinole Contra Costa | n/c | — | 9.7 | 1.9 | +190% | 12.5 |
| Oakley Contra Costa | 3.0 | 5.5 | 9.0 | 0.7 | — | — |
| Emeryville Alameda | — | — | 8.7 | 19.9 | — | 18.5 |
| Millbrae San Mateo | — | — | 8.7 | 1.6 | -38% | — |
| Corte Madera Marin | 4.5 | 7.2 | 8.3 | 3.4 | -22% | 13.3 |
| Foster City San Mateo | 6.6 * | 8.8 | 8.3 | 1.7 | — | 13.3 |
| Sebastopol Sonoma | — | — | 8.0 | 3.5 | +33% | 11.8 |
| San Ramon Contra Costa | — | — | 7.7 | 0.4 | -15% | 12.0 |
| Belvedere Marin | — | — | 7.7 | 8.6 | — | — |
| Fairfax Marin | — | — | 7.7 | 3.5 | -49% | 3.3 |
| Rohnert Park Sonoma | 8.2 * | 11.0 | 7.3 | 0.8 | — | 9.6 |
| Calistoga Napa | — | — | 6.7 | 5.6 | — | — |
| Healdsburg Sonoma | — | — | 6.7 | 1.7 | -41% | 16.0 |
| American Canyon Napa | 4.5 * | 8.0 | 6.3 | 1.2 | +90% | 8.2 |
| Sonoma Sonoma | n/c | — | 6.3 | 2.0 | -32% | 13.8 |
| Suisun City Solano | — | — | 5.7 | 0.7 | — | — |
| Moraga Contra Costa | 7.0 * | 12.0 | 5.3 | 1.4 | — | — |
| Brisbane San Mateo | n/c | — | 5.3 | 4.4 | +7% | — |
| Dixon Solano | — | — | 4.7 | 0.8 | — | — |
| Yountville Napa | — | — | 3.0 | 4.3 | — | — |
| Hercules Contra Costa | — | — | 2.7 | 0.4 | — | — |
| Clayton Contra Costa | — | — | 2.3 | 0.7 | — | — |
| Cloverdale Sonoma | — | — | 2.3 | 0.9 | -42% | — |
| Cotati Sonoma | — | — | 2.3 | 1.6 | -30% | — |
| Colma San Mateo | — | — | 0.3 | 1.6 | — | — |
| Rio Vista Solano | — | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | — |
Wait = ADU application to building permit, permits issued 2023–2025. The bar fills to 24 months; orange means slower than the Bay Area median (6.0 months). Slow quarter = 75th percentile. Permits and per-house rate are yearly averages for 2023–2025; "per 1,000 houses" uses detached single-family homes. Build time = permit to certificate of occupancy. * fewer than 20 matched permits. n/c = the city reports dates that cannot be compared.
Median months from application to permit, matched ADUs in each county, 2023–2025. Cities whose dates are not comparable are left out.
- Sonoma 4.7n=341
- Marin 5.5n=445
- Contra Costa 5.5n=756
- Napa 5.6n=72
- Santa Clara 6.0n=2,011
- Solano 6.1n=119
- Alameda 6.3n=1,157
- San Mateo 7.0n=445
- San Francisco 13.0n=232
Bars run from 0 to 18 months. Orange = slower than the Bay Area median. n = matched permits.
ADU permits All new home permits
ADU permit wait time Permits issued 2023–2025; yearly medians 2021 to 2025
Wait time is the number of days from the date a city logged an ADU application to the date it issued the building permit, matched parcel by parcel. It includes plan check, correction rounds, and the time owners spent revising plans. How we measured it
- Data source
- HCD Annual Progress Reports, Tables A and A2
- Measured
- 5,578 ADUs permitted 2023–2025, 43% of all ADU permits
- Last updated
- 2026-10-20 (source data 2026-10-16)
- License
- CC BY 4.0. Quote and chart it with a link to this page.
What the data shows
- Your city sets the clock. The fastest ranked jurisdictions were Pleasant Hill (1.5 mo), Mill Valley (2.3 mo), Oakley (3.0 mo). The slowest were Half Moon Bay (15.9 mo), San Francisco (13.0 mo), San Pablo (10.4 mo).
- Almost nobody gets a permit in 60 days. State law gives a city 60 days to approve or deny a complete ADU application. Counting from first submission to issued permit, 93% of Bay Area ADUs took longer, and only Pleasant Hill had a median under 60 days. Our clock also counts incomplete-application rounds and the owner's revision time, so it is the full wait a homeowner lives through.
- The big three cities split. San Jose issued the most ADU permits (402 a year) with a 5.4-month median wait. Oakland came in at 7.3 months. San Francisco took 13.0.
- Waits have not come down. The regional median was 5.7 months for permits issued in 2021 and 6.0 months in 2025, even as ADU volume grew.
- ADUs became a quarter of new housing. 4,533 ADUs were permitted in 2025, 25% of all new homes. Total home permits fell from 28,158 in 2018 to 18,114, while ADU permits more than doubled.
- San Francisco is the outlier. Among cities issuing 40 or more a year, it is the one where ADU permits fell most: yearly permits in 2023–2025 were down 34% from 2019–2021.
- Wealthy suburbs build the most per house. Per 1,000 detached homes, Hillsborough (12.7), Atherton (10.7), Menlo Park (10.4) permitted the most ADUs a year. Completed ADUs rose from 764 in 2018 to 3,638 in 2025.
From application to a finished ADU, drawn to scale
The Bay Area medians end to end: 6.0 months waiting for the permit, then 13.0 months building to a certificate of occupancy.
- Application 6.0 momedian wait for the permit
- Permit issued 13.0 momedian build
- Finished ADU
- 19.1 mo application to finished ADU
The 60-day limit next to the real wait
Median months from application to ADU permit, 2023–2025, drawn to one scale. State law gives a city 60 days once an application is complete; counted from first submission, 93% of Bay Area ADUs took longer. Only Pleasant Hill had a median under 60 days.
More charts from this data
Source: California HCD Annual Progress Reports, Table A2.
4,533 of 18,114 new homes permitted in 2025 were ADUs.
- Santa Clara 3,718
- Alameda 2,666
- San Mateo 1,985
- Contra Costa 1,665
- Sonoma 805
- Marin 696
- San Francisco 680
- Solano 411
- Napa 322
Unincorporated areas counted with their county.
Download and cite
Suggested citation
Bay Area ADU Permit Clock 2026, Bay Area Architect (bayareaarchitect.com), analysis of California HCD Annual Progress Report data, updated 2026-10-20.
Free to quote, chart, and republish with a link to bayareaarchitect.com/permit-clock/ (CC BY 4.0).
- Sheet
- A-501
- Drawing
- Bay Area ADU Permit Clock 2026
- Date
- 2026-10-20
- Scale
- Not to scale
- Drawn by
- Bay Area Architect
How we measured it
Every California city and county files an Annual Progress Report with the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Table A lists housing applications with the date each was submitted. Table A2 lists units that received a building permit or a certificate of occupancy, with dates. We used the public APR dataset (last updated 2026-10-16), which runs through the 2025 reporting year.
Wait time is the number of days from the ADU application date in Table A to the building permit date in Table A2, matched on jurisdiction and assessor's parcel number. We kept parcels with exactly one application date and one permit date, waits of zero to three years, and permits issued in 2023–2025. A jurisdiction is ranked with 20 or more matches and shown with 10 or more.
Some cities enter the same date for the application and the permit on most ADUs. That usually means they report the permit application rather than the first submission, so their waits would look artificially short. When more than 25% of a city's matches are same-day, we mark it "not comparable" and leave it out of the ranking.
Permit counts are ADU units issued building permits, counted once per parcel and permit date in the calendar year of issue. Some cities repeat a permit in several annual reports; counting by issue date removes those duplicates. Per 1,000 houses divides the 2023–2025 yearly average by detached single-family homes from the California Department of Finance E-5 estimates (January 1, 2026); towns with fewer than 2,000 houses are not ranked on it. Build time runs from permit to certificate of occupancy.
What this does not tell you
- The data is self-reported by each city. Cities define "application submitted" differently, and some fill in dates inconsistently.
- Wait time includes the applicant's time revising plans as well as the city's review time. A fast city can still be slow for an incomplete set.
- Only ADUs that got a permit are counted. Applications still pending or withdrawn are not, so the slowest cases are missing.
- About 43% of ADU permits issued in 2023–2025 could be matched to an application. Cities that report applications under a different parcel number are under-represented.
- Unincorporated county areas are reported by the county and appear as "Unincorporated … County".
Common questions
How long does it take to get an ADU permit in the Bay Area?
For ADUs permitted in 2023–2025, the median time from application to building permit was 6.0 months (184 days). Half of applicants waited between 3.8 and 10.5 months. The wait depends heavily on the city: Pleasant Hill had a median of 1.5 months and San Francisco 13.0 months.
How long does an ADU permit take in San Francisco?
San Francisco's median was 13.0 months (396 days) from application to permit for ADUs permitted in 2023–2025, based on 232 matched permits. That ranks 51 of 52 Bay Area jurisdictions we could rank.
How long does an ADU permit take in San Jose?
San Jose's median was 5.4 months from application to permit in 2023–2025 (818 matched permits), ranking 24 of 52.
Do California cities have to approve ADU permits in 60 days?
State law (Government Code section 66317) requires a city to approve or deny a complete ADU application within 60 days, and to tell the applicant within 15 business days whether the application is complete. In practice 93% of Bay Area ADUs permitted in 2023–2025 took more than 60 days from first submission to issued permit, because the clock in the law starts only once the application is complete and our measure also includes revision rounds and fee payment.
Which Bay Area city approves ADU permits fastest?
Among jurisdictions with at least 20 matched permits, Pleasant Hill (1.5 months), Mill Valley (2.3 months), Oakley (3.0 months) had the shortest median waits in 2023–2025.
How long does it take to build an ADU after the permit?
The median time from building permit to certificate of occupancy was 13.0 months for Bay Area ADUs finished in 2023–2025. That includes construction and inspections, and any time the owner paused the project.
Can I use this data?
Yes. Quote it or chart it with a link to this page. Suggested citation: Bay Area ADU Permit Clock 2026, Bay Area Architect (bayareaarchitect.com), analysis of California HCD Annual Progress Report data, updated 2026-10-20. The full table is a free CSV download.