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Bay Area city planning and building departments

Planning department, permit portal and fee schedule for 109 cities and counties, then each city's ADU pages. Every link goes to the city's own site.

524 government links, each opened and checked by hand on October 20, 2026.

Busiest permit offices, by ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Key plan · pick your county

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Schematic, not to scale. Each tile opens that county's sheet. State and regional links (12)

109 cities and counties

Key plan · pick your county

N
Schematic, not to scale. Each tile opens that county's sheet. State and regional links (12)
Sheet R-101 15 places

Alameda County

14 cities and the unincorporated county

6.3 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

2,666 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Permit portal
15 of 15
Fee schedule
9 of 15
ADU rules
14 of 15

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

12 more places in Alameda County Alameda, Albany, Dublin, Emeryville, Hayward, Livermore, Newark, Piedmont, Pleasanton, San Leandro, Union City, Unincorporated Alameda County
Sheet R-102 20 places

Contra Costa County

19 cities and the unincorporated county

5.5 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

1,665 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Permit portal
12 of 20
Fee schedule
11 of 20
ADU rules
18 of 20

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

17 more places in Contra Costa County Antioch, Brentwood, Clayton, Danville, El Cerrito, Hercules, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Oakley, Orinda, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, San Pablo, San Ramon, Walnut Creek
Sheet R-103 12 places

Marin County

11 cities and the unincorporated county

5.5 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

696 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Permit portal
11 of 12
Fee schedule
7 of 12
ADU rules
10 of 12

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

9 more places in Marin County Belvedere, Corte Madera, Fairfax, Larkspur, Novato, Ross, San Anselmo, Sausalito, Tiburon
Sheet R-104 6 places

Napa County

5 cities and the unincorporated county

5.6 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

322 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Permit portal
6 of 6
Fee schedule
3 of 6
ADU rules
6 of 6

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

3 more places in Napa County American Canyon, Calistoga, Yountville
Sheet R-105 1 office

San Francisco County

City and county

13.0 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

680 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

Sheet R-106 21 places

San Mateo County

20 cities and the unincorporated county

7.0 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

1,985 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Permit portal
17 of 21
Fee schedule
10 of 21
ADU rules
21 of 21

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

18 more places in San Mateo County Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Colma, Daly City, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, Millbrae, Pacifica, Portola Valley, San Bruno, San Carlos, South San Francisco, Woodside, Unincorporated San Mateo County
Sheet R-107 16 places

Santa Clara County

15 cities and the unincorporated county

6.0 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

3,718 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Permit portal
14 of 16
Fee schedule
10 of 16
ADU rules
16 of 16

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

13 more places in Santa Clara County Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Unincorporated Santa Clara County
Sheet R-108 8 places

Solano County

7 cities and the unincorporated county

6.1 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

411 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Permit portal
8 of 8
Fee schedule
5 of 8
ADU rules
7 of 8

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

5 more places in Solano County Benicia, Dixon, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Unincorporated Solano County
Sheet R-109 10 places

Sonoma County

9 cities and the unincorporated county

4.7 months, median ADU permit 2023–2025

805 ADU permits issued 2023–2025

Permit portal
9 of 10
Fee schedule
2 of 10
ADU rules
10 of 10

Links checked by hand October 20, 2026

7 more places in Sonoma County Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Windsor

These are the pages we found on each city's or county's own site; a page missing from a row is one we did not find there, which can mean the city files it under another name. The outlined button is the permit portal, or the planning department where we found no portal. A link counts as an ADU page when it is about ADUs specifically, so an ADU fee waiver is not listed as the city's fee schedule. The ADU permit time under a row is the median time from ADU application to building permit, 2023–2025, from the state's Annual Progress Report data. A broken or missing link? Tell us with the correction form.

Which page does what

Before you build, three city pages tell you what is allowed, how to apply and what it costs.

  1. Planning department 01

    Zoning, land use and design review. New homes, many additions, apartment buildings and a change of use, such as a shop becoming a restaurant, usually need planning approval before a building permit.

    78 of 109 places where we found it

  2. Permit portal 02

    Where construction plans are filed for plan check, review comments come back and inspections are booked. Remodels, tenant improvements and new buildings all go through it.

    92 of 109 places where we found it

  3. Fee schedule 03

    Plan check, permit and impact fees. Many are set by project valuation or floor area, so the schedule is a place to start a budget.

    58 of 109 places where we found it

What each city posts

We found a permit portal on the sites of 92 of the 109 places and a fee schedule on 58. Pick a row in the chart to list only the places that have that page; the list above narrows to match.

Building an ADU? Each city's ADU rules, pre-approved plans and checklist sit in their own group in every row. Permit waits by city are in the ADU section.

What we found for the 109 cities and counties

Pick a row to list only the places that have that page.

Planning and building · every project

ADU pages

State and regional links

Sheet R-201 · 12 links

Check who you hireAny project

State housing and ADU law

Free local ADU help

The data behind the ADU wait times

Statewide ADU law applies in every Bay Area city; ADU Marin and Napa Sonoma ADU Center are local programs backed by cities and counties.