How many building permits does Charlottesville issue a year?

About 1,658 a year in Charlottesville: 3,317 permits over 24 months, December 2022 through November 2024. 1,766 permits in the last 12 months on file (Dec 2023-Nov 2024), 14% more than the 1,551 in the 12 months before.

Are building permits up or down in Charlottesville?

1,766 permits in the last 12 months on file (Dec 2023-Nov 2024), 14% more than the 1,551 in the 12 months before. Remodel and repair permits grew most (63 to 199); solar permits fell most (134 to 85).

What is the busiest month for permits in Charlottesville?

September, counting every kind of work (115 against an average month of 100). January is the quietest (82). Each kind of work has its own season; the charts above show them.

What share of Charlottesville permits are for homes?

63%: 2,099 of the 3,317 permits issued December 2022 through November 2024 were residential permits.

Charlottesville, VA Permit Statistics (2024): 3,317 Permits

By kind of work

Permits issued December 2022 through November 2024. Last 12 months on file is Dec 2023–Nov 2024; the 12 months before is Dec 2022–Nov 2023. Homes is the share issued as residential permits. Busiest month is the calendar month with the most permits on average.

Kind of work	Permits	Share	Last 12 mo	12 mo before	Change	Homes	Busiest month
Electrical	924	28%	479	445	+8%	63%	March
Plumbing	715	22%	374	341	+10%	71%	June
HVAC	472	14%	258	214	+21%	63%	October
Remodels & repairs	262	8%	199	63	+216%	100%	September
Solar	219	7%	85	134	−37%	66%	July
Additions	139	4%	82	57	+44%	100%	September
Other	409	12%	171	238	−28%	4%	December

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: garages, sheds & shade structures (89), new homes (38), roofing (13), pools & spas (11), ADUs & casitas (11), demolition (9), fences & walls (6).

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By year

Permits issued in each calendar year of the window. Per year scales a part year to 12 months.

Year	Months	Permits	Per year
2022 (from December)	1	125	1,500
2023	12	1,568	1,568
2024 (through November)	11	1,624	1,772

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By month

Permits issued each month, December 2022 through November 2024. The tallest bar is the busiest month on file.

The same numbers as a table

Month	Permits
Dec 2022	125
Jan 2023	107
Feb 2023	111
Mar 2023	148
Apr 2023	122
May 2023	126
Jun 2023	136
Jul 2023	139
Aug 2023	138
Sep 2023	165
Oct 2023	123
Nov 2023	111
Dec 2023	142
Jan 2024	121
Feb 2024	125
Mar 2024	163
Apr 2024	145
May 2024	147
Jun 2024	123
Jul 2024	130
Aug 2024	175
Sep 2024	153
Oct 2024	185
Nov 2024	157

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When each kind of work is filed

Permits by calendar month, 100 = an average month (the thin line), December 2022 through November 2024. Kinds of work do not all peak together. Each month is counted twice (once a year), so one unusual month still moves these numbers.

Electrical

924 permits · busiest March, quietest February

Plumbing

715 permits · busiest June, quietest July

HVAC

472 permits · busiest October, quietest January

Remodels & repairs

262 permits · busiest September, quietest January

Solar

219 permits · busiest July, quietest March

Additions

139 permits · busiest September, quietest February

The same numbers as a table

Kind of work	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Electrical	88	81	123	96	105	105	104	119	103	108	86	82
Plumbing	97	94	124	102	104	128	69	106	119	84	84	89
HVAC	64	84	122	76	109	76	125	122	114	127	69	112
Remodels & repairs	46	78	82	64	55	78	101	156	179	156	147	60
Solar	82	71	44	110	82	104	142	88	115	132	115	115
Additions	104	69	78	104	95	69	78	155	164	104	78	104

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Homes and everything else

How the city classed each permit. Other covers commercial buildings, signs, towers and similar work.

Permit class	Permits	Share	Last 12 mo
Homes (residential)	2,099	63%	1,334
Other	1,218	37%	432

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How many permits get finished

Permits issued Dec 2022–Nov 2023, so each has had at least 12 months to reach a final. Finished means the city recorded a final inspection or marked it complete; expired means it lapsed without one.

Status	Permits	Share
Finished	963	62.1%
Still open	455	29.3%
Expired	133	8.6%

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How Charlottesville compares with other cities

From our cross-city data studies: the same measure, read the same way, for every city we cover.

60% finished of electrical permits a year or more old here, against 80% across 37 cities (6th lowest of 38). Permit completion rates by city →
36% still open of electrical permits a year after issue here, against 20% across 37 cities (6th most left open of 38). Permits still open after a year, by city →
Firms per city, how many are active and how many are new, across 53 cities. How many contractors each city has →
Busiest Sep, quietest Jan for permits here; see when each trade peaks in 50 cities. Busiest months for home projects, by city →

How these numbers are made

Source: Charlottesville Open Data, Planning (Building Permits 2023) table (OpenData_2 MapServer/33), read 19 Oct 2026. We count permits issued December 2022 through November 2024; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, gas and demolition permits the City of Charlottesville issued inside the city. Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, runs its own permit office and is not in this file. Zoning, planning, traffic, engineering and fire-marshal records are left out.

The city's file names no contractor, so there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Charlottesville.
The city's open file stops recording issue dates in December 2024: permits applied for since then are listed but carry no issue date, so these pages end with November 2024.
The city moved to a new permit system in May 2023; permits issued before then come from records converted from the old system, whose work types are coded differently, so the mix of kinds of work shifts a little at that point.
Finished means the city's status is Closed. The file has no final inspection date, so we show no time to final; a closed permit may in a few cases have been closed without a final inspection. Cancelled permits are not counted.
The file's valuation field is blank (zero) on every permit and it has no ZIP code, so we show no costs and no ZIP pages.
Homes are the permits the city files under its residential permit types, plus converted older records whose building use is a one- or two-family dwelling.

Counts are permits, not jobs: one job can need several permits. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can. Sources and definitions →

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0). Please credit Contractor Records and link to this page. Suggested citation:

Contractor Records, "Charlottesville, VA building permit statistics", https://contractorrecords.com/charlottesville/permit-statistics, data through November 2024, from City of Charlottesville Neighborhood Development Services building-permit records.

Link to a table: By kind of work · By year · By month · When each kind of work is filed · Homes and everything else · How many get finished.

Download the tables (CSV): Permits by kind of work · Permits by year · Permits by month · Permits by calendar month (index) · Homes and other permits · Finished, open and expired.

Common questions

How many building permits does Charlottesville issue a year?About 1,658 a year in Charlottesville: 3,317 permits over 24 months, December 2022 through November 2024. 1,766 permits in the last 12 months on file (Dec 2023–Nov 2024), 14% more than the 1,551 in the 12 months before.
Are building permits up or down in Charlottesville?1,766 permits in the last 12 months on file (Dec 2023–Nov 2024), 14% more than the 1,551 in the 12 months before. Remodel and repair permits grew most (63 to 199); solar permits fell most (134 to 85).
What is the busiest month for permits in Charlottesville?September, counting every kind of work (115 against an average month of 100). January is the quietest (82). Each kind of work has its own season; the charts above show them.
What share of Charlottesville permits are for homes?63%: 2,099 of the 3,317 permits issued December 2022 through November 2024 were residential permits.

Charlottesville permit data →Charlottesville electrical permits →Charlottesville plumbing permits →Charlottesville HVAC permits →Browse Charlottesville permits →