Which addresses this covers
City of El Paso Planning and Inspections permits land inside city limits. Unincorporated El Paso County and the separate towns of Horizon City, Socorro, Anthony, Vinton and Clint are not in the City's portal or our file.
| Tool | Search by | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Citizen Access Portal, Building | Record number and type, start date, street number, name and type, parcel number, project name, contractor license type and number | Building records with their status and details |
| New Residential and New Commercial layers (open data) | Any field | New homes and new commercial buildings only; our source |
| Our El Paso pages | Kind of work, month | Counts of new-construction permits |
How to look up the permits on an El Paso address
- Open the Citizen Access Portal and click Search Applications under Building.
- Enter the Street No. and Street Name, or the Parcel No. Leave the record fields blank.
- Click Search and open each record on the property. A remodel, a re-roof and a water heater are separate records.
- Read the record's status and, if the record lists them, its inspections.
- To see a firm's jobs, search again with License Type (for example Contractor General or Contractor Plumbing) and the State License Number.
What the statuses mean
The status lives in Citizen Access. The City's published new-construction file has carried no permit status since 2020, along with no final date, job value or ZIP code, so our El Paso pages show counts only: no finished share, no time to final and no costs. From 2011 to 2018 the same file had a status on most rows, so the gap is in what gets published.
When the record is not online
For a file that Citizen Access does not show, use the City Clerk's Open Records Request. The City Clerk page says "Any member of the public is able to request any open record kept with the City by submitting an Open Records Request", links a File Request Here form, and warns that "you may be charged for copying costs and/or any staff time involved" (read 24 October 2026). Permit questions go to the One Stop Shop at (915) 212-0104, the number on the Planning & Inspections page.
What our El Paso pages add
Our El Paso page counts new-construction permits from the City's own layers, July 2024 to June 2026:
| Kind of work | Permits (Jul 2024–Jun 2026) | Jul 2025–Jun 2026 | Jul 2024–Jun 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New homes (duplexes included) | 1,559 | 654 | 905 |
| Other new construction (commercial, apartments, triplexes and fourplexes) | 1,005 | 494 | 511 |
61% of the 2,565 permits were new homes. The permit statistics page has the file by year and month, and browse permits lists the rows without owner names or street addresses. To check the license of a contractor named in Citizen Access, use How to check a contractor's license in Texas.
What this does not tell you
The City's published file names no contractor and holds no remodels, re-roofs, pools, demolition or electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits, so our pages can't speak to those jobs or to any firm. The file holds no permits issued in July 2026, so our window ends in June 2026.
How we know this
Portal search fields and wording were read on the City of El Paso Citizen Access Portal and the Planning & Inspections page, and the records process on the City Clerk page, all on 24 October 2026. Our counts are the City Planning department's New Residential and New Commercial permit layers, read 19 October 2026: new construction permits issued July 2024 to June 2026 inside city limits.
Numbers come from public permit records in 57 cities, data through October 19, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.
Questions
- How do I find out if a permit was pulled on my house in El Paso?
Open the City's Citizen Access Portal (aca-prod.accela.com/ELPASO), choose Search Applications under Building, and enter the street number and street name, the parcel number or the record number. Open each record for its status and inspections.
- Can I look up El Paso permits by contractor?
Yes. The building search has a Licensed Professional section: pick a license type such as Contractor General, Contractor Electrical or Contractor Plumbing and enter the state license number or business license number.
- How do I get an old El Paso permit file?
Submit an Open Records Request through the City Clerk's page. The City says any member of the public can request any open record kept with the City, and that copying costs or staff time may be charged.
- Does El Paso publish all its permits as open data?
No. The City's published file covers new construction only: new homes and new commercial buildings, shells, additions and tenant improvements. Remodels, re-roofs, pools and trade permits are only in Citizen Access.
- How many new homes are permitted in El Paso?
1,559 new-home permits (duplexes included) were issued from July 2024 to June 2026. The later 12 months, July 2025 to June 2026, had 654, down 28% from 905 the year before.
Build your own list
Pick your city and the kind of work. Every firm with a permit on record, sorted by what you value.
Related guides
- Adams County, CO building permit search: the e-Permit Center, statuses and CORA
- Alachua County building permit search: Citizenserve, statuses and old records
- Anaheim building permit search: Anaheim NEXT and the Building Permit Report
- Arlington, VA building permit search: Permit Arlington lookups and FOIA requests
- Huntsville building permit search: what is online, and how to ask for the rest
- Irving, TX building permit search: MGO Connect, the open data tables and open records
- Planning & Inspections — City of El Paso (2026-10-24)
- City of El Paso Citizen Access Portal (Accela) (2026-10-24)
- Search for Records, Building — City of El Paso Citizen Access (2026-10-24)
- City Clerk — City of El Paso (2026-10-24)
- NewResidential FeatureServer — City of El Paso Planning (ArcGIS) (2026-10-19)