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Pool installation cost in 2026: what pool permits were filed at in 20 cities

A new pool costs about $70,000, going by US permit records: the median of the usual filed value of a pool permit in 19 US cities and counties, across 9,655 permits that carry a value. By city, it usually runs from about $32,967 to $150,000 in the permit record: that is the usual filed value of a pool permit in Scottsdale, Arizona and in Raleigh, North Carolina, with Miami ($35,000), Cape Coral ($64,508 across 2,081 permits) and Nashville ($100,000) in between. These are the builders' own figures filed with the city for the whole job. Arizona and South Florida sit at the low end; North Carolina, Texas and Honolulu at the high end.

By Contractor Records · data through October 17, 2026

Pool installation cost by city

City Permit type Usual filed value Middle half of firms' usual job Permits Usual days, issue to final City page
Anaheim, CA Pool, Spa & Pool Removal $15,500 $5,750–$45,000 163 — Cost page
Scottsdale, AZ Swimming Pool & Spa $32,967 $26,448–$42,418 1,688 — Cost page
Miami, FL Swimming Pool $35,000 $28,000–$48,000 978 312 Cost page
San Diego County, CA (unincorporated) Pool & Spa $41,580 $34,650–$53,900 727 185 Compare firms
Mesa, AZ Swimming Pool & Spa $45,000 $40,148–$66,529 452 87 Cost page
San Diego, CA Pool & Spa $51,300 $46,006–$60,420 525 244 Cost page
Cape Coral, FL Swimming Pool $64,508 $44,000–$73,180 2,081 177 Cost page
Orlando, FL Swimming Pool $65,000 $50,000–$86,000 864 198 Cost page
Sacramento County, CA (unincorporated) Pool & Spa $68,906 $59,654–$83,822 350 143 Cost page
Albuquerque, NM Pools $70,000 $56,600–$89,735 151 — Cost page
Elk Grove, CA Pool & Spa $70,000 $44,900–$81,500 343 112 Cost page
Marin County, CA (unincorporated) Pool & Spa $70,000 $35,275–$122,000 155 466 Cost page
Waco, TX Swimming Pool $80,000 $64,000–$85,000 169 — Cost page
Denton, TX Swimming Pool $86,500 $55,000–$87,500 174 129 Cost page
Naperville, IL Pool & Hot Tub $89,050 $81,926–$137,650 111 418 Cost page
Nashville, TN Swimming Pool $100,000 $83,248–$160,000 895 — Cost page
Tyler, TX Swimming Pool $115,000 $90,000–$148,500 167 29 Compare firms
Honolulu, HI Swimming Pool $120,000 — 141 448 Cost page
Cary, NC Pool & Hot Tub $137,000 $122,316–$170,000 204 362 Cost page
Raleigh, NC Swimming Pool $150,000 $116,012–$190,000 328 — Cost page

Anaheim's figure ($15,500) is low because its type also covers spas and pool removals; read it as a mix, not a pool price. Cary and Naperville file hot tubs with pools. Austin, Henderson, Sugar Land and Wilmington, North Carolina file pool permits without a value, so they are left out.

Why the cities split so widely

The same word, "pool", covers different jobs in different places:

  • How common pools are. Scottsdale filed 1,688 pool permits and Cape Coral 2,081; Raleigh filed 328 and Cary 204. The cities that file the most pools have some of the lowest usual figures; the permit does not say whether that is smaller pools, more competition or less included in the filed value, so ask each builder what the price covers.
  • What the filed value covers. Some builders file the pool shell only; the deck, screen enclosure, heater and fence can be separate permits by separate firms. Cape Coral, for example, files pool heaters and screen enclosures under their own types, so they are not in its pool figure.
  • The middle half. In Miami, 97 builders' usual jobs sit mostly between $28,000 and $48,000; in Raleigh, 31 builders sit mostly between $116,012 and $190,000. A quote above your city's band should come with a reason: a spa, a vanishing edge, rock removal, a long electrical run.

Filed value is not the final price

The filed value is the builder's figure on the permit application, written before digging starts. Nobody audits it, some builders file a round number, and change orders (rock, groundwater, an upgraded finish) are not refiled. Treat it as what a typical job in your city was declared at, then expect the final bill to be the quote plus whatever the contract lets the builder add. Ask the contract to name the price for rock or extra excavation per cubic yard.

Permit rules in brief

Every in-ground pool needs a building permit in the cities whose rules we read; the exemption is a small prefabricated pool. Austin, for example, exempts only "a swimming pool that is prefabricated and less than 24 inches (610 mm) deep" (City of Austin, read 23 October 2026). The barrier is usually what holds up the final inspection. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission's guidelines say "the top of a pool barrier should be at least 48 inches above grade" and that the gap at the bottom "should not exceed 4 inches" (CPSC Pub. 362). City-by-city rules are in do I need a permit for a pool.

How long the permit stays open

Mesa (87 days), Elk Grove (112) and Denton (129) close pool permits in about three to four months. Miami (312), Naperville (418) and Marin County (466) take ten months or more. An open pool permit stays on the address, so write "final inspection passed" into the last payment.

Check a pool quote in five minutes

  1. Find your city's row above and open its cost page.
  2. Put the quote next to the middle-half range. If it is above, ask which extras are in it.
  3. Ask whether the price includes the permit, the barrier fence and the electrical permit.
  4. On your city's compare page, find the builder and read how many pool permits it filed and how many reached a final.

See every Cape Coral pool builder by finished share →

What these numbers cannot tell you

Permits record no pool size, depth, finish or shape, so there is no honest per-square-foot or per-gallon figure here. Above-ground pools under a city's threshold, and any pool built without a permit, are not in the record. Our questions to ask a pool builder and does a pool add home value cover the rest of the decision.

How we know this

Pool permits are those each city files under a swimming pool or pool-and-spa work type over its three-year window ending September 2026 (a few cities end earlier; each city page names its window). The usual filed value is the median of permits that carry one; the middle-half range uses firms with three or more pool permits and is left blank where fewer than eight such firms exist; days is the median from issue to final, blank where a city records no final date. The permit and barrier rules are quoted from the pages under Sources, read 23 October 2026.

Numbers come from City of Cape Coral building permits (the city's open permit table starts January 2025); City of Scottsdale building permits (the City's open-data permit file up to January 2026, and the City's SPUR permit system since), with the contractor named on each permit; City of Miami building permits (since 2014); City of Orlando building permits for one- and two-family homes; Sacramento County building permits on single-family, duplex and townhouse homes in the unincorporated county (the County's Accela permit layer); City of San Diego Development Services approvals; City of Raleigh building permits; Town of Cary building permit applications (issued permits only), data through October 17, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.

Questions

  • What is the average pool installation cost?

    Going by permits, the usual pool job was filed at $32,967 in Scottsdale, $35,000 in Miami, $64,508 in Cape Coral, $100,000 in Nashville and $150,000 in Raleigh. That is the middle filed value, not an average, so a few very large pools do not drag it up.

  • How much does pool installation cost per square foot?

    The permit record cannot say. Cities record a job value, not the pool's area or volume, so dividing one by the other would be invented. Ask each builder for the pool's interior dimensions and a total price, then compare the total to the middle-half range for your city; in Cape Coral that band is $44,000 to $73,180.

  • Is there a pool installation cost estimator for my city?

    The nearest thing is your city's pool cost page, linked in the table above. It shows the 10th to 90th percentile of filed values and, in most cities, the usual value for firms working on lower, middle and upper-third homes by value. In Miami the usual pool permit was $35,000 across 978 permits.

  • How much does pool installation cost in Florida?

    In our three Florida cities the usual pool permit was filed at $35,000 in Miami, $64,508 in Cape Coral and $65,000 in Orlando. Cape Coral alone filed 2,081 pool permits, more than any other city here.

  • How long does a pool installation take?

    The permit usually stays open for months. The usual pool permit went from issue to final in 87 days in Mesa, 112 in Elk Grove, 177 in Cape Coral and 312 in Miami.

Build your own list

Every firm with that kind of permit on record. Pick what you value. The list moves.

Cape Coral swimming poolScottsdale swimming pool & spaMiami swimming poolOrlando swimming poolSacramento County (unincorporated) pool & spaSan Diego pool & spaRaleigh swimming poolCary pool & hot tub

Related guides

For one city

All guides →

Sources
  1. Safety Barrier Guidelines for Residential Pools (Pub. 362) — US Consumer Product Safety Commission (accessed 2026-10-23)
  2. Work Exempt from Building Permits — City of Austin Development Services (accessed 2026-10-23)