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Charlotte and the rest of Mecklenburg County, NC building permits

Data through September 2026 · updated 26 Oct 2026

143,503 building permits were issued in Charlotte and the rest of Mecklenburg County from June 2025 to September 2026, about 107,627 a year. Electrical permits lead with 55,576, then HVAC (41,122) and plumbing (17,920). 78% were for homes. The county's file doesn't name contractors, so we can't rank, compare or profile firms here: these pages show what was built, where, when and how fast the county signed it off.

143,503permits issued
107,627a year
78%for homes
82%finished (Jun 2025–Sep 2025 permits)
63days, usual issue to final
Sep 2026records through

What gets built here

Electrical

55,576permits
43,671last 12 mo
35days to final

HVAC

41,122permits
32,116last 12 mo
40days to final

Plumbing

17,920permits
14,832last 12 mo
118days to final

New homes

9,346permits
7,502last 12 mo
222days to final

Remodels & repairs

4,506permits
3,314last 12 mo
87days to final

Additions

2,052permits
1,555last 12 mo
154days to final

Garages, sheds & shade structures

1,551permits
1,179last 12 mo
113days to final

Demolition

1,500permits
1,126last 12 mo
59days to final

Pools & spas

1,146permits
876last 12 mo
236days to final

Roofing

646permits
488last 12 mo
67days to final

Solar

507permits
340last 12 mo
52days to final

What this page can and can't show

  • ✓Permits the county issued, by kind of work, month and ZIP code.
  • ✓How long a permit takes from issue to the county's final inspection.
  • ✓Which permits finished, are still open or expired.
  • ✓What the job was declared at on the permit.
  • Who did the work. The county's file doesn't name contractors, so we can't rank, compare or profile firms here.
  • Street addresses or owners. We publish counts and permit rows without them.

Building and trade permits that Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement issued anywhere in the county: Charlotte, the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Matthews, Mint Hill, Davidson and Pineville, and unincorporated land. The county issues building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits for every town, so this one file covers them all. Fire, sign and site-work permits count as other.

Hiring someone here?

The permit file can't tell you who does good work. Ask for the contractor's license number and look it up at the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, then ask the county whether they pulled the permit for your job.

How to check a contractor's license in North Carolina →

Permits by kind of work

Permits issued June 2025 through September 2026, every kind of work with 100 or more. Last 12 months is Oct 2025–Sep 2026. Homes is the share issued as residential permits.

Kind of workPermitsShareLast 12 mo
Electrical55,57639%43,671
HVAC41,12229%32,116
Plumbing17,92012%14,832
New homes9,3467%7,502
Remodels & repairs4,5063%3,314
Additions2,0521%1,555
Garages, sheds & shade structures1,5511%1,179
Demolition1,5001%1,126
Pools & spas1,146under 1%876
Roofing646under 1%488
Solar507under 1%340
ADUs & casitas115under 1%87
Other7,4395%5,872

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: fences & walls (77).

Download this table (CSV)

Mecklenburg County permit statistics →How long permits take in Mecklenburg County →Mecklenburg County permits by ZIP code →Mecklenburg County building permit search: Charlotte permits, statuses and old records →

Before you start a project

All guides →

Nearby permit data

Permit data for other places in Charlotte. Each permit office keeps its own file, so the numbers are not added together.

Gaston County, NC

How these numbers are made

Source: Mecklenburg County GIS, AccelaAllPermits FeatureServer layer 0, with the older BuildingPermits layer for permits still issued in the old system, read 26 Oct 2026. We count permits issued June 2025 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Building and trade permits that Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement issued anywhere in the county: Charlotte, the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Matthews, Mint Hill, Davidson and Pineville, and unincorporated land. The county issues building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits for every town, so this one file covers them all. Fire, sign and site-work permits count as other.

  • The county's file names no contractor, so there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Mecklenburg County or Charlotte.
  • The county moved its permits to a new system (Accela) in spring 2025. The window starts in June 2025, once the new system's file was filling at its usual rate, so it covers 16 months and there is no comparison with the 12 months before. Permits still issued under the old system for older projects come from the county's older building permit layer and are counted too.
  • Electrical, mechanical (HVAC) and plumbing permits are only in the new system's file. Each new home gets its own electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits, and those count under those trades. Monthly plumbing and electrical counts keep rising through early 2026 as projects started under the old system finish.
  • The new system files an equipment changeout as an umbrella record with separate mechanical, electrical or plumbing permits under it; we count the trade permits, not the umbrella record.
  • The kind of work comes from the county's type of work and census building code; roofing, solar, pools, additions and decks are picked out of residential alteration permits by their descriptions.
  • Job value is the building cost the applicant declared on the permit; most trade permits have none. A final date is the county's completion date.
  • Apartment, condo and hotel buildings count as other, not as homes. Cancelled, withdrawn and replaced permits are not counted.

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, "Charlotte and the rest of Mecklenburg County, NC building permits", https://contractorrecords.com/mecklenburg-county/, data through September 2026, from Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement building-permit records.

Link to a table: By kind of work · Browse the permits · Permits each month.

Download the tables (CSV): Permits by kind of work · Permits in the last 12 months.

Common questions

  • How many building permits does Mecklenburg County issue a year?About 107,627 a year in Charlotte and the rest of Mecklenburg County: 143,503 permits issued June 2025 through September 2026, 113,022 of them in the last 12 months. That counts the permits the county issued, homes and commercial, not denied or withdrawn applications.
  • Can I find a contractor's permits in Mecklenburg County?Not from this file: the county publishes its permits without the contractor's name, so we can't list or rank firms. Check a license at the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors and ask the contractor for the permit number of a past job.
  • What do people build most in Mecklenburg County?Electrical: 55,576 of the 143,503 permits (39%), then HVAC (41,122), plumbing (17,920), June 2025 through September 2026.
  • How long does a building permit take in Mecklenburg County?The usual permit took 63 days from issue to the county's final (middle half: 17 to 175 days), from 24,692 permits issued Jun 2025–Sep 2025 that reached a final. Each kind of work →
  • How do I look up a building permit in Mecklenburg County?Filter the permit list on this page by month, kind of work and ZIP code to see what was issued. For one property's permits, search the county's own records by address or permit number; we don't publish addresses. How to look up a permit in Mecklenburg County →
  • How many permits were issued in Mecklenburg County last month?10,408 in September 2026, the last full month on file; 113,022 over the last 12 months.

Browse the permits

Browse 143,503 permits

Every permit in the file issued June 2025 through September 2026, newest first. Pick a month, a kind of work, a ZIP code or a status. Each row is one permit: no street address, no names.

The list loads as you reach it (143,503 permits).

IssuedKind of workCounty permit typeStatusZIP

Permits each month, the last 12 months

Permits issued each month and the kind of work with the most. A month opens its permits in the list above.

MonthPermitsTop kind of work
Sep 202610,408Electrical (3,799)
Aug 202610,922Electrical (4,095)
Jul 202611,822Electrical (4,461)
Jun 202611,562Electrical (4,606)
May 202611,165Electrical (4,341)
Apr 202610,773Electrical (4,217)
Mar 20269,579Electrical (3,774)
Feb 20267,383Electrical (2,849)
Jan 20267,372Electrical (2,870)
Dec 20258,548Electrical (3,406)
Nov 20255,877Electrical (2,345)
Oct 20257,611Electrical (2,908)

Download this table (CSV)