How many solar permits does Mecklenburg County issue a year?

About 380 a year in Charlotte and the rest of Mecklenburg County: 507 permits issued June 2025 through September 2026, 340 of them in the last 12 months.

How long does a solar permit take in Mecklenburg County?

The usual one took 52 days from issue to the county's final inspection, and the middle half took 34 to 87 days (133 permits issued Jun 2025-Sep 2025 that reached a final). The wait to get the permit issued is not in this file.

When do people in Mecklenburg County file the most solar permits?

October (180 against an average month of 100); February is the quietest (63). If you can choose, a quiet month at the permit counter can mean contractors have more room in their schedules.

Which ZIP code has the most solar permits in Mecklenburg County?

28205, with 38 of the 507 (7%); then 28227 (37).

Solar Permits in Mecklenburg County, NC: 507 Issued (Sep 2026)

Solar permits by month

Permits issued each month, June 2025 through September 2026.

The same numbers as a table

Month	Permits
Jun 2025	28
Jul 2025	46
Aug 2025	43
Sep 2025	50
Oct 2025	57
Nov 2025	37
Dec 2025	32
Jan 2026	25
Feb 2026	20
Mar 2026	22
Apr 2026	35
May 2026	31
Jun 2026	25
Jul 2026	24
Aug 2026	20
Sep 2026	12

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When solar permits are filed

By calendar month, 100 = an average month (the thin line). October is the busiest (180), February the quietest (63). A busy month at the permit counter usually means a longer wait for a contractor.

The same numbers as a table

Month	Index
January	79
February	63
March	69
April	110
May	98
June	84
July	110
August	99
September	98
October	180
November	117
December	101

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How long a solar permit takes

Permits issued Jun 2025–Sep 2025, at least 12 months before the file ends. Usual days is the middle permit among the 133 with a final date.

Measure	Value
Permits issued Jun 2025–Sep 2025	167
Finished	82.6%
Expired	15.6%
Usual days, issue to final	52
Middle half, days	34–87

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What a solar permit is declared at

The value written on the permit at application, from 505 permits with one. Not a quote and not the final bill.

Measure	Value
Usual declared value	$32,400
Middle half	$21,000–$40,958

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ZIP codes with the most solar permits

Counted at the property's ZIP code. Share is the part of the county's 507 solar permits.

ZIP code	Permits	Share
28205	38	7%
28227	37	7%
28278	34	7%
28216	32	6%
28036	31	6%
28215	30	6%
28269	30	6%
28277	26	5%
28214	25	5%
28226	24	5%

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The county's own permit types

How the county filed these permits. We group its types into kinds of work; this is the split.

Permit type	Permits	Share
SolarPV - 434 - RES ACCESSORY BLDG (ADD, ALTERATION, REPAIR, REPLACE)	485	96%
SolarPV - 434 - RES DWELLING (ADD, ALTERATION, REPAIR, REPLACE)	9	2%
Alteration - 434 - RES DWELLING (ADD, ALTERATION, REPAIR, REPLACE)	7	1%
434 - Res Dwelling (Alteration, Repair, Replace)	4	under 1%
Addition - 434 - RES DWELLING (ADD, ALTERATION, REPAIR, REPLACE)	2	under 1%

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Guides for this kind of work

All guides →

Other kinds of work here

Electrical (55,576)HVAC (41,122)Plumbing (17,920)New homes (9,346)Remodels & repairs (4,506)Additions (2,052)Garages, sheds & shade structures (1,551)Demolition (1,500)Pools & spas (1,146)Roofing (646)

How Mecklenburg County compares with other cities

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

52 days for the usual solar permit here, issue to final, against 70 days across 30 cities (11th quickest of 31). How long permits take, city by city →
83% finished of solar permits a year or more old here, against 84% across 26 cities (12th lowest of 27). Permit completion rates by city →

Nearby permit data

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

Link to a table: By month · Season · Days to final · Declared value · By ZIP code · Permit types.

Download the tables (CSV): Solar permits by month · Solar permits by calendar month (index) · Solar permits: days to final · Solar permits: declared value · Solar permits by ZIP code · Solar permits by permit type.

Common questions

How many solar permits does Mecklenburg County issue a year?About 380 a year in Charlotte and the rest of Mecklenburg County: 507 permits issued June 2025 through September 2026, 340 of them in the last 12 months.
How long does a solar permit take in Mecklenburg County?The usual one took 52 days from issue to the county's final inspection, and the middle half took 34 to 87 days (133 permits issued Jun 2025–Sep 2025 that reached a final). The wait to get the permit issued is not in this file.
When do people in Mecklenburg County file the most solar permits?October (180 against an average month of 100); February is the quietest (63). If you can choose, a quiet month at the permit counter can mean contractors have more room in their schedules.
Which ZIP code has the most solar permits in Mecklenburg County?28205, with 38 of the 507 (7%); then 28227 (37).

Mecklenburg County permit data →Mecklenburg County permit statistics →How long permits take in Mecklenburg County →Browse Mecklenburg County solar permits →