How many building permits does Missoula issue a year?

About 5,159 a year in the City of Missoula: 10,318 permits over 24 months, October 2024 through September 2026. 4,777 permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025-Sep 2026), 14% fewer than the 5,541 in the 12 months before.

Are building permits up or down in Missoula?

4,777 permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025-Sep 2026), 14% fewer than the 5,541 in the 12 months before. Fence and wall permits grew most (110 to 145); roofing permits fell most (1,080 to 777).

What is the busiest month for permits in Missoula?

October, counting every kind of work (127 against an average month of 100). February is the quietest (70). Each kind of work has its own season; the charts above show them.

What share of Missoula permits are for homes?

67%: 6,943 of the 10,318 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026 were residential permits.

Missoula, MT Permit Statistics (2026): 10,318 Permits

By kind of work

Permits issued October 2024 through September 2026. Last 12 months is Oct 2025–Sep 2026; the 12 months before is Oct 2024–Sep 2025. 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
HVAC	2,420	23%	1,175	1,245	−6%	72%	June
Electrical	2,044	20%	984	1,060	−7%	68%	July
Plumbing	1,871	18%	851	1,020	−17%	74%	June
Roofing	1,857	18%	777	1,080	−28%	84%	October
Solar	815	8%	343	472	−27%	26%	October
Fences & walls	255	2%	145	110	+32%	9%	July
New homes	233	2%	108	125	−14%	100%	February
Remodels & repairs	206	2%	104	102	+2%	100%	March
Demolition	131	1%	73	58	+26%	15%	June
Other	290	3%	137	153	−10%	0%	May

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: garages, sheds & shade structures (97), additions (74), ADUs & casitas (23), pools & spas (2).

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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
2024 (from October)	3	1,377	5,508
2025	12	5,371	5,371
2026 (through September)	9	3,570	4,760

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By month

Permits issued each month, October 2024 through September 2026. The tallest bar is the busiest month on file.

The same numbers as a table

Month	Permits
Oct 2024	578
Nov 2024	395
Dec 2024	404
Jan 2025	344
Feb 2025	281
Mar 2025	504
Apr 2025	497
May 2025	465
Jun 2025	535
Jul 2025	566
Aug 2025	485
Sep 2025	487
Oct 2025	514
Nov 2025	371
Dec 2025	322
Jan 2026	292
Feb 2026	318
Mar 2026	412
Apr 2026	432
May 2026	439
Jun 2026	459
Jul 2026	421
Aug 2026	420
Sep 2026	377

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When each kind of work is filed

Permits by calendar month, 100 = an average month (the thin line), October 2024 through September 2026. Kinds of work do not all peak together. Each month is counted twice (once a year), so one unusual month still moves these numbers.

HVAC

2,420 permits · busiest June, quietest February

Electrical

2,044 permits · busiest July, quietest February

Plumbing

1,871 permits · busiest June, quietest November

Roofing

1,857 permits · busiest October, quietest December

Solar

815 permits · busiest October, quietest January

Fences & walls

255 permits · busiest July, quietest January

New homes

233 permits · busiest February, quietest September

Remodels & repairs

206 permits · busiest March, quietest August

The same numbers as a table

Kind of work	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
HVAC	90	82	103	102	89	123	113	95	101	109	94	98
Electrical	73	64	86	104	110	126	128	119	100	103	91	96
Plumbing	89	90	113	101	103	117	85	110	97	105	83	108
Roofing	43	37	134	133	110	105	143	114	109	156	84	32
Solar	40	47	62	82	91	80	97	115	144	246	109	87
Fences & walls	19	38	80	141	118	141	151	127	136	127	52	71
New homes	108	160	139	82	160	108	93	41	10	118	93	88
Remodels & repairs	93	82	175	146	140	93	76	64	64	93	64	111

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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)	6,943	67%	3,134
Other	3,375	33%	1,643

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How many permits get finished

Permits issued Oct 2024–Sep 2025, 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	4,629	83.5%
Still open	273	4.9%
Expired	639	11.5%

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By ZIP code

The 7 ZIP codes with the most permits, counted at the property's ZIP code. A ZIP code can cross into a city that runs its own permit office; only the city's permits are counted.

ZIP code	Permits	Share	Top kind of work
59801	3,972	38%	HVAC (870)
59803	2,072	20%	HVAC (465)
59802	1,995	19%	HVAC (483)
59808	1,747	17%	HVAC (500)
59804	101	under 1%	Plumbing (27)
59812	4	under 1%	Electrical (2)
59823	1	under 1%	Plumbing (1)

All 4 ZIP codes with 250+ permits →

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How Missoula compares with other cities

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

92% finished of HVAC permits a year or more old here, against 79% across 39 cities (6th highest of 40). Permit completion rates by city →
1.1% still open of HVAC permits a year after issue here, against 21% across 39 cities (fewest left open of 40). 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 Oct, quietest Feb for permits here; see when each trade peaks in 50 cities. Busiest months for home projects, by city →

How these numbers are made

Source: City of Missoula, AddressesWithPermits_mso (ArcGIS Online layer of the city's Accela permit records), read 19 Oct 2026. We count permits issued October 2024 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Building and trade permits the City of Missoula's building division issues: residential and commercial construction, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, re-roofing, fence and demolition permits. Engineering records in the same system (sewer and water service, utility excavation, paving, right-of-way, ADA ramps), permit revisions and planning cases are left out. Lolo, Frenchtown, Bonner, Seeley Lake and the rest of Missoula County outside the city's building jurisdiction permit through Missoula County and are not in this file.

The city's permit layer names no contractor, so there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Missoula.
The layer has no issue date, so a permit is dated by the day its application was filed; applications still in review, approved but not yet issued, or waiting on fees are not counted.
Applications for long-review work such as new homes are counted only once issued, so the last few months of the window undercount them until those permits are issued.
The layer has no job value, so we show no costs.
Because permits are dated by application, we don't show how long they take from issue to final. The finished share comes from the city's status: Final, Inspections Complete, Certificate of Occupancy or Closed. Expired means the permit lapsed without a final.
Kinds of building work (new homes, re-roofs, additions, garages) and homes versus other buildings are read from the city's own work description; trade permits count as homes when the description names a house, townhouse, duplex or mobile home.
ZIP codes come from the Montana Cadastral parcel record at the permit's address.
Re-roofing permits surged after a 2024 storm (August to October 2024), and solar permits peaked in autumn 2025 before the federal residential solar tax credit ended that December, so both fall in the last 12 months against the 12 before.

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, "The City of Missoula, MT building permit statistics", https://contractorrecords.com/missoula/permit-statistics, data through September 2026, from the City of Missoula Community Planning, Development & Innovation 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 · By ZIP code.

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 · Permits by ZIP code.

Common questions

How many building permits does Missoula issue a year?About 5,159 a year in the City of Missoula: 10,318 permits over 24 months, October 2024 through September 2026. 4,777 permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025–Sep 2026), 14% fewer than the 5,541 in the 12 months before.
Are building permits up or down in Missoula?4,777 permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025–Sep 2026), 14% fewer than the 5,541 in the 12 months before. Fence and wall permits grew most (110 to 145); roofing permits fell most (1,080 to 777).
What is the busiest month for permits in Missoula?October, counting every kind of work (127 against an average month of 100). February is the quietest (70). Each kind of work has its own season; the charts above show them.
What share of Missoula permits are for homes?67%: 6,943 of the 10,318 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026 were residential permits.

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