How many building permits does Normal issue a year?

About 2,784 a year in the Town of Normal: 5,569 permits over 24 months, October 2024 through September 2026. 2,826 permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025-Sep 2026), 3% more than the 2,743 in the 12 months before.

Are building permits up or down in Normal?

2,826 permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025-Sep 2026), 3% more than the 2,743 in the 12 months before. Roofing permits grew most (3 to 586); remodel and repair permits fell most (844 to 425).

What is the busiest month for permits in Normal?

July, counting every kind of work (137 against an average month of 100). January is the quietest (62). Each kind of work has its own season; the charts above show them.

What share of Normal permits are for homes?

75%: 4,154 of the 5,569 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026 were residential permits.

Normal, IL Permit Statistics (2026): 5,569 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
Remodels & repairs	1,269	23%	425	844	−50%	100%	July
Plumbing	1,072	19%	525	547	−4%	77%	February
HVAC	986	18%	477	509	−6%	81%	June
Electrical	950	17%	474	476	0%	27%	October
Roofing	589	11%	586	3	+19433%	97%	April
Solar	177	3%	95	82	+16%	98%	October
New homes	163	3%	70	93	−25%	100%	April
Other	277	5%	128	149	−14%	7%	May

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: additions (34), demolition (21), garages, sheds & shade structures (18), pools & spas (13).

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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	509	2,036
2025	12	2,986	2,986
2026 (through September)	9	2,074	2,765

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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	194
Nov 2024	146
Dec 2024	169
Jan 2025	115
Feb 2025	154
Mar 2025	151
Apr 2025	220
May 2025	270
Jun 2025	281
Jul 2025	404
Aug 2025	328
Sep 2025	311
Oct 2025	327
Nov 2025	261
Dec 2025	164
Jan 2026	173
Feb 2026	167
Mar 2026	231
Apr 2026	271
May 2026	256
Jun 2026	250
Jul 2026	232
Aug 2026	250
Sep 2026	244

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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.

Remodels & repairs

1,269 permits · busiest July, quietest January

Plumbing

1,072 permits · busiest February, quietest January

HVAC

986 permits · busiest June, quietest September

Electrical

950 permits · busiest October, quietest January

Roofing

589 permits · busiest April, quietest December

Solar

177 permits · busiest October, quietest February

New homes

163 permits · busiest April, quietest September

The same numbers as a table

Kind of work	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Remodels & repairs	26	38	59	78	83	134	212	171	173	122	58	47
Plumbing	68	126	87	109	114	85	107	113	109	101	84	96
HVAC	89	71	65	101	129	139	133	94	51	100	125	105
Electrical	61	67	83	95	119	97	129	112	120	136	100	81
Roofing	86	31	126	181	134	106	79	96	159	92	92	18
Solar	68	47	68	54	81	122	88	156	149	169	122	75
New homes	52	44	103	191	110	140	96	184	37	125	52	66

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Homes and everything else

How the town classed each permit. Other covers commercial buildings, signs, towers and similar work.

Permit class	Permits	Share	Last 12 mo
Homes (residential)	4,154	75%	2,127
Other	1,415	25%	699

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How Normal compares with other cities

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

Finished share of permits a year or more old, compared across cities. Permit completion rates by city →
Share of permits still open a year after they were issued, compared across cities. 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 Jul, quietest Jan for permits here; see when each trade peaks in 50 cities. Busiest months for home projects, by city →

How these numbers are made

Source: Town of Normal GIS, OpenData/Permits_Public feature layer, read 20 Oct 2026. We count permits issued October 2024 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out. The town's closeout is not consistently recorded: in every issue year only about a third of permits read Completed, however old, so no finished share is shown.

Residential and commercial building, HVAC, plumbing and electrical permits the Town of Normal issues inside town limits. Bloomington runs its own permit office and is not in this file.

The town's file starts in January 2022, when it moved to its current permit system.
The file has no final inspection date and no ZIP code, and only about a third of permits are marked Completed in every year, so we show no finished share, no time to final and no ZIP code pages.
The value is the valuation written on the permit, not the final cost of the job.
Electrical service permits (new and replacement services) don't say whether the property is a home, so they are not counted as residential.
A new house gets separate building, HVAC, plumbing and electrical permits, so one project can count several times, once under each kind of work.

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 Town of Normal, IL building permit statistics", https://contractorrecords.com/normal-il/permit-statistics, data through September 2026, from the Town of Normal Inspections Division 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.

Download the tables (CSV): Permits by kind of work · Permits by year · Permits by month · Permits by calendar month (index) · Homes and other permits.

Common questions

How many building permits does Normal issue a year?About 2,784 a year in the Town of Normal: 5,569 permits over 24 months, October 2024 through September 2026. 2,826 permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025–Sep 2026), 3% more than the 2,743 in the 12 months before.
Are building permits up or down in Normal?2,826 permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025–Sep 2026), 3% more than the 2,743 in the 12 months before. Roofing permits grew most (3 to 586); remodel and repair permits fell most (844 to 425).
What is the busiest month for permits in Normal?July, counting every kind of work (137 against an average month of 100). January is the quietest (62). Each kind of work has its own season; the charts above show them.
What share of Normal permits are for homes?75%: 4,154 of the 5,569 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026 were residential permits.

Normal permit data →Normal remodel and repair permits →Normal plumbing permits →Normal HVAC permits →Browse Normal permits →