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Electrical permits in Philadelphia, PA

Data through September 2026 · updated 19 Oct 2026

9,822 electrical permits were issued in Philadelphia, October 2024 through September 2026: about 4,911 a year and 17% of all permits. 5,039 electrical permits in the last 12 months (Oct 2025–Sep 2026), 5% more than the 4,783 in the 12 months before. The busiest month is October. The usual one took 80 days from issue to the city's final. 19146 has the most, 602.

9,822permits issued
5,039last 12 months
Octbusiest month
80days, usual issue to final
85%finished
Sep 2026records through

Electrical permits by month

Permits issued each month, October 2024 through September 2026.

Oct 2024: 434Oct2024Nov 2024: 320Dec 2024: 405Jan 2025: 389Jan2025Feb 2025: 354Mar 2025: 394Apr 2025: 426May 2025: 401Jun 2025: 425Jul 2025: 423JulAug 2025: 394Sep 2025: 418Oct 2025: 524Nov 2025: 357Dec 2025: 424Jan 2026: 372Jan2026Feb 2026: 379Mar 2026: 496Apr 2026: 387May 2026: 450Jun 2026: 440Jul 2026: 364JulAug 2026: 479Sep 2026: 367
The same numbers as a table
MonthPermits
Oct 2024434
Nov 2024320
Dec 2024405
Jan 2025389
Feb 2025354
Mar 2025394
Apr 2025426
May 2025401
Jun 2025425
Jul 2025423
Aug 2025394
Sep 2025418
Oct 2025524
Nov 2025357
Dec 2025424
Jan 2026372
Feb 2026379
Mar 2026496
Apr 2026387
May 2026450
Jun 2026440
Jul 2026364
Aug 2026479
Sep 2026367

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When electrical permits are filed

By calendar month, 100 = an average month (the thin line). October is the busiest (117), November the quietest (83). A busy month at the permit counter usually means a longer wait for a contractor.

January: 93 (100 = an average month)February: 90 (100 = an average month)March: 109 (100 = an average month)April: 99 (100 = an average month)May: 104 (100 = an average month)June: 106 (100 = an average month)July: 96 (100 = an average month)August: 107 (100 = an average month)September: 96 (100 = an average month)October: 117 (100 = an average month)117November: 83 (100 = an average month)December: 101 (100 = an average month)JFMAMJJASOND
The same numbers as a table
MonthIndex
January93
February90
March109
April99
May104
June106
July96
August107
September96
October117
November83
December101

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How long an electrical permit takes

Permits issued Oct 2024–Sep 2025, at least 12 months before the file ends. Usual days is the middle permit among the 4,017 with a final date.

MeasureValue
Permits issued Oct 2024–Sep 20254,783
Finished84.9%
Expired3.3%
Usual days, issue to final80
Middle half, days22–175

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ZIP codes with the most electrical permits

Counted at the property's ZIP code. Share is the part of the city's 9,822 electrical permits.

ZIP codePermitsShare
191466026%
191435816%
191344735%
191484595%
191254425%
191404244%
191314024%
191213744%
191453694%
191473564%

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The city's own permit types

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

Permit typePermitsShare
Electrical: Addition and/or Alteration8,34585%
Electrical: New Construction1,47715%

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How Philadelphia compares with other cities

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

How these numbers are made

Source: City of Philadelphia, Licenses and Inspections Building and Zoning Permits, 2007 to present (OpenDataPhilly; Carto table permits), read 19 Oct 2026. We count permits issued October 2024 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Residential permits the City of Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) issues inside the city, which is also Philadelphia County: building, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, EZ minor-work, demolition and solar permits for homes. Commercial permits, zoning and use permits, excavation and site permits, certificates of occupancy and event permits in the same file are not counted. Suburbs in Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware counties run their own permit offices and are not in this file.

  • The city's file lists a contractor on most permits, but these pages show permit counts only: there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Philadelphia.
  • We count residential permits only, as the city's file marks them; a home job filed as a commercial permit is not counted.
  • The city's open permit file has no declared job value, so we show no costs.
  • A new house gets separate building, plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits, so one project can count several times, once under each kind of work.
  • A final date is the day the city marked the permit completed. Permits that expired or were cancelled carry no final date even where the file shows one, because that date is when they lapsed.

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, "Electrical permits in Philadelphia, PA", https://contractorrecords.com/philadelphia/electrical-permits, data through September 2026, from the City of Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections building-permit records.

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

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

Common questions

  • How many electrical permits does Philadelphia issue a year?About 4,911 a year in Philadelphia: 9,822 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026, 5,039 of them in the last 12 months.
  • How long does an electrical permit take in Philadelphia?The usual one took 80 days from issue to the city's final inspection, and the middle half took 22 to 175 days (4,017 permits issued Oct 2024–Sep 2025 that reached a final). The wait to get the permit issued is not in this file.
  • When do people in Philadelphia file the most electrical permits?October (117 against an average month of 100); November is the quietest (83). 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 electrical permits in Philadelphia?19146, with 602 of the 9,822 (6%); then 19143 (581).