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Unincorporated Sonoma County, CA building permits

Data through May 2025 · updated 23 Oct 2026

14,431 building permits were issued in unincorporated Sonoma County from June 2023 to May 2025, about 7,216 a year. Solar permits lead with 2,309, then electrical (2,055) and HVAC (1,651). The county's file doesn't name contractors, so we can't rank, compare or profile firms here: these pages show what was built and when.

14,431permits issued
7,216a year
72%finished (Jun 2023–May 2024 permits)
May 2025records through

What gets built here

Solar

2,309permits
1,056last 12 mo on file

Electrical

2,055permits
793last 12 mo on file

HVAC

1,651permits
721last 12 mo on file

Roofing

1,376permits
468last 12 mo on file

Demolition

852permits
404last 12 mo on file

Remodels & repairs

589permits
325last 12 mo on file

Garages, sheds & shade structures

455permits
230last 12 mo on file

Plumbing

428permits
183last 12 mo on file

Pools & spas

418permits
200last 12 mo on file

ADUs & casitas

342permits
195last 12 mo on file

What this page can and can't show

  • ✓Permits the county issued, by kind of work and month.
  • ✓Which permits finished, are still open or expired.
  • Who did the work. The county's file doesn't name contractors, so we can't rank, compare or profile firms here.
  • How long a permit takes to final. The file has too few final dates.
  • What the job cost. The file carries no job value.
  • Where, by ZIP code. The file carries no usable ZIP code.
  • Street addresses or owners. We publish counts and permit rows without them.

Building, solar and demolition permits Permit Sonoma issues for unincorporated Sonoma County only (Sonoma Valley, Guerneville and the Russian River, Glen Ellen, Larkfield-Wikiup, Bodega Bay, Penngrove and other rural areas). Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Healdsburg, Sonoma, Cotati, Sebastopol and Cloverdale run their own building departments and are not in this file. Encroachment, septic, well, grading and sewer permits are left out.

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 California Contractors State License Board, then ask the county whether they pulled the permit for your job.

How to check a contractor's license in California →

Permits by kind of work

Permits issued June 2023 through May 2025, every kind of work with 100 or more. Last 12 months on file is Jun 2024–May 2025.

Kind of workPermitsShareLast 12 mo
Solar2,30916%1,056
Electrical2,05514%793
HVAC1,65111%721
Roofing1,37610%468
Demolition8526%404
Remodels & repairs5894%325
Garages, sheds & shade structures4553%230
Plumbing4283%183
Pools & spas4183%200
ADUs & casitas3422%195
New homes1871%106
Additions134under 1%72
Other3,55925%2,449

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: fences & walls (76).

Download this table (CSV)

Sonoma County permit statistics →Sonoma County building permit search: Permit Sonoma's record and document searches →

Before you start a project

All guides →

Guides for Sonoma County

Local permit rules and lookups, each with Sonoma County's own permit numbers.

Nearby permit data

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

San Francisco, CAPalo Alto, CAMarin County, CARichmond, CA

How these numbers are made

Source: Sonoma County Open Data, Sonoma County Construction Permits (Socrata dataset 88ms-k5e7), read 23 Oct 2026. We count permits issued June 2023 through May 2025; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Building, solar and demolition permits Permit Sonoma issues for unincorporated Sonoma County only (Sonoma Valley, Guerneville and the Russian River, Glen Ellen, Larkfield-Wikiup, Bodega Bay, Penngrove and other rural areas). Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Healdsburg, Sonoma, Cotati, Sebastopol and Cloverdale run their own building departments and are not in this file. Encroachment, septic, well, grading and sewer permits are left out.

  • The county's file names no contractor, so there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Sonoma County.
  • The county's open file holds only permits started from October 23, 2022 to May 30, 2025 and has not added newer permits since, so these pages end with May 2025. The window starts in June 2023 because permits applied for before the file begins and issued later are missing, which undercounts the first months.
  • Finished means the county's status is Finaled. Expired permits lapsed without a final; denied and cancelled permits are not counted. The file has no final date, so we show no time to final.
  • Permit Sonoma files most work under two broad types (with or without plan check), so the kind of work is read from the permit description: solar, reroofs, furnaces and heat pumps, water heaters, panels and so on. Permits with no description count as other.
  • The file can't reliably tell homes from other property, and it has no declared value on most permits and no ZIP code, so there are no homes figures, costs or ZIP pages.

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, "Unincorporated Sonoma County, CA building permits", https://contractorrecords.com/sonoma-county/, data through May 2025, from Permit Sonoma (Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department) 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 on file.

Common questions

  • How many building permits does Sonoma County issue a year?About 7,216 a year in unincorporated Sonoma County: 14,431 permits issued June 2023 through May 2025, 7,236 of them in the last 12 months on file (to May 2025). That counts the permits the county issued, not denied or withdrawn applications.
  • Can I find a contractor's permits in Sonoma 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 California Contractors State License Board and ask the contractor for the permit number of a past job.
  • What do people build most in Sonoma County?Solar: 2,309 of the 14,431 permits (16%), then electrical (2,055), HVAC (1,651), June 2023 through May 2025.
  • How do I look up a building permit in Sonoma County?Filter the permit list on this page by month, kind of work 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 Sonoma County →
  • How many permits were issued in Sonoma County last month?653 in May 2025, the last full month on file; 7,236 over the last 12 months on file (to May 2025).

Browse the permits

Browse 14,431 permits

Every permit in the file issued June 2023 through May 2025, newest first. Pick a month, a kind of work or a status. Each row is one permit: no street address, no names.

The list loads as you reach it (14,431 permits).

IssuedKind of workCounty permit typeStatus

Permits each month, the last 12 months on file

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
May 2025653Solar (118)
Apr 2025664Solar (78)
Mar 2025557Solar (75)
Feb 2025469Solar (77)
Jan 2025537Solar (72)
Dec 2024523Solar (79)
Nov 2024477Solar (71)
Oct 2024704Solar (98)
Sep 2024625Solar (91)
Aug 2024656Solar (93)
Jul 2024767Electrical (108)
Jun 2024604Electrical (110)

Download this table (CSV)