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Demolition permits in unincorporated Sonoma County, CA

Data through May 2025 · updated 23 Oct 2026

852 demolition permits were issued in unincorporated Sonoma County, June 2023 through May 2025: about 426 a year and 6% of all permits. 404 demolition permits in the last 12 months on file (Jun 2024–May 2025), 10% fewer than the 448 in the 12 months before. The busiest month is October.

852permits issued
404last 12 months on file
Octbusiest month
79%finished
May 2025records through

Demolition permits by month

Permits issued each month, June 2023 through May 2025.

Jun 2023: 52Jun2023Jul 2023: 32JulAug 2023: 19Sep 2023: 18Oct 2023: 76Nov 2023: 36Dec 2023: 32Jan 2024: 23Jan2024Feb 2024: 33Mar 2024: 31Apr 2024: 51May 2024: 45Jun 2024: 36Jul 2024: 40JulAug 2024: 37Sep 2024: 40Oct 2024: 33Nov 2024: 19Dec 2024: 15Jan 2025: 32Jan2025Feb 2025: 33Mar 2025: 31Apr 2025: 46May 2025: 42
The same numbers as a table
MonthPermits
Jun 202352
Jul 202332
Aug 202319
Sep 202318
Oct 202376
Nov 202336
Dec 202332
Jan 202423
Feb 202433
Mar 202431
Apr 202451
May 202445
Jun 202436
Jul 202440
Aug 202437
Sep 202440
Oct 202433
Nov 202419
Dec 202415
Jan 202532
Feb 202533
Mar 202531
Apr 202546
May 202542

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When demolition permits are filed

By calendar month, 100 = an average month (the thin line). October is the busiest (154), December the quietest (66). A busy month at the permit counter usually means a longer wait for a contractor.

January: 77 (100 = an average month)February: 93 (100 = an average month)March: 87 (100 = an average month)April: 137 (100 = an average month)May: 123 (100 = an average month)June: 124 (100 = an average month)July: 101 (100 = an average month)August: 79 (100 = an average month)September: 82 (100 = an average month)October: 154 (100 = an average month)154November: 77 (100 = an average month)December: 66 (100 = an average month)JFMAMJJASOND
The same numbers as a table
MonthIndex
January77
February93
March87
April137
May123
June124
July101
August79
September82
October154
November77
December66

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How many demolition permits get finished

Permits issued Jun 2023–May 2024, at least 12 months before the file ends.

MeasureValue
Permits issued Jun 2023–May 2024448
Finished78.8%
Expired1.1%

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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 typePermitsShare
Demolition Permit82697%
Building Permit With Plan Check233%
Building Permit No Plan Check3under 1%

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Nearby permit data

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

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, "Demolition permits in unincorporated Sonoma County, CA", https://contractorrecords.com/sonoma-county/demolition-permits, data through May 2025, from Permit Sonoma (Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department) building-permit records.

Link to a table: By month · Season · How many get finished · Permit types.

Download the tables (CSV): Demolition permits by month · Demolition permits by calendar month (index) · Demolition permits: finished share · Demolition permits by permit type.

Common questions

  • How many demolition permits does Sonoma County issue a year?About 426 a year in unincorporated Sonoma County: 852 permits issued June 2023 through May 2025, 404 of them in the last 12 months on file (to May 2025).
  • When do people in Sonoma County file the most demolition permits?October (154 against an average month of 100); December is the quietest (66). If you can choose, a quiet month at the permit counter can mean contractors have more room in their schedules.