Data through May 2025 · updated 23 Oct 2026
14,431 building permits issued in unincorporated Sonoma County, June 2023 through May 2025: about 7,216 a year. The biggest kind of work is solar, with 2,309. 7,236 permits in the last 12 months on file (Jun 2024–May 2025), about the same as the 7,195 in the 12 months before. The busiest month for permits is July.
Permits issued June 2023 through May 2025. Last 12 months on file is Jun 2024–May 2025; the 12 months before is Jun 2023–May 2024. Busiest month is the calendar month with the most permits on average.
| Kind of work | Permits | Share | Last 12 mo | 12 mo before | Change | Busiest month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar | 2,309 | 16% | 1,056 | 1,253 | −16% | June |
| Electrical | 2,055 | 14% | 793 | 1,262 | −37% | July |
| HVAC | 1,651 | 11% | 721 | 930 | −22% | July |
| Roofing | 1,376 | 10% | 468 | 908 | −48% | July |
| Demolition | 852 | 6% | 404 | 448 | −10% | October |
| Remodels & repairs | 589 | 4% | 325 | 264 | +23% | April |
| Garages, sheds & shade structures | 455 | 3% | 230 | 225 | +2% | July |
| Plumbing | 428 | 3% | 183 | 245 | −25% | June |
| Pools & spas | 418 | 3% | 200 | 218 | −8% | October |
| ADUs & casitas | 342 | 2% | 195 | 147 | +33% | April |
| New homes | 187 | 1% | 106 | 81 | +31% | July |
| Additions | 134 | under 1% | 72 | 62 | +16% | April |
| Other | 3,559 | 25% | 2,449 | 1,110 | +121% | May |
Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: fences & walls (76).
Permits issued in each calendar year of the window. Per year scales a part year to 12 months.
| Year | Months | Permits | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 (from June) | 7 | 4,195 | 7,191 |
| 2024 | 12 | 7,356 | 7,356 |
| 2025 (through May) | 5 | 2,880 | 6,912 |
Permits issued each month, June 2023 through May 2025. The tallest bar is the busiest month on file.
| Month | Permits |
|---|---|
| Jun 2023 | 676 |
| Jul 2023 | 681 |
| Aug 2023 | 591 |
| Sep 2023 | 574 |
| Oct 2023 | 650 |
| Nov 2023 | 526 |
| Dec 2023 | 497 |
| Jan 2024 | 563 |
| Feb 2024 | 539 |
| Mar 2024 | 570 |
| Apr 2024 | 684 |
| May 2024 | 644 |
| Jun 2024 | 604 |
| Jul 2024 | 767 |
| Aug 2024 | 656 |
| Sep 2024 | 625 |
| Oct 2024 | 704 |
| Nov 2024 | 477 |
| Dec 2024 | 523 |
| Jan 2025 | 537 |
| Feb 2025 | 469 |
| Mar 2025 | 557 |
| Apr 2025 | 664 |
| May 2025 | 653 |
Permits by calendar month, 100 = an average month (the thin line), June 2023 through May 2025. Kinds of work do not all peak together. Each month is counted twice (once a year), so one unusual month still moves these numbers.
2,309 permits · busiest June, quietest February
2,055 permits · busiest July, quietest November
1,651 permits · busiest July, quietest September
1,376 permits · busiest July, quietest February
852 permits · busiest October, quietest December
589 permits · busiest April, quietest November
455 permits · busiest July, quietest February
428 permits · busiest June, quietest May
| Kind of work | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar | 85 | 83 | 94 | 88 | 107 | 136 | 123 | 96 | 102 | 112 | 91 | 84 |
| Electrical | 91 | 86 | 105 | 101 | 93 | 123 | 136 | 113 | 98 | 95 | 79 | 81 |
| HVAC | 105 | 97 | 85 | 88 | 81 | 115 | 137 | 92 | 73 | 105 | 99 | 124 |
| Roofing | 71 | 57 | 76 | 91 | 75 | 144 | 157 | 151 | 126 | 121 | 71 | 61 |
| Demolition | 77 | 93 | 87 | 137 | 123 | 124 | 101 | 79 | 82 | 154 | 77 | 66 |
| Remodels & repairs | 100 | 108 | 108 | 128 | 84 | 88 | 106 | 98 | 92 | 122 | 71 | 96 |
| Garages, sheds & shade structures | 100 | 58 | 82 | 105 | 111 | 100 | 119 | 119 | 116 | 111 | 92 | 87 |
| Plumbing | 121 | 81 | 121 | 87 | 67 | 123 | 123 | 98 | 101 | 101 | 87 | 90 |
Permits issued Jun 2023–May 2024, so each has had at least 12 months to reach a final. Finished means the county recorded a final inspection or marked it complete; expired means it lapsed without one.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Finished | 5,174 | 71.9% |
| Still open | 2,013 | 28.0% |
| Expired | 8 | 0.1% |
From our cross-city data studies: the same measure, read the same way, for every city we cover.
Permit statistics for other places in the Bay Area. Each permit office keeps its own file, so the numbers are not added together.
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.
Counts are permits, not jobs: one job can need several permits. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can. Sources and definitions →
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 permit statistics", https://contractorrecords.com/sonoma-county/permit-statistics, 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 · By year · By month · When each kind of work is filed · How many get finished.
Download the tables (CSV): Permits by kind of work · Permits by year · Permits by month · Permits by calendar month (index) · Finished, open and expired.