How many building permits does Urbana issue a year?

About 1,781 a year in the City of Urbana: 3,562 permits over 24 months, September 2024 through August 2026. 1,745 permits in the last 12 months (Sep 2025-Aug 2026), 4% fewer than the 1,817 in the 12 months before.

Are building permits up or down in Urbana?

1,745 permits in the last 12 months (Sep 2025-Aug 2026), 4% fewer than the 1,817 in the 12 months before. Solar permits grew most (99 to 122); HVAC permits fell most (422 to 362).

What is the busiest month for permits in Urbana?

October, counting every kind of work (129 against an average month of 100). February is the quietest (77). Each kind of work has its own season; the charts above show them.

What share of Urbana permits are for homes?

79%: 2,801 of the 3,562 permits issued September 2024 through August 2026 were residential permits.

Urbana, IL Permit Statistics (2026): 3,562 Permits

By kind of work

Permits issued September 2024 through August 2026. Last 12 months is Sep 2025–Aug 2026; the 12 months before is Sep 2024–Aug 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
Plumbing	960	27%	465	495	−6%	81%	March
HVAC	784	22%	362	422	−14%	83%	July
Electrical	547	15%	284	263	+8%	69%	April
Remodels & repairs	285	8%	145	140	+4%	98%	June
Fences & walls	232	7%	115	117	−2%	92%	June
Solar	221	6%	122	99	+23%	96%	September
Roofing	107	3%	60	47	+28%	81%	April
Other	205	6%	93	112	−17%	2%	June

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: new homes (98), garages, sheds & shade structures (72), demolition (37), additions (11), pools & spas (3).

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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 September)	4	614	1,842
2025	12	1,843	1,843
2026 (through August)	8	1,105	1,658

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By month

Permits issued each month, September 2024 through August 2026. The tallest bar is the busiest month on file.

The same numbers as a table

Month	Permits
Sep 2024	198
Oct 2024	164
Nov 2024	127
Dec 2024	125
Jan 2025	131
Feb 2025	94
Mar 2025	143
Apr 2025	175
May 2025	146
Jun 2025	173
Jul 2025	156
Aug 2025	185
Sep 2025	170
Oct 2025	219
Nov 2025	122
Dec 2025	129
Jan 2026	108
Feb 2026	135
Mar 2026	156
Apr 2026	136
May 2026	148
Jun 2026	166
Jul 2026	144
Aug 2026	112

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When each kind of work is filed

Permits by calendar month, 100 = an average month (the thin line), September 2024 through August 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.

Plumbing

960 permits · busiest March, quietest July

HVAC

784 permits · busiest July, quietest April

Electrical

547 permits · busiest April, quietest November

Remodels & repairs

285 permits · busiest June, quietest February

Fences & walls

232 permits · busiest June, quietest December

Solar

221 permits · busiest September, quietest March

Roofing

107 permits · busiest April, quietest January

The same numbers as a table

Kind of work	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Plumbing	86	86	128	96	89	110	71	91	120	128	92	102
HVAC	96	80	95	69	107	119	142	101	115	103	90	83
Electrical	72	88	88	140	83	110	103	79	134	138	68	97
Remodels & repairs	114	63	101	118	114	122	84	101	63	118	105	97
Fences & walls	57	57	129	119	124	171	83	109	114	150	47	41
Solar	33	43	22	147	65	54	60	81	282	239	81	92
Roofing	22	67	79	157	112	135	157	146	135	101	45	45

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Homes and everything else

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

Permit class	Permits	Share	Last 12 mo
Homes (residential)	2,801	79%	1,412
Other	761	21%	333

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How Urbana 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 Oct, quietest Feb for permits here; see when each trade peaks in 50 cities. Busiest months for home projects, by city →

How these numbers are made

Source: City of Urbana, Community Development Permits Issued (State of Illinois open data mirror, dvw9-7wyx), read 23 Oct 2026. We count permits issued September 2024 through August 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out. Since the city's 2019 change of permit system, most permits stay marked Issued long after the work is done, so no finished share is shown.

Building, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, solar, accessory structure, demolition and sign permits the City of Urbana Community Development Services issues inside city limits. Certificates of occupancy in the same file are not counted. Champaign, Savoy and unincorporated Champaign County run their own permit offices and are not in this file.

The file is the State of Illinois open data copy of the city's permit list. Its rows were last updated on September 23, 2026, so September 2026 is not counted.
The file has no final inspection date and no ZIP code, so we show neither time to final nor ZIP code pages.
Most permits since 2019 still read Issued, including many from 2020 to 2023, so we don't show a finished share.
The value is the estimated cost written on the permit application, not the final cost of the job; about three in four permits carry one.
A new house gets separate building, plumbing, mechanical 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 City of Urbana, IL building permit statistics", https://contractorrecords.com/urbana/permit-statistics, data through August 2026, from the City of Urbana Community Development Services 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 Urbana issue a year?About 1,781 a year in the City of Urbana: 3,562 permits over 24 months, September 2024 through August 2026. 1,745 permits in the last 12 months (Sep 2025–Aug 2026), 4% fewer than the 1,817 in the 12 months before.
Are building permits up or down in Urbana?1,745 permits in the last 12 months (Sep 2025–Aug 2026), 4% fewer than the 1,817 in the 12 months before. Solar permits grew most (99 to 122); HVAC permits fell most (422 to 362).
What is the busiest month for permits in Urbana?October, counting every kind of work (129 against an average month of 100). February is the quietest (77). Each kind of work has its own season; the charts above show them.
What share of Urbana permits are for homes?79%: 2,801 of the 3,562 permits issued September 2024 through August 2026 were residential permits.

Urbana permit data →Urbana plumbing permits →Urbana HVAC permits →Urbana electrical permits →Browse Urbana permits →