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The City of Vancouver, WA building permits

Data through August 2026 · updated 19 Oct 2026

18,650 building permits in the City of Vancouver's public permit file were issued in the City of Vancouver from September 2024 to August 2026, about 9,325 a year. Electrical permits lead with 12,023, then HVAC (3,325) and plumbing (2,231). The city's file doesn't name contractors, so we can't rank, compare or profile firms here: these pages show what was built and when.

What this file covers: Only mechanical, plumbing and electrical permits are counted: the city's public file stopped receiving most building permits in early 2025.

18,650permits issued
9,325a year
24%finished (Sep 2024–Aug 2025 permits)
Aug 2026records through

What gets built here

What this page can and can't show

  • ✓The permits in the City of Vancouver's public permit file, by kind of work and month.
  • ✓Which permits finished or are still open.
  • Who did the work. The city'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.

Mechanical, plumbing and electrical permits the City of Vancouver, Washington issues inside city limits. Building permits (new homes, remodels, additions, commercial buildings) and demolition permits are not counted: the city's public permit file stopped receiving most of them in early 2025. Water and sewer connections and right-of-way permits are not counted either. Unincorporated Clark County, Camas, Battle Ground and the other Clark County cities run their own permit offices and are not in this file, and neither is Vancouver, British Columbia.

Permits by kind of work

Permits issued September 2024 through August 2026, every kind of work with 100 or more. Last 12 months is Sep 2025–Aug 2026.

Kind of workPermitsShareLast 12 mo
Electrical12,02364%6,199
HVAC3,32518%1,724
Plumbing2,23112%1,219
Other1,0716%691

Download this table (CSV)

Nearby permit data

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

How these numbers are made

Source: City of Vancouver ArcGIS Online: Permits and Code Enforcement Data (public view), Permit Data layer, read 19 Oct 2026. We count permits issued September 2024 through August 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Mechanical, plumbing and electrical permits the City of Vancouver, Washington issues inside city limits. Building permits (new homes, remodels, additions, commercial buildings) and demolition permits are not counted: the city's public permit file stopped receiving most of them in early 2025. Water and sewer connections and right-of-way permits are not counted either. Unincorporated Clark County, Camas, Battle Ground and the other Clark County cities run their own permit offices and are not in this file, and neither is Vancouver, British Columbia.

  • The city's file names no contractor, so there are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Vancouver.
  • Only mechanical, plumbing and electrical permits are counted. Building permits nearly vanish from the city's public file after 2024, so new homes, remodels, roofing and other building work are not shown here.
  • The file had no permits issued after August 2026 when it was pulled, so the window ends there.
  • The file has no final inspection date, so we show no time to final. A permit counts as finished when the city marks it closed; many trade permits stay open in the file long after the work is done.
  • The file does not say whether a trade permit is for a home or a business, so no permit is counted as a home.
  • The file has no job value and no ZIP code we can publish, so we show no costs and no ZIP code pages.
  • Permits with the city's work type 'POR' count as other.

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 Vancouver, WA building permits", https://contractorrecords.com/vancouver-wa/, data through August 2026, from City of Vancouver Community Development, Building Division 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.

Common questions

  • How many building permits does Vancouver issue a year?About 9,325 a year in the City of Vancouver: 18,650 permits issued September 2024 through August 2026, 9,833 of them in the last 12 months. That counts the permits in the City of Vancouver's public permit file, not denied or withdrawn applications; the file doesn't hold every permit the city issues (see what it covers above).
  • Can I find a contractor's permits in Vancouver?Not from this file: the city publishes its permits without the contractor's name, so we can't list or rank firms. Ask the contractor for the permit number of a past job.
  • What do people build most in Vancouver?Electrical: 12,023 of the 18,650 permits (64%), then HVAC (3,325), plumbing (2,231), September 2024 through August 2026.
  • How do I look up a building permit in Vancouver?Filter the permit list on this page by month, kind of work to see what was issued. For one property's permits, search the city's own records by address or permit number; we don't publish addresses. How to look up a permit in Vancouver →
  • How many permits were issued in Vancouver last month?808 in August 2026, the last full month on file; 9,833 over the last 12 months.

Browse the permits

Browse 18,650 permits

Every permit in the file issued September 2024 through August 2026, 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 (18,650 permits).

IssuedKind of workCity permit typeStatus

Permits each month, the last 12 months

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
Aug 2026808Electrical (485)
Jul 2026951Electrical (638)
Jun 20261,007Electrical (649)
May 2026837Electrical (531)
Apr 2026762Electrical (475)
Mar 2026785Electrical (492)
Feb 2026753Electrical (456)
Jan 2026880Electrical (551)
Dec 2025794Electrical (485)
Nov 2025606Electrical (375)
Oct 2025848Electrical (541)
Sep 2025802Electrical (521)

Download this table (CSV)