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Worcester, MA building permits

Data through September 2026 · updated 19 Oct 2026

21,351 building permits were issued in Worcester from October 2024 to September 2026, about 10,676 a year. Plumbing permits lead with 6,405, then electrical (4,744) and remodels & repairs (4,623). 99% were for homes. The city's file names contractors, but mostly as license holders' personal names, often run together with a company name, so we don't list, rate or rank firms: these pages show what was built, where and when.

21,351permits issued
10,676a year
99%for homes
66%finished (Oct 2024–Sep 2025 permits)
Sep 2026records through

What gets built here

Plumbing

6,405permits
3,017last 12 mo

Electrical

4,744permits
2,453last 12 mo

Remodels & repairs

4,623permits
1,819last 12 mo

Solar

1,755permits
767last 12 mo

Roofing

799permits
322last 12 mo

HVAC

703permits
392last 12 mo

What this page can and can't show

  • ✓Permits the city issued, by kind of work, month and ZIP code.
  • ✓Which permits finished or are still open.
  • Who does good work. The city's file names contractors, but mostly as license holders' personal names, often run together with a company name, so we don't list, rate or rank firms.
  • How long a permit takes to final. The file has too few final dates.
  • What the job cost. The file carries no job value.
  • Street addresses or owners. We publish counts and permit rows without them.

Residential permits the City of Worcester's Department of Inspectional Services issues inside the city: building, electrical, gas, plumbing and mechanical permits for houses, two-families and triple-deckers and other apartment buildings. Commercial, mixed-use, school and municipal permits in the same files are not counted. Shrewsbury, Auburn and the other towns around Worcester run their own permit offices and are not in these files.

Guides for this kind of work

All guides →

Permits by kind of work

Permits issued October 2024 through September 2026, every kind of work with 100 or more. Last 12 months is Oct 2025–Sep 2026. Homes is the share issued as residential permits.

Kind of workPermitsShareLast 12 mo
Plumbing6,40530%3,017
Electrical4,74422%2,453
Remodels & repairs4,62322%1,819
Solar1,7558%767
Roofing7994%322
HVAC7033%392
New homes147under 1%46
Other1,9459%1,817

Fewer than 100 permits, so no row: additions (92), ADUs & casitas (50), demolition (29), pools & spas (27), garages, sheds & shade structures (19), fences & walls (13).

Download this table (CSV)

Worcester permit statistics →Worcester permits by ZIP code →Worcester building permit search: how to look up permits on a Worcester, MA address →

Guides for Worcester

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

Nearby permit data

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

Cambridge, MASomerville, MA

How these numbers are made

Source: City of Worcester, Informing Worcester open data: Building, Electrical, Gas, Plumbing and Mechanical Permits (ArcGIS layers), read 19 Oct 2026. We count permits issued October 2024 through September 2026; denied and withdrawn permits are left out.

Residential permits the City of Worcester's Department of Inspectional Services issues inside the city: building, electrical, gas, plumbing and mechanical permits for houses, two-families and triple-deckers and other apartment buildings. Commercial, mixed-use, school and municipal permits in the same files are not counted. Shrewsbury, Auburn and the other towns around Worcester run their own permit offices and are not in these files.

  • We don't use the contractor names in the city's files. They are a mix of license holders' personal names and company names with no license number, so we can't match them to firms reliably. There are no contractor lists, rankings or firm pages for Worcester.
  • The files have no declared job value, so we show no costs.
  • The files have no final inspection date, so there is no time-to-final here. A permit counts as finished when the city marks it Complete; every other permit is open. The city has no separate expired status.
  • Permits on buildings with three or more units count in the totals but not as homes.
  • Insulation and siding permits count as remodels and repairs. Decks, and building permits the city files with no stated purpose, count under Other.
  • A new house gets separate building, electrical, gas and plumbing 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, "Worcester, MA building permits", https://contractorrecords.com/worcester/, data through September 2026, from the City of Worcester Department of Inspectional Services 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 Worcester issue a year?About 10,676 a year in Worcester: 21,351 permits issued October 2024 through September 2026, 10,717 of them in the last 12 months. That counts the permits the city issued, all for homes, not denied or withdrawn applications.
  • Can I find a contractor's permits in Worcester?The city's file names contractors, but mostly as license holders' personal names, often run together with a company name, so we don't list, rate or rank firms. Ask the contractor for the permit number of a past job.
  • What do people build most in Worcester?Plumbing: 6,405 of the 21,351 permits (30%), then electrical (4,744), remodels & repairs (4,623), October 2024 through September 2026.
  • How do I look up a building permit in Worcester?Filter the permit list on this page by month, kind of work and ZIP code 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 Worcester →
  • How many permits were issued in Worcester last month?995 in September 2026, the last full month on file; 10,717 over the last 12 months.

Browse the permits

Browse 21,351 permits

Every permit in the file issued October 2024 through September 2026, newest first. Pick a month, a kind of work, a ZIP code or a status. Each row is one permit: no street address, no names.

The list loads as you reach it (21,351 permits).

IssuedKind of workCity permit typeStatusZIP

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
Sep 2026995Electrical (217)
Aug 2026961Plumbing (223)
Jul 2026946Electrical (255)
Jun 2026859Plumbing (222)
May 2026847Plumbing (194)
Apr 2026839Plumbing (233)
Mar 2026740Plumbing (234)
Feb 2026717Plumbing (248)
Jan 2026838Plumbing (299)
Dec 2025980Plumbing (336)
Nov 2025949Plumbing (321)
Oct 20251,046Plumbing (294)

Download this table (CSV)