Seattle Building Permits Analysis
This dashboard captures a selection of Seattle building permit trends— the geographic distribution of permits, housing supply changes, and seasonal patterns in construction activity. Charts update weekly using data from the City of Seattle's open data portal and include building permits issued from 2019 to 2025.
Seattle Building Permits
Building permit counts by location. Dataset fields: permitnum, latitude, longitude, description
Top 42 Permit Descriptors
Frequency of words used to describe the proposed project. Dataset field: description
Housing Units by Zip Code
Wallford/Green Lake (98103) and North Seattle (98115) have the most permits for multi-family development. Permits in Ballard (98107) are balanced between residential and commercial projects. West Seattle (98106) and Rainier Valley (98118) permit applications focus mainly on single-family renovations.
Dataset fields: originalzip, permitclassmapped, housingunitsnet (see note)
Housing Units Trends
Seasonal fluctuations and an overall trend in housing supply increases; peak activity typically occurs in late summer.
Dataset fields: issueddate, housingunitsnet
Monthly Housing Trends
Analysis of monthly housing unit additions and permit counts over time, showing seasonal patterns and trends in development activity.
Dataset fields: originalzip, housingunitsnet, issueddate
Seasonal Housing Unit Changes
Analysis of housing unit changes and permit counts by season, showing peak activity in summer months.
Dataset fields: originalzip, housingunitsnet, issueddate
Permit Processing Times
Median processing time is 43 days, with 90% of permits completed within 261 days. Processing times vary significantly by permit class.
Dataset fields: applieddate, issueddate, originalzip, housingunitsnet
Project Costs by Zip Code
The median project cost is $100,000, while the average is $714,667, indicating a significant skew toward high-value projects in certain areas.
Dataset fields: estprojectcost, originalzip, housingunitsnet