Chicago building & ADU permits
Recent permit activity, updated continuously.
Chicago is the third-most populous city in the United States and runs its own ADU ordinance in a state with no statewide mandate. Chicago's mature data portal exposes no single address or ZIP column, so Igni reverse-geocodes permits from their coordinates and infers ADU activity from the work description.
Igni is tracking 13,020 residential and building permits in Chicago, IL — including 59 classified accessory-dwelling-unit (ADU) filings. The most active ZIP is 60614. The most recent filing Igni tracked was Nov 1, 2026. All records come from Chicago Data Portal (Socrata), an official government open-data feed, and are refreshed continuously.
13020
Permits tracked
59
ADU permits
57
Distinct ZIP codes
Nov 1, 2026
Newest permit
Recent permits
A sample of the freshest permits in this jurisdiction — ZIP and city only (no street addresses).
| ZIP | Permit type | ADU type | Valuation | Applied |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60637 | Other | — | $46,785 | Sep 28, 2026 |
| 60614 | Other | — | $1,500 | Oct 31, 2026 |
| 60638 | Other | — | $3,500 | Oct 31, 2026 |
| 60611 | Other | — | $20,000 | Oct 7, 2026 |
| 60632 | Other | — | — | Oct 23, 2026 |
| 60653 | Other | — | — | Oct 23, 2026 |
| 60655 | Other | — | $25,000 | Oct 1, 2026 |
| 60620 | Other | — | $1,500 | Oct 12, 2026 |
| 60636 | Other | — | $5,000 | Oct 8, 2026 |
| 60632 | Other | — | $5,500 | Oct 31, 2026 |
| 60618 | Other | — | $8,700 | Oct 6, 2026 |
| 60602 | Residential | — | — | Oct 30, 2026 |
| 60653 | Other | — | — | Oct 29, 2026 |
| 60659 | Commercial | — | — | Oct 30, 2026 |
| 60606 | Commercial | — | $2,000 | Oct 7, 2026 |
| 60612 | Other | — | $450,000 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| 60646 | Other | — | $100 | Oct 20, 2026 |
| 60632 | Other | — | $5,000 | Jul 24, 2026 |
| 60606 | Commercial | — | — | Oct 30, 2026 |
| 60661 | Commercial | — | — | Oct 30, 2026 |
Top ZIP codes by recent activity
ADU types in the recent set
Permit activity in Chicago
Igni counted 31,821 permits issued in Chicago over the last 12 months (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026) — roughly flat (+0.4%) on the 31,699 in the 12 months before. The forecast expects about 14,204 over the next 6 months.
Forecast: seasonal naive, typical error ±6% in backtests one to six months ahead. How we forecast
| Permit type | Last 12 months | Year over year | Forecast, next 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| All permits | 31,821 | Flat (+0.4%) | ≈ 14,204 |
| Residential building | 4,814 | Up 6.4% | ≈ 2,406 |
| Commercial building | 2,293 | Down 4.0% | ≈ 1,146 |
| Trade (electrical, plumbing, mechanical) | 15,056 | Down 1.7% | ≈ 6,594 |
| ADU | 148 | Flat (−0.7%) | ≈ 72 |
Monthly figures
| Month | Permits | 10th–90th percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2023 | 3,012 | — |
| Nov 2023 | 2,272 | — |
| Dec 2023 | 2,022 | — |
| Jan 2024 | 2,463 | — |
| Feb 2024 | 2,780 | — |
| Mar 2024 | 2,752 | — |
| Apr 2024 | 3,028 | — |
| May 2024 | 3,111 | — |
| Jun 2024 | 2,890 | — |
| Jul 2024 | 3,255 | — |
| Aug 2024 | 3,230 | — |
| Sep 2024 | 2,644 | — |
| Oct 2024 | 3,155 | — |
| Nov 2024 | 2,231 | — |
| Dec 2024 | 1,901 | — |
| Jan 2025 | 2,334 | — |
| Feb 2025 | 1,943 | — |
| Mar 2025 | 2,537 | — |
| Apr 2025 | 3,007 | — |
| May 2025 | 2,759 | — |
| Jun 2025 | 2,932 | — |
| Jul 2025 | 3,043 | — |
| Aug 2025 | 2,846 | — |
| Sep 2025 | 3,011 | — |
| Oct 2025 | 3,188 | — |
| Nov 2025 | 2,357 | — |
| Dec 2025 | 2,074 | — |
| Jan 2026 | 1,929 | — |
| Feb 2026 | 1,997 | — |
| Mar 2026 | 2,605 | — |
| Apr 2026 | 2,845 | — |
| May 2026 | 2,756 | — |
| Jun 2026 | 2,901 | — |
| Jul 2026 | 2,919 | — |
| Aug 2026 | 3,044 | — |
| Sep 2026 | 3,206 | — |
| Oct 2026 (forecast) | ≈ 3,200 | 2,899–3,639 |
| Nov 2026 (forecast) | ≈ 2,366 | 2,150–2,690 |
| Dec 2026 (forecast) | ≈ 2,082 | 1,841–2,317 |
| Jan 2027 (forecast) | ≈ 1,936 | 1,847–2,109 |
| Feb 2027 (forecast) | ≈ 2,005 | 1,963–2,185 |
| Mar 2027 (forecast) | ≈ 2,615 | 2,592–2,853 |
Counts are permits issued per calendar month as Chicago publishes them to its open-data feed — not a complete census; a change in what the city publishes moves them too. The current month is left out, and the most recent months are provisional. A forecast is a statistical estimate with a range, not a prediction for any project. Informational only.
How long do permits take in Chicago?
Based on 87,147 Chicago permits applied for between Nov 2023 and Aug 2026, the typical (median) permit was issued 6 days after application, and the middle half of permits took 0–26 days. One in ten took longer than 76 days.
| Permit type | Median | Typical range | Permits |
|---|---|---|---|
| All permits | 6 days | 0–26 days | 87,147 |
| Residential building | 37 days | 9–85 days | 12,473 |
| Commercial building | 14 days | 2–55 days | 5,658 |
| Trade (electrical, plumbing, mechanical) | 2 days | 0–14 days | 40,974 |
| ADU | 76 days | 29–130 days | 350 |
Typical, not guaranteed: individual permits vary with project scope, application completeness and plan-review workload. Days are calendar days from application to issuance; applications still pending are counted as not-yet-issued rather than dropped. Informational only, not legal advice. How we calculate approval times.
Housing law — Illinois
Accessory dwelling units in Illinois are regulated locally; there is no statewide ADU mandate, with Chicago running its own ADU ordinance.
Illinois has no statewide upzoning law; residential density is set by local zoning.
Data source
Sourced from Chicago Data Portal (Socrata). Public records (City of Chicago Terms of Use).
Nearby cities — Illinois
Learn more about ADUs & building permits
Background reading on accessory dwelling units, building permits, and how Igni turns Chicago permit records into leads.
Chicago permit data — FAQ
Where does Igni get Chicago permit data?
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Is construction activity growing in Chicago?
Does Chicago allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs)?
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Informational only, not legal advice. Headline counts reflect all permits Igni has tracked for this jurisdiction; the table shows recent activity. Housing law changes — verify current statutes before relying on this.