More and more states and cities are putting deadlines on how long building departments have to review and approve permits. And in some places, missing those deadlines has real consequences.
In Florida, missing a review deadline can mean giving up part of your permit fees. In Kansas, some residential permits can be automatically approved if the clock runs out. And in North Carolina, applicants on certain projects can bring in an outside reviewer if their building department can't finish the review on time.
These aren't isolated examples. Across the country, states are passing new laws to speed up permit approvals, while cities are setting and publishing review timelines of their own.
The rules are different everywhere, and they're changing all the time. So we thought it would be helpful to put them all in one place.
With a little help from AI, we built an interactive map of permit approval deadlines across the United States.
The map brings together state laws, proposed legislation, and published city review timelines, with plain-English explanations of what each rule requires.
You can click on any state or city covered by the map to learn:
We've also created dedicated pages for each state with a deadline in effect, including a more detailed breakdown of the rules, frequently asked questions, and links to the underlying legislation.
Whether you're trying to meet a newly established deadline, considering setting review targets for your own department, or just curious what neighboring jurisdictions are doing, we hope you find this useful.
And if you know of a rule we've missed, let us know. We'd love to keep making the map better.
Does your jurisdiction have a permit approval deadline?
See the rules, timelines, and consequences for every state and city on the map.