# How many demolition permits does Chicago issue a year? Half as many as in 2015

Published 2026-11-07 · By Pushbuild · Data: [Building Permits API – City Permits, Valuations and Contractors](https://pushbuild.com/apis/building-permits.html)

**Chicago issued 1,210 demolition permits in 2015 and 661 in 2025.** Los Angeles issues far more: 1,871 in 2025.

| Year | Chicago | Los Angeles |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2015 | 1,210 |  |
| 2016 | 1,305 |  |
| 2017 | 1,212 |  |
| 2018 | 1,144 |  |
| 2019 | 1,081 |  |
| 2020 | 738 | 1,630 |
| 2021 | 888 | 1,866 |
| 2022 | 785 | 2,320 |
| 2023 | 615 | 1,812 |
| 2024 | 635 | 1,788 |
| 2025 | 661 | 1,871 |

## Caveats

Permits typed or classed as demolition. Los Angeles data starts in 2020.

## Sources

- [Chicago Data Portal, building permits](https://data.cityofchicago.org/Buildings/Building-Permits/ydr8-5enu), read through the Pushbuild [Building Permits API](https://pushbuild.com/apis/building-permits.html) on 2026-11-07

Data as of 2026-11-07. Every figure in this post is in the table above and the CSV below.

Download the data behind this post: [b1-demolition-permits-by-year.csv](https://pushbuild.com/apis/analysis/data/b1-demolition-permits-by-year.csv)

## Get this data

Every number in this post comes from the [Building Permits API – City Permits, Valuations and Contractors](https://pushbuild.com/apis/building-permits.html). $0.0008 per row returned; every key gets $1 of free usage each month.

```
curl -X POST https://api.pushbuild.com/building-permits/run \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jurisdictions": ["seattle"], "description": "solar", "maxItems": 20}'
```

[API docs and key](https://pushbuild.com/apis/building-permits.html)[More analysis from this data](https://pushbuild.com/apis/analysis/api/building-permits/)Embed this chart

Free to reuse with the credit link. Paste this HTML into your page, or use the [SVG file](https://pushbuild.com/apis/analysis/chicago-demolition-permits/chart.svg).

Want a table like this in Google Sheets, refreshed on demand? Free script: [copy a web table into Google Sheets](https://pushbuild.com/free/scripts/website-table-to-sheets/).

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Header photo: [Baltimore Heritage from Baltimore, MD, USA](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rowhouses,_2126-2134_E._Baltimore_Street,_Baltimore,_MD_21231_(47560835961).jpg), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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As of 2026-11-07. Source: https://pushbuild.com/apis/analysis/chicago-demolition-permits/