Impact Fee Map
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Charged in essentially every jurisdiction

Building permit fee

The charge for reviewing and issuing the permit itself, usually scaled to declared valuation or square footage.

Who charges it

The city or county building department

The trap

This is the only fee most first-time builders budget for, and it is often the smallest line on the page.

Permit fees are typically calculated from a declared valuation table, which means the number you write on the application drives the fee. Undervaluing is a bad idea and jurisdictions check it against cost-per-square-foot tables; overvaluing simply costs money.

NAHB's 2026 regulatory cost study attributes part of the recent rise in construction-phase regulatory costs specifically to higher building permit fees, alongside building code changes. This is a line that has been moving.

Ask whether the fee covers inspections, or whether re-inspections after a failed inspection are billed separately. In many jurisdictions they are.

Next

Get the actual numberSix steps from parcel record to a written estimate. Check your stateWhat is authorized where you are building. Credits and offsetsWhere this fee can legally come down.
Read this before you rely on anything here. Impact Fee Map describes who is legally allowed to charge new construction, for what, and what a fee payer's rights are under state law. It does not publish fee amounts for any city, county or district, and it never will, because no source keeps thirty-nine thousand local schedules current and a stale number is worse than none. This is not legal advice, not a fee quote and not a substitute for the adopted fee schedule of the bodies with jurisdiction over your parcel. Statutes change; verify against the current text and confirm every figure in writing with the agency that will bill you.