# Dallas building permit data: where to get it and what is missing

By Rotomal team · Updated 2026-10-29 · Part of [Permit Weekly](https://rotomal.com/permit-leads/)

**Short answer:** The City of Dallas publishes the permits it issues as free open data: the Building Permits dataset (e7gq-4sah) on dallasopendata.com, updated daily. When we checked on 29 October 2026 it held 54,168 permits issued in 2026, with address, ZIP code, permit type, work description and land use. The contractor and valuation fields are now almost always empty: only 12 of the 5,250 permits issued 1–28 October 2026 named a contractor. For Collin County suburbs such as Frisco and McKinney, the Collin Central Appraisal District publishes a separate permit file.

## The Dallas Building Permits dataset

The dataset's own description: permits issued by the City of Dallas from January 2018 to the present, updated daily. On 29 October 2026 its metadata showed an update that morning, and it held 393,770 rows, 54,168 of them issued in 2026.

It has 11 columns. The issue date is stored as text in MM/DD/YY form (10/28/26), so filter it with a text pattern rather than a date range.

- permit_number and permit_type, for example Residential Roofing Permit
- issued_date, as text
- street_address and zip_code, plus a Mapsco grid reference
- work_description, area and land_use
- contractor and value, which have been mostly empty since 2025 (see below)

## Permits issued 1–28 October 2026, by type

Our query on 29 October 2026 counted 5,250 permits issued 1–28 October 2026. The types most useful to trades:

| Permit type | Issued 1–28 Oct 2026 | Lead for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Residential New Construction Permit | 244 | Landscaping, pools, fencing, gutters, security |
| Residential Roofing Permit | 207 | Roofers (competitor view), gutters, solar |
| Residential Foundation Repair | 125 | Drainage, plumbing, concrete |
| Residential Demolition Permit | 122 | Dumpsters, excavation, home builders |
| Residential Pool/Spa Permit | 87 | Pool service, fencing, landscaping, electricians |
| Residential Solar/PV Permit | 71 | Electricians, battery installers, roofers |
| Residential Mechanical Permit | 478 | HVAC (competitor view), insulation |
| Commercial Alteration Addition Permit | 357 | Interior trades, signage, low-voltage |
| Commercial New Construction Permit | 55 | Subcontractors and suppliers |
| Commercial Roofing Permit | 33 | Commercial roofers |
| Commercial Demolition Permit | 28 | Demolition, hauling, abatement |

The full list has 26 permit types. Residential plumbing (1,119) and residential electrical (620) permits are the largest groups.

## The contractor and value fields went empty in 2025

The dataset description still lists contractor and valuation among its fields, but the contractor has almost never been filled since October 2025, and the valuation since May 2025. Our counts by issue month, run on 29 October 2026:

| Permits issued | Permits | Contractor filled | Share |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| January–August 2025 | 40,702 | 34,254 | 84% |
| September 2025 | 5,556 | 3,332 | 60% |
| October 2025 | 5,425 | 416 | 8% |
| November–December 2025 | 10,008 | 329 | 3% |
| 2026, to 29 October | 54,168 | 315 | 0.6% |
| 1–28 October 2026 | 5,250 | 12 | 0.2% |

Valuation emptied earlier: it was filled on 10,094 of the 20,757 permits issued January–April 2025, on 519 of the 40,934 issued May–December 2025, and on 22 of the 5,250 issued 1–28 October 2026. The dataset does not say why. For one permit's contractor, the dataset description points to the city's Accela Citizen Access portal for active permit tracking.

## Download or query it

Like every Socrata dataset, it downloads as CSV from the dataset page on dallasopendata.com and answers as an API with no key for light use. Both worked on 29 October 2026: the CSV export holds every row, and the API can return one month's residential roofing permits and narrow them to a single ZIP code.

Dallas stores the issue date as text (MM/DD/YY), so a month is matched as text rather than as a date range.

## Dallas suburbs: Collin County permits from the appraisal district

The city dataset covers only permits the City of Dallas issues. For Collin County, the Collin Central Appraisal District publishes the permits it receives from cities on the Texas open-data portal, described as permits issued in the most recent three years. It was updated on 29 October 2026 and names the builder on 480 of the 496 permits dated 1–28 October 2026. It also carries the owner's name.

Cities report to the appraisal district on their own schedules, so recent months are incomplete: Plano had 1,402 permits in the file for 2026 but none dated in October when we checked.

| Issuing city | Permits dated 1–28 Oct 2026 | Permits dated 1 Jan–28 Oct 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Frisco | 127 | 1,769 |
| Anna | 63 | 1,255 |
| Princeton | 62 | 1,631 |
| Royse City | 45 | 224 |
| Melissa | 44 | 777 |
| Lucas | 42 | 422 |
| McKinney | 31 | 4,549 |
| Allen | 6 | 2,007 |
| Celina | 6 | 1,974 |
| Plano | 0 | 1,402 |

Fort Worth publishes its own permit table on its ArcGIS Hub portal; see our building permit data sources guide.

## Turning the dataset into a weekly lead list

- Filter permit_type to the types for your trade (table above) and zip_code to your service area.
- Pull weekly. The dataset updates daily, so a Monday query for the previous week's dates also catches late postings.
- Look up the contractor of record on the permits that matter in the city's permit portal, since the open data no longer carries it.
- Add Collin County suburbs from the appraisal district file, and expect those to lag.
- If you contact homeowners, follow Do-Not-Call, TCPA and CAN-SPAM rules. The dataset has no owner names, phone numbers or emails. This is not legal advice.

## What Permit Weekly does with Dallas permits

Permit Weekly runs those steps for one trade and your ZIP codes every week and sends the result as an email and CSV, with the permit types mapped to your trade. Before you pay, we confirm by email the typical weekly volume for your trade and ZIP codes.

## FAQ

### Does Dallas publish building permits as open data?

Yes. The Building Permits dataset (e7gq-4sah) on dallasopendata.com covers permits issued since January 2018 and is updated daily. It was last updated on the morning of 29 October 2026 when we checked.

### Why is the contractor column empty in Dallas permit data?

It was filled on 84% of permits issued January–August 2025 and on 0.6% of permits issued in 2026 up to 29 October, by our count. The dataset does not give a reason. Look up a specific permit's contractor in the city's permit portal.

### How many building permits does Dallas issue?

By our count of the open dataset, 61,691 permits were issued in 2025 and 54,168 in 2026 up to 29 October. That includes trade permits such as plumbing, electrical and mechanical, not only building permits.

### Does the Dallas dataset include Plano, Frisco or other suburbs?

No, only permits issued by the City of Dallas. Collin County cities appear in the Collin Central Appraisal District's permit file on data.texas.gov, and Fort Worth publishes its own permit table.

### How do I download Dallas building permits to Excel?

Export CSV from the dataset page on dallasopendata.com; the export holds every row. The issue date is stored as text (for example 10/28/26), so filter it as text by month and year, such as dates starting 10/ and ending /26 for October 2026.

## Sources

- Dallas open data: Building Permits (e7gq-4sah) https://www.dallasopendata.com/d/e7gq-4sah
- Texas open data: Collin CAD Building Permits (82ee-gbj5) https://data.texas.gov/d/82ee-gbj5
- City of Fort Worth: CFW Development Permits Table (ArcGIS) https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d2740f4d746b4bfaa03e25de0376238b
- Socrata developer docs: queries with SoQL https://dev.socrata.com/docs/queries/
- FTC: National Do Not Call Registry https://www.donotcall.gov/

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