Newest sealed read: 2026-08-26. This is a one-time assembled file. We pulled these rows on 26 Aug 2026. We hold 1 sealed run going back to 2006-09-26.
What this page is661,051 rows held · newest sealed read 2026-08-26
- We hold 661,051 published rows pulled on 26 Aug 2026.
- Issue dates in this extract run from 26 Sep 2006 to 25 Aug 2026.
- 13 distinct permit-type values are in this extract.
- Person-name columns are not in any file we make from this extract.
- Applicant and comments are stripped from every file made from this extract.
Real rows out of our sealed copies
This is the inventory of the extract, not a list of every permit Boston has ever issued.
| City's permit type | Rows in this extract |
|---|---|
| Short Form Bldg Permit | 190,581 |
| Electrical Permit | 143,512 |
| Plumbing Permit | 90,880 |
| Gas Permit | 65,842 |
| Electrical Low Voltage | 48,368 |
| Long Form/Alteration Permit | 45,412 |
| Electrical Fire Alarms | 34,501 |
| Certificate of Occupancy | 23,311 |
| Electrical Temporary Service | 8,189 |
| Amendment to a Long Form | 5,478 |
| Erect/New Construction | 3,382 |
| Use of Premises | 1,423 |
| Foundation Permit | 172 |
Who published the data on this page
- Every permit on this page was published by the City of Boston on Analyze Boston dataset approved-building-permits (resource 6ddcd912-32a0-43df-9908-63574f8c7e77), under the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL) v1.0. We assembled a copy. The permits and the wording inside the rows are theirs. PDDL does not require attribution; the credit is still printed so a buyer can see where the rows came from.
What this page cannot tell you
- This is 661,051 published rows we pulled on 26 Aug 2026, not the city's all-time file. A row we did not pull is not in the file.
- Person-name and contact columns are stripped from every file we make. The portal still has them. We will not put them in a paid file.
- A blank cell means the city left it blank. We do not fill it in.
- The applicant column is stripped from every file we make. A 200-row sample of the comments column contained person names, so comments is stripped too.
- The City of Boston published these rows under the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL) v1.0. Analyze Boston stays free. The file would be one assembled CSV of a work-type slice, with person columns taken out, as of the pull date.
- Every address on this page is cut back to the street: we print 100 Hanover St, never the flat or unit number the city prints after it. A suite or a PMB stays, because an office is not a home. Nothing has been removed from the city's file or from our copy of it -- this is a rule about what we republish, not about what we hold.
See the file we hold
You do not have to take our word for what is in the file. Here are 25 rows of the real thing, carrying all 22 of its columns, cut out of the dated copies we sealed ourselves. Nothing in it is made up and nothing in it is tidied up.
- Open the 25 rows as a CSVA plain spreadsheet file. It saves to your machine rather than painting itself into a browser tab, and it opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.
- The same 25 rows as JSONThe same rows again, laid out for reading with code.
Nothing on this page is for sale. The sample file is free to read, and so is every row on the page above it.
These 25 rows are a slice of the file, not the whole of it. What we cannot show you here is how far back it goes: the file goes back further than these rows do.
Not on sale right now
Not on sale right now. Each file is currently sent by hand, so we have taken the pay button down. It comes back on sale when delivery is automatic.
Email a questionNo payment is taken on this page.
More from this feed
- Up one level: Boston permit fileThe whole feed and how the file would arrive.