San Antonio accessory building and carport permits by ZIP code

Between 385 and 463 a year from 2021 through 2025, with carports ahead of accessory buildings every year. Counted by the date each permit was issued:

Checked at City of San Antonio Open Data, Building Permits dataset (Land and Building Development), 2026-10-05.

Yes. Comparing the same nine months, January through September, 2026 is the lowest of the six years for both permit types: 83 accessory building permits against 107 in 2025, and 175 carport permits against 229. Both are down more than 20 percent on 2025.

The count says how many permits issued, not why. It does not show whether fewer owners are building, more are building outside the city limits, or more small sheds fall under the size line that needs no permit.

Checked at City of San Antonio Open Data, Building Permits dataset (Land and Building Development), 2026-10-05.

The 20 busiest of the 56 ZIP codes in the data, by total permits from January 2021 through September 2026. Carports lead in most of them; accessory buildings lead in 78212 and 78211, and 78201 has the most accessory building permits of any ZIP, at 57. Every ZIP code is in the CSV download.

Checked at City of San Antonio Open Data, Building Permits dataset (Land and Building Development), 2026-10-05.

Four things, and each one matters before you read much into a single ZIP code.

• Small sheds. The city exempts a one-story detached tool or storage shed of 300 square feet or less that meets the setback rules, so those never show up as a permit.

• Land outside the city. These are City of San Antonio permits. In unincorporated Bexar County the county Fire Marshal decides when a building that is not a home needs a permit, and the other six counties around San Antonio run their own permit paths. Of the 2,432 permits, 28 carry an address the city marks as its extraterritorial jurisdiction.

• Commercial buildings. The city data files commercial construction under its own permit types, such as Comm New Building Permit, so a commercial shop or warehouse is not in these two counts.

• What the building is made of. The permit type does not record the material, so these are not all metal buildings. They are the two permit types the city uses for accessory buildings and carports.

Checked at City of San Antonio Development Services, residential permits and no permit required list, 2026-09-13.

Checked at Bexar County, building permits and fire marshal code enforcement pages, 2026-09-13.

Expect a permit unless it is a small shed under the exemption. The city lists carports with room additions, accessory structures, decks and patio covers as permitted work, and its current fee schedule sets a flat $184.00 for a carport cover.

The full city process, plan review and fees are on the San Antonio and Bexar County permit sheet, and what goes into a detached garage is on the detached garages page. Building outside the city? Start from the seven-county permit directory.

Checked at City of San Antonio Development Services, residential permits and no permit required list, 2026-09-13.

Checked at City of San Antonio Development Services, FY 2027 development fee schedule, 2026-10-03.

The city publishes its permit data under a Creative Commons Attribution license, and the counts here are free to reuse the same way. Credit the City of San Antonio Open Data portal as the source, and this page for the count if you use our table.

How it was counted: every row in the city's two permits-issued files with the permit type "Accessory Building Permit" or "Carport Permit" and an issue date from January 1, 2021 through September 30, 2026, counted once per permit number, since the city files repeat some permits on several rows that differ only in the date submitted, and grouped by the five-digit ZIP code in the address. Four permits carry no ZIP code and sit in the CSV as "unknown". The older file's 2020 rows start in late July 2020, so 2020 is left out. Counted 2026-10-04, recounted per permit number 2026-10-05.

Checked at City of San Antonio Open Data, Building Permits dataset (Land and Building Development), 2026-10-05.