Current Coverage
- ~2,000 jurisdictions covered
- ~85% of the US population represented
- 10-30 new jurisdictions added each month
- 5-10 million new permits added monthly
Power Law Distribution
Coverage follows a power law distribution across the approximately 20,000 jurisdictions in the United States:- About 85% of the US population resides in just 15% of jurisdictions
- Shovels has strategically focused on covering these high-density areas first
We continue to expand our coverage into the “long tail” of smaller jurisdictions while maintaining focus on population centers.
Data Sources
We gather permit data from a variety of sources:Primary Sources
- Local jurisdiction websites - City and county building department online portals
- Municipal open data portals - Dedicated open data initiatives
- Building department APIs - Official jurisdiction APIs when available
- Public records requests - For jurisdictions without digital access
Supplementary Sources
- State contractor licensing boards - To verify contractor information
- Address standardization databases - Multiple sources for geocoding and standardization
- Tax assessor records - To enhance property information
Historical Data
Our data coverage extends back to at least 2010 for all jurisdictions, with many going further back.In some cases, jurisdictions don’t pull historical data into their online systems, which can limit how far back certain records go.
Why Some Permits Might Be Missing
Even in covered jurisdictions, some permits may not appear due to:- Digitization gaps - Not all jurisdictions have digitized historical records
- Data availability - Some permits lack required fields or are incomplete
- Processing delays - New permits take time to enter our system