Cross-jurisdiction comparison
Swimming Pool costs 4.6× more in Raleigh than in Los Angeles
4,973 permits across 13 jurisdictions. Each bar is the median value declared on the filing.
Reading the spread
Across 13 jurisdictions the middle one files a median of $75,000, and 7 of them land within a quarter of that. The gap in the headline is between Raleigh and Los Angeles — a difference between cities, not a range to expect inside one.
Within a single city the spread is wider still. New York runs from $10,900 at the tenth percentile to $190,114 at the ninetieth, 17.4× end to end, while Anaheim is the tightest at 2.9×. That is the number worth carrying into a conversation with a contractor: a quote outside your own city's range is worth asking about, and a quote outside another city's tells you nothing.
10 of these 13 jurisdictions cleared 60 permits, which is the bar this site sets before a city may hold either end of a comparison. The rest are shown because their own page is worth reading, not because they are precise enough to headline.
Full numbers
| City | 10% | Median | 90% | Permits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh, NC | $46,351 | $142,985 | $250,000 | 212 |
| Chicago, IL | $15,000 | $100,000 | $250,000 | 31 |
| Montgomery County, MD | $25,000 | $100,000 | $200,000 | 233 |
| Austin, TX | $30,000 | $80,000 | $244,000 | 87 |
| Seattle, WA | $13,620 | $75,000 | $234,520 | 28 |
| New Orleans, LA | $35,000 | $75,000 | $142,289 | 490 |
| Baton Rouge, LA | $40,000 | $75,000 | $157,690 | 170 |
| Kansas City, MO | $36,200 | $70,000 | $128,954 | 65 |
| Sacramento, CA | $15,000 | $64,232 | $122,710 | 116 |
| Marin County, CA | $16,000 | $58,000 | $179,000 | 93 |
| New York, NY | $10,900 | $45,500 | $190,114 | 197 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $15,000 | $31,250 | $70,000 | 3,198 |
| Anaheim, CA | $10,200 | $20,000 | $30,000 | 53 |
Declared permit values, last 24 months. Updated 2026-09-24. Methodology.