Coverage
ADU Zoning Hub tracks accessory dwelling unit rules in 102 US cities across 24 states, covering zoning, setbacks, permit fees, build costs, and rental income data. #
Owner-Occupancy Requirements
14 of 102 cities (13.7%) still require the owner to live on the property to rent out an ADU; 77 cities (75.5%) have no owner-occupancy requirement. #
In 11 of 102 cities the rule is conditional or unclear from the municipal text (e.g., "may be required in some zones") — we count those separately rather than forcing them into either bucket.
Size Limits
The median maximum detached ADU size is 1,050 sq ft across the 96 cities with a parseable size cap. #
Setbacks
The most common rear setback for ADUs is 4 ft, required in 39 of 102 cities — reflecting the 4-ft standard set by California state law and copied by reform states. #
Permit Fees by State
ADU permit fees range from as low as $3 (California) to as high as $20,000 (California) among the 19 states where cities publish a fee range. #
Cities with valuation-based fees or unpublished fee schedules are excluded from this table — only published low-high ranges count.
| State | Permit Fee Range (min-max across cities) | Cities With Published Ranges |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | $2,500 - $8,000 | 3 |
| California | $3 - $20,000 | 21 |
| Colorado | $500 - $5,000 | 3 |
| District of Columbia | $1,000 - $3,000 | 1 |
| Florida | $2,800 - $8,000 | 4 |
| Georgia | $2,400 - $4,500 | 2 |
| Hawaii | $3,000 - $8,000 | 1 |
| Illinois | $2,500 - $4,500 | 2 |
| Massachusetts | $2,800 - $7,500 | 3 |
| Minnesota | $1,800 - $3,200 | 2 |
| New Mexico | $2,500 - $5,000 | 1 |
| New York | $1,900 - $10,000 | 3 |
| North Carolina | $2,100 - $3,900 | 3 |
| Oregon | $1,600 - $9,000 | 4 |
| Tennessee | $2,500 - $5,000 | 1 |
| Texas | $2,200 - $6,500 | 5 |
| Utah | $2,000 - $4,000 | 1 |
| Virginia | $75 - $4,500 | 2 |
| Washington | $1,800 - $5,000 | 4 |
Build Costs
The cheapest city to build an ADU is Mobile, AL (midpoint $132,500); the most expensive is Berkeley, CA (midpoint $375,000) — a 2.8x spread. #
ADU-Friendliness by State
Minnesota has the highest average ADU-friendliness score at 8.5/10 among states with tracked cities. #
| State | Avg ADU-Friendliness Score | Cities Tracked |
|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 8.5/10 | 2 |
| Utah | 8.0/10 | 1 |
| Colorado | 7.7/10 | 3 |
| Oregon | 7.6/10 | 5 |
| Washington | 7.6/10 | 5 |
| California | 7.2/10 | 36 |
| District of Columbia | 7.0/10 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 7.0/10 | 1 |
| Illinois | 7.0/10 | 2 |
| New Jersey | 7.0/10 | 3 |
| New Mexico | 7.0/10 | 1 |
| North Carolina | 7.0/10 | 3 |
| Tennessee | 7.0/10 | 1 |
| Massachusetts | 6.3/10 | 6 |
| Arizona | 6.0/10 | 7 |
| Texas | 6.0/10 | 5 |
| Virginia | 6.0/10 | 2 |
| Georgia | 5.5/10 | 2 |
| Michigan | 5.3/10 | 3 |
| Pennsylvania | 5.0/10 | 1 |
| Florida | 4.8/10 | 4 |
| New York | 4.7/10 | 3 |
| Nevada | 4.0/10 | 2 |
| Alabama | 3.7/10 | 3 |
Pre-Approved Plan Programs
55 of 102 cities (53.9%) offer some form of pre-approved or standard ADU plan program, which can save homeowners $3,000-$10,000 in design costs and months of plan review. #
Methodology
All statistics on this page are computed programmatically from the ADU Zoning Hub city rules dataset (102 cities, last updated 2026-07-22) at site build time — they update automatically whenever the underlying city data changes. Zoning and permit values come from city planning departments and municipal codes; cost and rent ranges come from market data sources. Free-text fields (owner occupancy, size caps, setbacks) are parsed with conservative rules, and values that cannot be classified are reported as unclear rather than guessed. Ranges use the midpoint where a single number is needed. See the full sources and methodology.
Cite This Page
Suggested citation:
ADU Zoning Hub. "ADU Rules in 102 US Cities: 2026 Statistics." aduzoning.org, 2026-07-22. https://www.aduzoning.org/adu-statistics/
The statistics on this page are licensed under CC BY 4.0 — free to use with attribution. Journalists and researchers: a link back to this page satisfies attribution.