Coverage
ADU Zoning Hub tracks accessory dwelling unit rules in 125 US cities across 26 states, covering zoning, setbacks, permit fees, build costs, and rental income data. #
Owner-Occupancy Requirements
17 of 125 cities (13.6%) still require the owner to live on the property to rent out an ADU; 99 cities (79.2%) have no owner-occupancy requirement. #
In 9 of 125 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 1,000 sq ft across the 121 cities with a parseable size cap. #
Setbacks
The most common rear setback for ADUs is 5 ft, required in 40 of 125 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 $2 (Pennsylvania) to as high as $250,000 (New Mexico) among the 15 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Cities with valuation-based fees or unpublished fee schedules are excluded from this table — only published low-high ranges count.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 | $2,000 - $5,600 | 3 |
| California | $12 - $6,500 | 11 |
| Florida | $450 - $3,500 | 2 |
| Georgia | $1,000 - $10,000 | 2 |
| Illinois | $2,500 - $4,000 | 2 |
| Massachusetts | $2,500 - $4,400 | 1 |
| Minnesota | $3,200 - $5,400 | 1 |
| New Mexico | $150,000 - $250,000 | 1 |
| North Carolina | $125 - $1,700 | 3 |
| Oregon | $1,600 - $4,000 | 2 |
| Pennsylvania | $2 - $25 | 1 |
| South Carolina | $700 - $1,300 | 1 |
| Texas | $300 - $2,150 | 3 |
| Utah | $3,000 - $5,000 | 1 |
| Washington | $2,000 - $4,600 | 2 |
Build Costs
The cheapest city to build an ADU is Mobile, AL (midpoint $132,500); the most expensive is Paradise Valley, AZ (midpoint $450,000) — a 3.4x spread. #
ADU-Friendliness by State
Minnesota has the highest average ADU-friendliness score at 9.0/10 among states with tracked cities. #
| State | Avg ADU-Friendliness Score | Cities Tracked |
|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 9.0/10 | 2 |
| Washington | 8.4/10 | 10 |
| Oregon | 8.2/10 | 5 |
| North Carolina | 8.0/10 | 3 |
| Utah | 8.0/10 | 1 |
| Colorado | 7.7/10 | 3 |
| California | 7.3/10 | 38 |
| District of Columbia | 7.0/10 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 7.0/10 | 1 |
| Illinois | 7.0/10 | 2 |
| Massachusetts | 7.0/10 | 8 |
| Missouri | 7.0/10 | 1 |
| New Mexico | 7.0/10 | 1 |
| New Jersey | 6.8/10 | 4 |
| Virginia | 6.5/10 | 2 |
| Arizona | 6.4/10 | 14 |
| Georgia | 6.0/10 | 2 |
| Nevada | 6.0/10 | 3 |
| South Carolina | 6.0/10 | 1 |
| Tennessee | 6.0/10 | 1 |
| Michigan | 5.7/10 | 3 |
| Florida | 5.2/10 | 4 |
| Texas | 5.2/10 | 8 |
| New York | 4.3/10 | 3 |
| Alabama | 3.0/10 | 3 |
| Pennsylvania | 3.0/10 | 1 |
Pre-Approved Plan Programs
96 of 125 cities (76.8%) 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 (125 cities, last updated 2026-09-20) 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 125 US Cities: 2026 Statistics." aduzoning.org, 2026-09-20. 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.