news
San Francisco Issues 4,200 Housing Permits, Boosts Transit Ridership 18 Percent
City data released this week shows 4,200 new units permitted through June, Muni boardings up 18 percent year-over-year and 9,800 AI-linked positions posted since January.
How we reported this
San Francisco issued permits for 4,200 residential units in the first six months of 2026, according to Planning Department tallies released July 10.
The figure arrives while the city continues its housing production emergency declared in 2023, with monthly averages now running 30 percent above the 2024 pace. Developers and city staff track these counts closely because state housing laws tie funding and zoning flexibility to sustained permit growth.
Most activity clusters in two corridors. Along 16th Street in the Mission, three projects cleared final review last month for 680 units total, while South of Market sites near the Caltrain station added another 920 units permitted for life-sciences offices and adjacent apartments. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency reported that Muni boardings reached 1.12 million daily trips in June, an 18 percent rise from the same month in 2025 after the agency adjusted frequencies on the 14, 38 and N-Judah lines.
Transit and housing metrics side by side
BART station counts at Powell and Embarcadero show weekday exits averaging 48,000 combined, up from 41,000 a year earlier. City budget documents list $87 million allocated this fiscal year for Muni signal upgrades and 120 new electric buses ordered for delivery by late 2027. On the housing side, the Department of Building Inspection logged 312 certificates of occupancy issued through June, bringing the 12-month total to 2,850 completed units.
AI hiring offsets earlier tech cuts
Workforce data from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development records 9,800 AI-related job postings in San Francisco between January and June. That total exceeds the 7,400 tech layoffs recorded in the city during the same period last year. Average posted salaries for machine-learning roles sit at $178,000, according to the same dataset. Biotech firms in Mission Bay account for roughly 2,100 of the new listings, concentrated at addresses along Third and Fourth streets.
Residents can check permit status for specific addresses through the Planning Department’s online portal or sign up for weekly Muni service alerts on the SFMTA site. Updated ridership dashboards appear each Friday on the agency’s public data page.