The Census Bulletin No. 4: Hyde Park leads South LA's backyard count

The Backyard Census is A-du's monthly count of Los Angeles ADU permits, pulled from the city's own public records. Every number below comes from a dated snapshot of LADBS permit data on the LA City Open Data portal (dataset pi9x-tg5x), pulled November 2, 2026, with permits current through October 31, 2026.

Six spotlights in, the census has covered the Valley's big four, Mid-City and the Westside's Mar Vista. This month it keeps its promise to rotate and heads to South LA for the first time.

Spotlight No. 007: Hyde Park, ZIP 90043

771 ADU permits issued since 2020, row 9 on our citywide board (which counts North Hollywood's two ZIP codes as one row) and the highest South LA entry on it. The next South LA row is Vermont Knolls (ZIP 90047), with 656.

The year-by-year shape is the story. Hyde Park's record year was 2022 with 147 permits. It dipped to 101 in 2023, then came back with 124 in 2024 and 117 in 2025. 2026 has already reached 126 through October, more than either of the last two full years and second only to 2022, with two months still to count.

The build mix leans toward what is already standing. 46.8% of Hyde Park's ADU permits are garage conversions, against 39.9% citywide, and detached new builds run lower, 19.5% here versus 25.6% across the city. The units are smaller too, a median of 602 square feet against 688 citywide, with 37.0% under 500 square feet. (ADU types are classified from the text of the permit's work description, so treat the shares as close rather than exact.)

The citywide count

Los Angeles has now issued 36,597 ADU building permits since 2020. 2025 remains the biggest year at 6,398, ahead of 2022's 6,051, and 2026 stands at 5,343 through October.

Every neighborhood in the top 20 has its own page, with the year-by-year trend, the build-type mix, and the size breakdown: browse the board.

Count your backyard in

If you own a home in LA, and especially if you own a detached garage you barely use, run a free test fit to see whether an ADU could fit behind your house. It is a quick estimate, and humans verify site conditions before anything gets built.

If your ADU is already on the census, it may already be on A-du: owners of newly permitted ADUs can claim their listing any time.

Methodology: ADU building permits issued by LADBS, City of Los Angeles, filtered to use class Accessory Dwelling Unit and building permits only (sub-permits excluded), January 2020 through the pull date. Counts are by ZIP, City of LA portion. Permits are not completed homes; some are never built. Full methodology and the raw data live in our public repository.