Pacoima ADUs: what the permit data says

Pacoima has seen 948 ADU building permits issued since 2020, No. 3 in the City of Los Angeles. The count covers zip 91331.

Power Lines in Pacoima, Los Angeles
Power Lines in Pacoima. Photo: Chris Yarzab, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pacoima leans detached: 31% of its ADU permits issued since 2020 are for detached units, versus 25% citywide.

ADU permits issued by year

ADU building permits issued in Pacoima (91331), by year

106
2020
139
2021
179
2022
137
2023
142
2024
151
2025
94
2026
so far

How Pacoima builds

ADU types on permits issued in Pacoima since 2020

Garage conversion41.6% citywide 40.5%
Detached30.7% citywide 25.4%
Attached3.5% citywide 4.2%
Above garage0.0% citywide 0.5%

ADU types are classified from the free-text work description on each permit, and 24.3% of permits here could not be classified.

How big they build

722 sfmedian size on ADU permits issued since 2020 (citywide 684 sf)

Pacoima

Citywide

Under 500 sf31.4% citywide 33.1%
500 to 749 sf21.8% citywide 22.8%
750 to 999 sf17.3% citywide 16.9%
1,000 sf or larger29.5% citywide 27.2%

Permit records do not include bedroom counts, so we report sizes, not bedrooms.

$60,000

median declared valuation on permits (not market cost)

51.9%

have a Certificate of Occupancy so far (recent permits are still in progress)

2022

busiest full year, with 179 ADU permits issued

What this means

Counts are permits issued, not completed homes; some of these projects are still under construction and some will never break ground. The counts cover the City of LA portion of zip 91331, so anything outside city limits is not included. The busiest full year so far was 2022, with 179 ADU permits issued; the 2026 count runs through July only.

Count your backyard in.

Free test fit: could one fit behind your house? Test fits are quick estimates; humans verify before anything moves forward.

The Census Bulletin tracks these numbers on the A-du blog.

Source: LADBS permits, LA City Open Data. Issued Jan 2020 to Jul 2026. Pulled Jul 30, 2026.

The rest of the top 20