Westchester ADUs: what the permit data says

Westchester has seen 642 ADU building permits issued since 2020, No. 12 in the City of Los Angeles. The count covers zip 90045.

LAX LA, Los Angeles
LAX LA. Photo: monkeytime | brachiator, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Westchester is garage conversion country: 59% of its ADU permits issued since 2020 are garage conversions, versus 41% citywide, the highest share in the top 20.

ADU permits issued by year

ADU building permits issued in Westchester (90045), by year

50
2020
87
2021
136
2022
106
2023
97
2024
115
2025
51
2026
so far

How Westchester builds

ADU types on permits issued in Westchester since 2020

Garage conversion59.3% citywide 40.5%
Detached15.3% citywide 25.4%
Attached1.6% citywide 4.2%
Above garage0.3% citywide 0.5%

ADU types are classified from the free-text work description on each permit, and 23.5% of permits here could not be classified.

How big they build

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

Westchester

Citywide

Under 500 sf45.0% citywide 33.1%
500 to 749 sf29.7% citywide 22.8%
750 to 999 sf10.0% citywide 16.9%
1,000 sf or larger15.3% citywide 27.2%

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

$50,000

median declared valuation on permits (not market cost)

57.0%

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

2022

busiest full year, with 136 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 90045, so anything outside city limits is not included. The busiest full year so far was 2022, with 136 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