Impact Fees, Explained
The line item every contractor has been burned by. Here's what impact fees are, what they cover, and how to look them up - plus why we don't fake an estimate.
What impact fees are
Impact fees are one-time charges that local governments collect on new construction (and sometimes major remodels) to fund the public infrastructure your project will burden: schools, roads, sewers, water, parks. They're usually assessed at permit issuance, paid before you can pull the building permit, and non-refundable.
The five common categories
- School impact fees - fund classrooms, transportation, sometimes capital expansion. Levied per dwelling unit on residential.
- Traffic / transportation impact fees - fund road widening, signals, public transit. Levied per peak-hour trip generated.
- Sewer impact fees + water tap fees - fund treatment-plant capacity and the physical hookup. Levied per fixture-unit equivalent or per meter size.
- Parks & recreation fees - fund park land + equipment. Often per dwelling unit.
- Affordable housing / inclusionary fees - some cities require fee-in-lieu of building affordable units. Highly variable.
Why the swing is so wide
Cities that don't levy impact fees: $0. High-growth jurisdictions like parts of California, Florida, Colorado, and Utah: $20,000–$50,000+ for a single-family home. Commercial impact fees scale with traffic generation and water demand, and can run $50,000–$500,000+ on a 10-acre commercial site. There is no "national average" worth putting in a calculator.
How to look yours up
- Visit your city or county's planning department website.
- Search for "impact fee schedule" or "development fees".
- Look for a PDF that lists fees by use type (residential / commercial) and unit (per dwelling, per sf, per peak-hour trip).
- For sewer/water tap, check the utility company's website (often separate from the city's planning department).
- Call the permit office before you bid. They'll email the schedule.
What we DO have
For ~4,700 US cities we have building permit fee schedules covered in our city pages - and a growing set of jurisdictions with verified impact-fee data. Find your city via the permits hub; if we have verified impact-fee data for your jurisdiction, you'll see it on the city page. If not, the page directs you to the local permit office.