Do You Need a Permit to Replace a Toilet? 30 Cities Compared

Short answer: it depends on where you live. We read the plumbing code, the exempt-work list and the fee schedule that each of the 30 largest U.S. cities on this site publishes, and asked one question of each: does a homeowner need a permit to replace a toilet in the same spot, with no pipe or valve moved?

13cities require a permit

13cities exempt a same-spot swap

4cities whose own guidance conflicts or is silent

$27–$290published fee for one toilet, where a permit is required

Every row links to the city page that quotes the rule, so you can read the source language yourself. The table sorts by any column.

All 30 cities

City	Permit?	Fee (one toilet)	Issuer	Rule the city cites, and notes
Albuquerque, NM	No permit	$0	Albuquerque Planning Department, Building Safety Division	2024 Uniform Administrative Code: no plumbing permit for the removal and reinstallation of water closets or for replacing a fixture with the same type of configuration Moving the toilet to a new drain location is a $47 + $10 plumbing permit.
Baltimore, MD	Permit required	$31	Baltimore City Housing and Community Development (DHCD)	DHCD permit-category page: adding or replacing plumbing fixtures at 1-2 family homes is permit work even in the same location; BFRCBC 109.6.3(j) $5 per fixture + $1 tax + $25 application The city issues plumbing permits only to master plumbers. Pulling and resetting the same toilet is treated as a repair.
Charlotte, NC	No permit	$0	Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement (not the city)	G.S. 160D-1110 and the county's no-permit list exempt fixture replacements that keep the same size, capacity and location, including same-size water and drain lines Building and trade permits in Charlotte are issued by Mecklenburg County, not the City.
Chicago, IL	Permit required	$75	Chicago Department of Buildings (express plumbing permit)	Table 14A-12-1204.2: in-kind replacement of plumbing fixtures without alteration to plumbing in walls, $75 per toilet room Removing and reinstalling the same toilet is on the no-permit list. A new toilet must carry the WaterSense label. The owner-occupant of a detached single-family house may do the work.
Cincinnati, OH	Conflicting guidance	about $75 if required	Cincinnati Buildings and Inspections	The department's Plumbing Inspections section says replacement of an existing fixture requires a permit and inspection ($68 + surcharges); its consumer page lists fixture swaps as no-permit work The two city pages conflict. Call 513-352-3280 before you start. Faucet and valve swaps need no permit.
Dallas, TX	No permit	$0	Dallas Planning and Development Department	Chapter 52 Section 301.2: replacement in kind of a plumbing fixture that keeps the number of fixtures and the rough-in location is exempt A permit is still required if the swap needs a utility release, and water heater replacements always need one.
Fort Worth, TX	No permit	$0	Fort Worth Development Services Department	Administrative Code 105.2 exempts replacing a toilet, sink or similar fixture when no pipes, valves or fixtures are replaced or rearranged The same code makes an exception for water heaters, shower pans and bathtubs, which do need a permit.
Houston, TX	Permit required	about $131	Houston Permitting Center (plumbing fixture permit)	Houston's Top 10 sheet: any work to repair, replace, alter or install plumbing equipment requires a permit; $97.56 plumbing minimum + $33.56 admin fee Pulled by a registered master plumber, or by a homeowner who has homesteaded the property under the homeowner's plumbing permit.
Indianapolis, IN	No permit	$0	Indianapolis Business and Neighborhood Services	Sec. 536-201(b)(22): replacement of appliances, fixtures, traps and valves in a plumbing system is exempt Relocating the toilet, which means a new drain and vent, is a $153 plumbing permit.
Jacksonville, FL	Conflicting guidance	$60 minimum if required	Jacksonville Building Inspection Division	The residential permits page exempts only faucets after the stop, while the BID FAQ lists fixture replacement after the stop as both permit-required and exempt The Florida Building Code allows removing and reinstalling a toilet without a permit. Ask BID before replacing one without a permit. Plumbing is $11 per fixture, $60 minimum.
Kansas City, MO	No permit	$0	Kansas City Planning and Development	KCBRC 18-16(b)(3)c exempts replacing fixtures or valves provided alterations or extensions of piping systems are not made The city's trade permit page lists replacing a plumbing fixture as exempt.
Long Beach, CA	Permit required	about $412 (derived)	Long Beach Development Services (express combination permit)	The city's Do I Need a Permit page says replacing sinks and toilets requires a permit; IB-058 item B4 express permit, priced on IB-077's $5,000 minimum valuation per fixture The $412 figure is derived from the city's schedule for one fixture ($5,000 valuation: $197 building fee x 150% combination + $115 processing + state fees). The city's own worked example is about $654 for three fixtures. Faucets, traps and fill valves are exempt. New fees took effect October 1, 2026.
Los Angeles, CA	Permit required	about $85	LADBS (express plumbing permit)	LADBS plumbing fee schedule: $10 per replaced fixture, $55 minimum for one item, $23 issuing fee, 3% + 6% surcharges A whole job valued at $2,500 or less is exempt from the building permit, but fixture work still needs the plumbing permit. The $85 figure is the one-item minimum plus the issuing fee and surcharges.
Louisville, KY	Conflicting guidance	$64 if required	Kentucky Division of Plumbing (not the city)	815 KAR 20:050 requires a permit when a fixture or waste opening is moved or relocated; it does not address a new fixture in the same spot Removing and reinstalling a toilet is exempt under the Kentucky Residential Code. Ask the Division before a like-for-like replacement. A state plumbing permit is $50 plus $14 per opening.
Miami, FL	No permit	$0	City of Miami Building Department	City Code 10-5(b)(1)(E)(iv): repair or replacement of water closets, sinks, lavatories and faucets in place, by a licensed plumbing contractor, is exempt The exemption is written for licensed plumbing contractors; an owner swapping a fixture should ask the Building Department first.
Milwaukee, WI	No permit	$0	Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services	MCO 200-24-1.5-f-2: replacing plumbing fixtures at 1-2 family homes is exempt when the supply, drain and vent piping is not altered DNS lists toilets, sinks, showers and tubs on its no-permit page.
Minneapolis, MN	No permit	$0	Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development	City exempt-work list: in 1-2 family homes you may replace sink faucets and toilets without a permit as long as the supply line and piping are not altered The exemption does not cover tubs or showers; a tub replacement pays the $85.20 plumbing minimum.
New York, NY	No permit	$0	NYC Department of Buildings	DOB Plumbing Permits page: direct replacement of a toilet or sink with the shutoff valves and trap unaltered is cosmetic work A Licensed Master Plumber may also move up to two fixtures within 10 ft as ordinary plumbing work, reported monthly, without a permit.
Philadelphia, PA	Permit required	$38.50	Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections (plumbing permit)	L&I fee summary: fixture replacement with no piping work, $31 for a 1-2 family home, plus $7.50 in surcharges Removing and re-installing the same toilet is exempt. A licensed master plumber pulls the permit.
Phoenix, AZ	No permit	$0	Phoenix Planning and Development Department	2024 Phoenix Building Construction Code 105.2, Plumbing item 3: replacement of water closets, valves or fixtures with water-conserving fixtures is exempt The exemption ends the moment a valve, pipe or fixture is relocated. Bathroom and shower tile work is not exempt in Phoenix.
Pittsburgh, PA	Permit required	$27	Allegheny County Health Department (not the city)	ACHD fee schedule: fixture replacement card, $27 ACHD, not the city, permits plumbing in Pittsburgh. Fixing a faucet or clearing a clog needs nothing.
Portland, OR	Permit required	$70.56	Portland Permitting & Development	PP&D plumbing page: a permit is required to install or replace toilets, sinks, showers, tubs or water heaters; $63 fixture fee + 12% state surcharge Removing and reinstalling the same toilet to lay flooring, and emergency repairs to accessible fixtures, need no permit.
Sacramento, CA	Permit required	$105	Sacramento Community Development Department	Fee Table B.1: toilet replacement is a residential minor plumbing permit with a $105 building permit fee About $118.58 with surcharges on an $800 job. One or more toilets can ride on the same permit as one other bathroom fixture.
San Antonio, TX	Permit required	$65.55	San Antonio Development Services Department	City Code 10-6(e)(5)b exempts only removing and reinstalling a water closet; DSD's Home Remodeling FAQ says installing toilets needs a permit; $57.50 base + $8.05 per fixture $70.79 with the two 4% surcharges. Pulled by a licensed plumber or a homesteading owner.
San Diego, CA	No permit	$0	San Diego Development Services Department	SDMC 129.0403(a)(3): replacement in kind of plumbing fixtures is exempt unless drainage, waste, vent or water supply piping is altered or replaced DSD's handout lists plumbing fixtures and showerheads among items that need no permit.
San Francisco, CA	Permit required	$290	San Francisco Department of Building Inspection	DBI: you need a permit before renovating and replacing kitchen or bath fixtures; the Category 1P plumbing permit for a single bathroom is $290 A same-spot swap is filed as an in-kind kitchen/bath permit online, which adds about $429 at DBI's $20,552 minimum bathroom valuation when the job is a remodel. DBI refers to Plumbing Code 104.2 for the narrow exemptions; ask the plumbing inspector whether a pure fixture swap qualifies.
San Jose, CA	Permit required	Set at issuance	San Jose Planning, Building and Code Enforcement (online plumbing permit)	SJMC 24.02.130.B exempts only removing and reinstalling the same water closet; a new toilet is a Fixture Single Replacement permit issued online on SJPermits.org No plans required. The fee is not printed on the city pages we cite; it is shown at issuance.
Seattle, WA	Conflicting guidance	$164 if required	Public Health Seattle & King County (not the city)	The county requires a permit whenever a plumbing system is installed, relocated or changed, and its page does not spell out an exemption for a like-for-like toilet swap Ask the Public Health Permit Center before assuming none is needed. If a permit applies it is $137 plus $27 per fixture.
St. Louis, MO	Permit required	$90	St. Louis Building Division	Plumbing Code 107.2(3) (2021 UPC via Ord. 71644): minor repairs do not include the setting or replacing of fixtures; $30 application + $10 fixture + $25 rough + $25 finish inspection Pulled by a city-certified plumber or a homeowner certified by the Board of Examiners.
Tucson, AZ	No permit	$0	Tucson Planning and Development Services	PDSD lists replacing an existing toilet with a new one in the same spot as permit-free A toilet in a new location needs a trade permit plus Pima County Wastewater review.

Fees are the city’s published figure for a single same-spot toilet, before card fees, as of the date each city page was last verified. Where a page gives only the pieces, the total is the sum of those pieces and the note says so. “If required” marks cities whose guidance conflicts: the fee shown is what a permit would cost if the city asks for one. Download the table as CSV.

What the comparison shows

Half of the cities say yes

13 cities treat a new toilet as permit work even when it sits on the old flange: Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, St. Louis. Their reasoning is the same each time. The plumbing code’s repair exemption covers clearing a stoppage, fixing a leak and pulling and resetting the same water closet, but installing a new fixture is “setting or replacing a fixture”, which is permitted work. Philadelphia, San Antonio and San Jose spell that distinction out on their own pages.

Half say no, with the same condition everywhere

13 cities exempt the swap: Albuquerque, Charlotte, Dallas, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, San Diego, Tucson. Every one of those exemptions carries the same condition: nothing moves. The moment a drain, a supply line or a valve is relocated, the exemption ends and a plumbing permit applies. Three of them add a licensing condition. Miami’s exemption is written for licensed plumbing contractors, Dallas withdraws it when the swap needs a utility release, and Fort Worth keeps water heaters, shower pans and bathtubs out of it.

Four cities contradict themselves

Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Louisville, Seattle publish guidance that conflicts or does not cover the case. Cincinnati’s Plumbing Inspections page says a replaced fixture needs a permit and inspection while its consumer page lists fixture swaps as no-permit work. Jacksonville’s Building Inspection Division FAQ lists “replacement of plumbing fixtures after the stop” under both headings. Seattle’s county plumbing authority and Kentucky’s state plumbing regulation, which governs Louisville, require a permit when a fixture is moved and say nothing about a like-for-like replacement. In all four, the city page on this site says to ask before relying on an exemption.

The fee spread is 11x

Where a permit is required and the fee is published, one toilet costs: Pittsburgh $27, Baltimore $31, Philadelphia $38.50, San Antonio $65.55, Portland $70.56, Chicago $75, Los Angeles about $85, St. Louis $90, Sacramento $105, Houston about $131, San Francisco $290. The cheapest is a county fixture-replacement card; the dearest is San Francisco, which bills a flat Category 1P plumbing permit. Pittsburgh’s $27 card is 11 times cheaper. Long Beach publishes no single-fixture figure, but its schedule prices even one fixture on a $5,000 minimum valuation, which works out to about $412 for an express permit, the highest in the table.

In four cities the permit is not the city’s at all

Seattle (Public Health Seattle & King County), Charlotte (Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement), Louisville (Kentucky Division of Plumbing), Pittsburgh (Allegheny County Health Department). A homeowner who searches the city building department’s site for a plumbing permit in those places will not find one.

Pulling the toilet to lay a floor is a different question

Removing and reinstalling the same toilet without replacing or rearranging valves, pipes or fixtures is exempt under the model plumbing codes, and the city pages record that exemption explicitly in Chicago, Portland, San Antonio, Philadelphia, San Jose, Louisville, Baltimore and Albuquerque, among others. Several of those cities require a permit the moment the toilet going back in is a new one.

Method

The 30 cities are the ones whose BuildPermitGuide pages have been rewritten from primary sources as of October 2026: the city’s adopted plumbing or building code, its published exempt-work list and its current fee schedule, each fetched and quoted on the city’s bathroom-remodel page. The status in the table is the city page’s own reading of those documents. Where two city documents disagree, the row is marked as conflicting rather than resolved in either direction. Fees are the published amount for a single same-spot toilet in a one- or two-family home, excluding card-processing fees; where a city publishes only the components, the row adds them and says so in the note. Nothing in this table is estimated from another city’s rules. Each city page carries the date its sources were last verified and the change log records when a cited document changes.

Use this data. The table and CSV are published under CC BY 4.0. Cite it as:

BuildPermitGuide, “Do You Need a Permit to Replace a Toilet? 30 Cities Compared” (2026), https://buildpermitguide.com/research/toilet-replacement-permit/

Questions, corrections or a city you want added: contact us.

Frequently asked questions

It depends on the city. Of the 30 largest U.S. cities we cover, 13 require a plumbing permit even when the new toilet goes in the same spot, 13 exempt a same-spot replacement as long as no pipe or valve is moved, and 4 publish guidance that conflicts or is silent. Moving the toilet to a new location needs a permit everywhere.

Where a permit is required, the published fee for one same-spot toilet runs from $27 in Pittsburgh (an Allegheny County fixture replacement card) to $290 in San Francisco, with most cities between $31 and $131. Long Beach prices even a single fixture on a $5,000 minimum valuation, about $412.

Almost always. The model plumbing codes exempt removing and reinstalling a water closet when no valves, pipes or fixtures are replaced or rearranged, and our city pages record that exemption in Chicago, Portland, San Antonio, Philadelphia, San Jose, Louisville, Baltimore, Albuquerque and elsewhere. Several of those same cities require a permit the moment a new toilet is installed.

Usually the city building department, but not always. In Seattle it is Public Health Seattle & King County, in Pittsburgh the Allegheny County Health Department, in Louisville the Kentucky Division of Plumbing, and in Charlotte Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement.

The city pages behind this table

Each page quotes the code section, exempt-work list and fee schedule it relies on and records the date they were last verified.