CostolioElectrical panel upgrade cost in Santa Monica
In Santa Monica, the median declared value on 89 electrical panel upgrade permits issued to was $5,000, according to Active Building & Safety Permits (active permits only) permit data (checked ).
Electrical panel upgrade cost in Santa Monica: permit figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Median | $5,000 |
| 25th percentile | $2,000 |
| 75th percentile | $20,000 |
How this was counted
89 permits · 2023-12-12 to 2026-10-28 · Source: Active Building & Safety Permits (active permits only) · Filter: https://data.santamonica.gov/api/3/action/datastore_search_sql sql: SELECT ... FROM "d6867c7d-89bc-4975-be35-4d2673a4764b" WHERE "date_issued" >= '2022-01-01' ; rule: keyword /(SERVICE|PANEL)S? (UPGRADE|CHANGE|REPLACE)|UPGRADE (THE |EXISTING |EXIST\.? |\(E\) |MAIN |ELECTRICAL )*(SERVICE|PANEL|MSP)|\bMSP\b|MAIN SERVICE PANEL|MAIN PANEL|MAIN BREAKER|\b[1-4]\d0 ?(AMPS?|A)\b/ AND NOT /SOLAR|PHOTOVOLTAIC|\bPV\b|NEW (SFD|S\.?F\.?D|SINGLE[- ]FAMILY|DWELLING|HOUSE|HOME|BUILDING|\d+[- ]STORY|DUPLEX|CONDO|APARTMENT)|\bADU\b|EV CHARG|\bEVSE?\b|TEMPORARY|TEMP POWER|BATTERY|ADDITION|REMODEL|TENANT|GENERATOR/ ; cost>0 · Pulled: 2026-11-02T14:19:22-08:00 · Checked on: 2026-11-02 · Contains data from Santa Monica, made available under the ODC-BY 1.0
What a electrical panel upgrade permit usually covers
Replacing or upsizing the main electrical panel or service. Usually the new panel or service equipment, breakers and grounding the inspector checks. Utility work on their side of the meter, wall patching and new circuits elsewhere in the home are often separate.
Electrical panel upgrade in Santa Monica compared with other places
Among the 4 places where we have electrical panel upgrade figures, Santa Monica has the median at position 4 from lowest. Lower medians: Richmond, Elk Grove, Marin County. Santa Monica has the highest median of these.
Other Santa Monica projects with figures: Roof replacement, Window replacement, Seismic retrofit (foundation), Heat pump installation.
Read this first. Permit values are self-reported by the applicant to set permit fees. They often leave out materials or labor, and they are not what the contractor actually charged. A quote above or below this range can be reasonable.
About this Santa Monica sample
- 89 permits after dropping $0 or blank values (0% of keyword matches had no cost)
- cost field
valuationin Active Building & Safety Permits (active permits only) - permits issued 2023-12-12 to 2026-10-28
Electrical panel upgrade permits in Santa Monica by year
77 of these permits were issued in 2026, the busiest year in this sample. Counting only full years, the number of permits went up in 2025. 2023 and 2026 are partial years here, so their counts are lower.
| Year issued | Permits | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | fewer than 30 permits |
| 2024 | 4 | fewer than 30 permits |
| 2025 | 7 | fewer than 30 permits |
| 2026 | 77 | $5,000 |
What the Santa Monica electrical panel upgrade permits describe
We read the description each applicant wrote, leave out the standard wording the city adds to every permit, and sort the permit by the words it uses. The permit type the city chose is not used here. Where the description does not say, we count it as not stated. The most common kind here is more than 200 amps named.
- More than 200 amps named: 35 permits (39%), median $10,000
- Panel or service, size not stated: 5 permits (6%)
- Panel rating not clear: 1 permits (1%)
- Not stated in the description: 30 permits (34%), median $2,750
18 permits are in groups too small to show (fewer than 30 permits clearly name that rating).
Other work listed on the same Santa Monica permits
Out of 89 Santa Monica electrical panel upgrade permits with a description of their own, 2 (2.2%) also mention plumbing; 1 (1.1%) also mention structural or framing.
How we matched electrical panel upgrade permits in Santa Monica
Santa Monica has no permit type for this work, so we count a permit when its description mentions panel or service upgrade, main panel, main breaker or a 100 to 400 amp size. We leave out permits whose description mentions solar, solar panels, new homes and buildings, ADUs, EV chargers, temporary work, temporary power, batteries, additions, remodels, tenant work or generators. We keep only permits with a declared value above $0.
Counted from the same 89 permits as the figures above (2023-12-12 to 2026-10-28). Source: Active Building & Safety Permits (active permits only).
Contains data from Santa Monica (source), made available under the ODC-BY 1.0.
Related
Contains data from Marin County (all jurisdictions in dataset), under the Open Data Commons ODbL (share-alike).
Updated