To get an address for land in California, you apply to the city or county government that has jurisdiction over your parcel, providing your Assessor’s Parcel Number, the legal description from your deed, and usually a site plan showing where a building will sit. The catch worth knowing before you start: many California jurisdictions will not assign a permanent street address to vacant land at all. They tie the address to a building permit or an approved development plan, so the timing of your request often depends on whether you’re ready to build.
Vacant Land Versus Land With a Structure
This is the single distinction that decides how the process runs for you. Several California jurisdictions limit permanent address assignments to parcels with buildings or structures on them, or with active construction plans. Solano County states plainly that addresses are not normally assigned to vacant land.1Solano County, California. How to Obtain an Address The Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering is only authorized to assign addresses to “Buildings and Structures”; vacant parcels get temporary addresses instead.2Bureau of Engineering (City of Los Angeles). Address Assignment and Maintenance Procedures
A temporary address can still be useful for utility applications or referencing the parcel in correspondence, but it won’t work the same way for mail delivery or emergency response. If you want a permanent address, plan to tie the request to a building permit application or approved development plan.
In some cities the sequence runs the other way: you need the address first, before the building permit system will accept an application. Riverside requires an address assignment request for any development of vacant property before a permit can be submitted.3City of Riverside. Address Assignment Request Form San Francisco follows the same rule: you need an official street number before submitting a building permit application for a new building.4City and County of San Francisco. AB-035 Procedure for Assigning Street Numbers (Addresses) Ask your local agency where addressing sits in their permit sequence before you assemble anything else.
Which Office Handles Your Parcel
California has no statewide address office. The responsibility belongs to whichever local government has jurisdiction. Parcels inside an incorporated city go through that city’s addressing unit; parcels in unincorporated areas go through the county.
To find out which applies to you, look at a county GIS parcel map — a search for “[your county] GIS parcel map” usually gets you there — or call your county planning department and give them the APN. In Los Angeles County, unincorporated addresses are created and managed by the County Department of Public Works Addressing Unit, and some contract cities coordinate through that same office with additional requirements.5County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works. EPIC-LA Address Request Manual
Once you know the jurisdiction, find the specific department. It varies. In San Diego it’s Development Services. In Los Angeles it’s the Bureau of Engineering. In other cities it sits inside planning. A call to the main planning line will route you to the right desk.
What to Gather Before You Apply
Two identifiers travel with every application. Your Assessor’s Parcel Number is the code your county assessor assigns to your parcel for tax purposes; you’ll find it on your property tax bill or through your county’s online parcel viewer. Sacramento County, for one example, offers a free Assessor Parcel Viewer that displays parcel maps alongside assessment data.6Sacramento County Assessor. Assessor Parcel Viewer Your legal description is the written boundary description on your recorded deed or title report, using reference points and measurements rather than a street name.
Requirements share common elements across California jurisdictions, though each agency has its own form. Expect to provide:
- Contact information — your name, phone, email, and mailing address. If you’re not the owner, most jurisdictions require a signed authorization letter from the owner.7City of San Diego. Street Address Request or Change
- The APN.
- The legal description — lot, block, subdivision name, map number, or parcel and map number from your deed.7City of San Diego. Street Address Request or Change
- A site plan showing the building footprint, unit outline, main entrance, and driveway or primary access to the street. Sacramento’s addressing unit also asks for a floor plan on projects with multiple floors or suites.8City of Sacramento. Address Request Form
- A valid government-issued ID.8City of Sacramento. Address Request Form
- The building permit number and plan file number if a permit has already been issued. San Diego specifically asks for these.7City of San Diego. Street Address Request or Change
- A brief explanation of why you need the address, if the form asks.
If your land sits in an unincorporated area served by a contract city through the county, you may need a site plan and an approval letter from that contract city before the county will process the request.5County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works. EPIC-LA Address Request Manual
Submitting the Application, Fees, and Timing
Most California jurisdictions accept applications online, by email, or in person. San Diego routes applications through its online permit portal. Sacramento accepts email submissions to its addressing unit.8City of Sacramento. Address Request Form Smaller jurisdictions may require an in-person visit.
Fees vary by jurisdiction and by the type of request. San Diego charges a flat fee per address for standard assignments tied to a building plan check, and an hourly rate for special addressing services such as standalone requests or address changes not linked to a building permit. Denied special requests are generally not refundable for work already performed.7City of San Diego. Street Address Request or Change Amounts change periodically, so confirm the current fee with your local agency before submitting.
Sacramento publishes one of the clearer timelines: three to four weeks from the date all required documentation is submitted, longer for apartment complexes, condominiums, subdivisions, and anything requiring coordination across multiple city departments.8City of Sacramento. Address Request Form For a straightforward single-parcel request elsewhere, four to six weeks is a reasonable expectation.
If your property fronts an unnamed alley or private road, expect additional steps. In Sacramento, an ADU fronting an unnamed alley typically triggers the alley naming process, which requires approval from development engineering and public safety, and the applicant pays for the encroachment permit, street sign fabrication, and installation.8City of Sacramento. Address Request Form Similar situations come up in rural unincorporated areas where roads may not yet have official names.
After the Address Is Assigned
Receiving the assignment letter is not the end of the process. A few follow-up steps determine whether the address actually functions for mail, emergencies, and utilities.
USPS Mail Delivery
The applicant is responsible for notifying the U.S. Postal Service about the new address.7City of San Diego. Street Address Request or Change Allow five to seven business days after assignment, then check the USPS address lookup tool to confirm your address appears in their system.9USPS. Where Can I Find New Construction and Street Address Information If it doesn’t, visit your local post office with your assignment documentation. You’ll also need a mailbox that meets USPS specifications; the USPS installation page has the current dimensions, and your local postmaster can advise on placement if your property has no raised curb.10USPS. How to Install a Mailbox
911 Routing
Your address needs to be entered into the Master Street Address Guide, the database that routes 911 calls to the correct responders. The MSAG contains street names, house number ranges, and community identifiers, and each range of house numbers within a jurisdiction is assigned an Emergency Service Number by the county’s 911 coordinator that connects the caller’s address to the right emergency agency.11California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. 9-1-1 Operations Manual Chapter VIII – County Coordinator and MSAG Responsibilities In most jurisdictions this synchronization happens automatically once the local government processes your assignment, but in remote or newly developed areas it’s worth confirming directly with your county’s 911 coordinator that the address is in the MSAG.
Posting the Numbers
Once a structure is on the property, California fire departments require address numbers posted and clearly visible from the street, following the California Fire Code. The Los Angeles Fire Department publishes specific sizing standards keyed to the setback distance and requires that numbers contrast with their background and remain readable despite shadows or vegetation.12Los Angeles Fire Department. LAFD Street Address Number Guide The owner or occupant is responsible for keeping the numbers posted and legible.
Utility Connections
With a permanent address, you can open accounts and schedule installation with water, electric, gas, and sewer providers. For undeveloped land, expect the utility company to require additional steps before connection, including trenching for conduit, installation of a meter socket by a licensed electrician, and potentially a survey to define where service lines will run. These costs scale with the distance from existing infrastructure and the terrain.
ADUs and Secondary Structures
If you’re adding an accessory dwelling unit or guest house to a parcel that already has an address, the new unit typically gets its own distinct address, often in a fractional format like “1234½ Main Street” or a suffix format like “1234A Main Street.” The address is usually assigned during the plan-check phase of the building permit rather than through a separate application. The same USPS validation applies to each new address, and emergency services require distinct addresses for each residential unit on a parcel. If the ADU fronts a different street or access point than the main residence, the addressing authority may assign an address on that street instead.
What Slows the Process Down
Incomplete applications are the most frequent cause of delays. Missing a site plan, leaving off the APN, or submitting without the owner’s authorization letter sends the application back to the starting line. A few other situations regularly cause problems:
- Unnamed roads or alleys, which trigger a road-naming process with its own approvals and can add weeks or months.
- Boundary or legal-description discrepancies between your deed and the assessor’s records, which pause the application and often require a new survey.
- Projects that need coordination between planning, fire, public works, and development engineering. Sacramento flags this specifically as a factor that increases processing time.8City of Sacramento. Address Request Form
- Requests for vacant land without a building permit or approved development plan. Some jurisdictions will issue only a temporary address or decline the request outright.2Bureau of Engineering (City of Los Angeles). Address Assignment and Maintenance Procedures
After assignment, it’s worth confirming that your county assessor’s records reflect the new address. Some jurisdictions update this automatically; others leave it to the property owner. Outdated records can create confusion with tax bills, title searches, and future transactions.