The 5 Worst Cities For Finding Parking In All Of America

There's no doubt about it, Americans and cars go hand in hand. While public transportation thrives in other countries like France and Japan, in the States, not so much. According to Forbes, over 91% of American households owned at least one car as of 2022. With that in mind, having a car in this country will get you far, both literally and figuratively speaking. However, there are plenty of disadvantages to this car-centric lifestyle. For one, gas prices are expensive. In addition to the economic impact, cars produce pollutants, which are having an effect on climate change. 

Then of course, there's the question of finding parking. Research conducted by Access Magazine concluded that there could be up to 2 billion parking spaces in the country. Despite this astronomical figure, a 2017 study from INRIX found that Americans spend a whopping 17 hours a year looking for parking. Needless to say, this is a less-than-pleasant consequence of owning a car. 

As noted by Henry Grabar, author of "Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World," in an interview with Vox, "Parking is not shared, and it's not properly priced. We have acquiesced to the idea that parking on city streets has to be a total free-for-all." Although this is ultimately a national issue, there are cities across the country where finding parking is more difficult than others.

San Diego is your typical Southern California destination. It's home to renowned coastal communities like La Jolla, Coronado Beach, and Mission Beach. However, the next time you're in town, you might want to stick to rideshare apps vs driving. In 2023, FINN, a car subscription service, crowned San Diego as having the worst parking availability in the country. The city received a 0.66 score out of 10, yikes! Axios states that downtown San Diego features only 14% of parking. For reference, the city received over 31 million visitors (via San Diego) in 2023, many undoubtedly flocking to downtown attractions like Petco Park or the Gaslamp Quarter. 

So, why is there so little parking in San Diego? Since 2019, the local government has eliminated and decreased parking spaces. This decision was made for a number of reasons, including to combat climate change and promote walkable neighborhoods. For example, San Diego's North Park neighborhood removed more than 400 parking spaces on 30th street to create a bike lane in 2021. 

This was also the case in 2023 when the city got rid of over 200 parking spots at Balboa Park, home to the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Natural History Museum, to create bike lanes. Notably, San Diego passed Ordinance O-21041 in 2022, which allows business owners to choose how they use their parking space. In fact, this also permits them to decide against having any parking space for guests at all. 

New York City has one of the best public transportation systems in the country. But if you're a driver, it's tough out there. In 2023, Harding Autopark Systems, which produces parking lifts, ranked this destination as one of the worst cities in the country for parking. Per a 2023 article from the New York Times, more than 2.2 million cars are registered in NYC. Note that NYC has over 8 million people (via the United States Census Bureau) and only consists of 304 square miles of land. In other words, parking is beyond scarce.

Some car owners have opted to install bumper guards as a form of protection for their vehicles parked on overcrowded NYC streets. That said, it appears that the parking situation has taken a turn for the worse since 2020. Speaking to Bloomberg in 2022, New Yorker Dawn Kelly explained, "Before Covid, it was bad enough." She added, "It's virtually impossible for me to find parking because nobody's moving their cars." 

Of course, there are several parking garages found throughout the city. However, guests can expect to pay over $20 for a few hours or up to $450 a month for those who decide to rent a space for longer, according to Bloomberg. So dire are the circumstances that things have turned deadly. In 2024, a parking dispute led to the murder of a 19-year-old man in the Bronx (per CBS News). It's no wonder WalletHub named NYC as one of the worst places to drive in the country in 2023.

With iconic sites like the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco offers visitors a dreamy getaway — that is as long as you don't have to deal with finding street parking. Way, a parking app, named San Francisco one of the worst cities for parking in the country. Although it only encompasses 46 square miles, San Francisco has a population of over 800 million people, per the United States Census Bureau. Simply put, the city is overcrowded and the lack of parking availability reflects this fact. Residents have resorted to illegally parking on the streets, blocking sidewalks, driveways, and crosswalks.

Others illegally use cones to earmark parking spots around their homes. Consequently, the city increased their parking enforcement efforts to combat these issues. Further complicating the situation are San Francisco's stringent street parking rules and signs, making it even more probable for drivers to receive a citation. If you do find parking, there is always the risk of someone breaking into your car. San Francisco has unfortunately become synonymous with high theft rates.

However, there is a catch. A 2024 study by Zutobi, a drivers education provider, found that San Francisco has the second-highest number of valet parking lots behind New York City. While this offers convenience, drivers can expect to pay top dollar for this feature. For this reason, visitors and locals are perhaps better off riding one of the public transportations options offered in San Francisco, such as the Muni or BART.

Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, is a once-in-a-lifetime vacation destination you don't want to miss out on. Home to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the National Mall, and many more iconic sites, it's easily one of the best American cities for tourism. With that in mind, you'll want to forgo driving at this destination. Both Harding Autopark Systems and Way classified the city as one of the worst cities for parking in the country. Why, you ask? To start, Washington, D.C., has intricate signs posted throughout the city limiting street parking.

Thus, even if you find a spot, you might not be able to park without the risk of a citation, or at the very least, you can only park at the spot for a brief amount of time. A word of advice: Don't defy these rules unless you're willing to pay up. The city does not take parking violations lightly. Between 2017 and 2019, Washington, D.C., handed out $1 billion worth of parking tickets (per NBC). Likewise, car towing is a common occurrence.

According to a 2017 study by INRIX, drivers in Washington, D.C., spend 65 hours a year searching for parking. Also note that if you elect to valet or park in a garage, the city is notorious for its high parking rates that can ultimately leave a dent in your budget. If you want to ditch your vehicle, the city has the WMATA, a renowned public transportation network that includes a bus and rail system.

Los Angeles is not only the most mosquito-infested city in America, but it's also a deplorable city to find parking. The City of Angels once had a thriving streetcar system that could get you to any region within the county in a jiffy. Los Angeles did away with streetcars in 1961, effectively transforming it into a car-centric utopia (or dystopia). While Metro now provides public transportation in the form of buses, rails, and more, the truth is only a small percentage of Angelenos take advantage of this infamously crime-ridden system.

Similar to New York and San Francisco, Los Angeles is perhaps too populated to properly support its infrastructure. With that said, Harding Autopark Systems named Los Angeles as one of the worst cities for parking in the country. Parking lots throughout the area are inadequately built, leaving residents and visitors unable to find parking at places like grocery stores and eateries. Keep in mind that there are 88 cities in LA county and nearly 600 neighborhoods, all of which can have their own rules regarding street parking making it even more difficult to find a spot.

In 2024, a study conducted by Moneybarn named the Griffith Observatory, a famed Los Angeles attraction, as having the worst tourist attraction parking in the world according to reviews. Koreatown is another place where individuals struggle to find parking due to overcrowding. As one resident Gimante Nichols put it (via the LA Times), "Looking for parking here is like looking for Bigfoot."