Information About Parking in San Francisco

The city is packed with tourist attractions, trendy neighborhoods and iconic cable cars - but all of this makes finding a parking spot in San Francisco difficult and expensive. The city has very few street parking options and those that do exist are rarely near major attractions, meaning many choose to park further out and use transit or walk. The cost of parking in San Francisco can also be prohibitive. Metered spots run from $3.50 an hour to $12 an hour, depending on location and time of day. There are parking restrictions in effect in many areas: residential streets are for permit holders only; street cleaning restrictions means you risk being towed if not careful; and there are few underground or high rise car parks to choose from. To combat this issue, there are parking spaces for rent all across San Francisco, so commuters aren’t entirely stuck.

San Francisco Parking Statistics

• There are over 275,000 street parking spaces across the city. Only 26,750 of these are metered.
• A further 167,000 spots exist in garages and commercial lots, for a total of over 442,000 spaces.
• San Francisco has 850,000 residents and over 455,000 vehicles registered within the city. There are also over 70,000 tourists visiting every day.
• Nearly a third of San Francisco workers commute by car.
• A recent study found that 30% of cars in congested downtown traffic were searching for parking.