Priciest Parking

With the high cost of living, the cost of rent, housing, groceries and healthcare are often compared from city to city, with a notable variance in costs. There is, however, another regular cost to consider for drivers, and that is parking. 

The vast majority of Americans own a car, so it is the most popular method for commuting. This means whether you outright own your car or use car subscriptions, parking costs are sure to be a regular expense. But which US cities are the priciest for parking? 

Our experts at FINN have researched the answer to that very question, looking at the cheapest cost for monthly parking for the biggest cities in the US, and the parking lots that offer the best amenities.  

1. New York City, New York

Monthly Cost of Parking From: $443.51

New York City, one of the single most iconic cities in the world and home to Central Park and the Empire State Building, ranks top for most expensive parking. The monthly cost of parking for the city starts at $443.51.

2. San Francisco, California

Monthly Cost of Parking From: $300.00

San Francisco, California, the second most densely populated city, right after New York City, comes in second place for the most expensive parking. The cost for monthly parking in the city starts as low as $300. While this is considerably more expensive than the rest of the country, it is still, almost $150 cheaper per month than in New York City. 

3. Seattle, Washington

Monthly Cost of Parking From: $250.00

The seaport city of Seattle ranked as the 3rd best city for parking in the US, has the third highest cost of parking. Despite performing well on other factors, the monthly cost of parking starts at $250 making it one of the most expensive in the US. 

1. Tulsa, Oklahoma

Monthly Cost of Parking From: $21.70

Tulsa, the second-most populous city in Oklahoma, comes in first place for the cheapest parking. The cheapest available monthly parking cost is just $21.70 per month for the city. 

2. Dallas, Texas

Monthly Cost of Parking From: $40.00

Tied for second place, we have Dallas, Texas, the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The cheapest cost for monthly parking is just $40 per month; the annual price at this rate would be comparable to one month's parking in New York City. 

2. Memphis, Tennessee

Monthly Cost of Parking From: $40.00

Memphis, Tennessee, famous for being a hub of influential blues, soul and rock ‘n’ roll music, also ties second for cheapest monthly parking at just $40. 

4. Nashville, Tennessee,

Houston, Texas,

St. Louis, Missouri,

Riverside, California,

Monthly Cost of Parking From: $50.00

There is a four-way tie for the fourth-place spot for the cheapest monthly parking. Nashville, the capital of Tennessee and home to some legendary country music venues and the Country Music Hall of Fame, and Houston, the capital of Texas and the most populous city in the Southern US, both record monthly parking costs of a low £50. St. Louis, Missouri, and Riverside, California, also record monthly parking of $50. 

If you drive an SUV or a larger vehicle, you may need to be prepared to pay extra in parking costs at garages and parking lots, especially in bigger cities or cities with limited parking spaces. This is simply because larger vehicles, by definition, take up more space in most cases or at least that’s the argument that parking garages maintain. 

 In many cases, it can be around $10 to $15 more, which is the case in Manhattan and San Francisco. However, the exact price increase can vary wildly from area to area, as some garages in Boston charge up to $40 extra per day for SUVs. 

1. Baltimore, Maryland

Car Parking Score: 8.34

Coming in first place, we have Baltimore in the state of Maryland, which has scored 8.34 out of 10 for parking availability. The cost of monthly parking in the city starts at around $120 a month, much lower than other major cities in the US, such as New York City and Seattle. Baltimore also has the second-highest number of parking lots with EV charging available, as well as the third-highest number of parking lots with wheelchair accessibility. 

2. Chicago, Illinois

Car Parking Score: 8.26/10

Coming in second place for the US city with the best parking lot availability is Chicago, Illinois, famed for its architecture and skyline. The city's monthly parking cost starts at just $143, which is much more affordable than New York City, a city of comparable size. Additionally, this city has the most parking lots with EV charging options, with seven overall. It also has a wide range of covered, uncovered and self-parking options and a range of wheelchair-accessible options. 

3. Washington, District of Columbia

Car Parking Score: 7.88/10

Coming in third is the US capital, Washington, D.C., which scored 7.88/10 on its parking availability. Washington, D.C. also has one of the highest numbers of parking lots with charging available for electric vehicles, with three in total and the second highest number of excellent-rated parking lots per mile squared. 

1. San Diego, California

Car Parking Score: 0.66/10

San Diego, California, comes out as the worst city in the US for parking, with a measly score of just 0.66 out of 10. The cheapest monthly cost of parking in the city is $200, one of the most expensive in the US, and there is a lack of amenities at the parking lots in the city, including EV charging and wheelchair accessibility. 

2. Fort Worth, Texas

Car Parking Score: 1.27/10

With its poor score of 1.27 out of 10, Fort Worth, Texas, shares second place for worst cities to park in the US. Again, the cost of parking is relatively low in the city, at just $75 per month at the cheapest rate. However, there is once again a lack of amenities and excellent-rated parking lots.

2. Long Beach, California

Car Parking Score: 1.27/10

Long Beach, California, also ties for second place for the worst cities to park in the US. While the cost of parking is relatively low, at $95 per month, there is, again, a lack of amenities in the city and no excellent-rated parking lots. 

4. Indianapolis, Indiana

Car Parking Score: 1.58/10

Completing the top three, we have Indianapolis, Indiana, with a score of 1.58 out of 10; it is one of the worst cities to park in the US. The cheapest monthly cost for parking in the city is $75. However, with no options for EV charging or wheelchair accessibility, the city is let down. 

1. Chicago, Illinois

Number of EV Charging Parking Lots: 7

Chicago, Illinois, which ranked as the best city for parking in the US, also ranks first here. The number of parking lots with EV charging available in the city is seven. 

2. Washington, District of Columbia

Number of EV Charging Parking Lots: 3

Washington, D.C., the second-best city for parking in the US, shares second place this time with Baltimore, Maryland. The number of available EV charging parking lots in these cities is three. 

2. Baltimore, Maryland

Number of EV Charging Parking Lots: 3

Having already ranked as the fourth best city to park in the US, we have Baltimore, Maryland, tied second for the most EV charging parking lots with Washington, D.C. 

4. Seattle, Washington

Columbus, Ohio

Miami, Florida

Number of EV Charging Parking Lots: 1

We have a three-way tie for fourth place, with Seattle, Columbus and Miami all having one parking lot available that provides charging facilities for electric vehicles. 

1. Los Angeles, California

Number of Parking Lots  with Wheelchair Accessibility: 14

The US city with the most parking lots with wheelchair accessibility is Los Angeles, California, with 14 in total. 

2. Oakland, California

Number of Parking Lots with Wheelchair Accessibility: 13

Second, we have Oakland, also in California, with a total of 13 parking lots offering wheelchair accessibility. 

3. Chicago, Illinois

Number of Parking Lots with Wheelchair Accessibility: 10

The number one city for car parking in the US once again features as the city with the joint-third most parking lots with wheelchair accessibility.

3. Baltimore, Maryland

Number of Parking Lots with Wheelchair Accessibility: 10

Sharing a third place with Chicago, we have Baltimore, Maryland, also with a total of 10 parking lots that have wheelchair accessibility. 

1. San Francisco, California

Total 'Excellent' Parking Lots per mi²: 0.51

San Francisco, which has already ranked as one of the cities with the most expensive parking lots in the US, comes first for the city with the most top-rated parking lots. The city has 0.51 ‘excellent’ rated parking lots per square mile. 

2. Washington, District of Columbia

Total 'Excellent' Parking Lots per mi²: 0.34

Washington, D.C., which ranked in the top three for best cities to park your car in the US, once again places in the top three. They claim second place with 0.34 ‘excellent’ rated parking lots per square mile. 

3. Oakland, California

Total 'Excellent' Parking Lots per mi²: 0.23

Oakland, California, finishes off the top three for cities with the most top-rated parking lots in the US. There are 0.23 parking lots per square mile rated as ‘excellent’. 

To begin with, we used World Population Review to get a seed list of the most populated cities in the US.

Once we had our list of cities, we used Spot Hero to take the lowest price of monthly parking for each city, removing any cities that didn’t have parking available or less than two parking options. For the starting date, we used 10/01/2023 and all data is correct as of 08/11/2023. 

We then used the filters for each city to note down the available parking amenities for each of the car parks.

Finally, we counted the number of ‘excellent’ rated car parks in each city; in this case, we counted all car parks with 4.5 stars and higher and only counted car parks with more than 50 reviews. We then took the total area (mi²) of each city using World Population Review again, which allowed us to calculate the number of ‘excellent’ rated car parks per mi². And then we were able to give each city a normalized score out of 10, based on how they performed on each factor and then ranked them on that score.