Parking in San Francisco

Can you park on this San Francisco block — and for how long? Here's how the city's meters, street sweeping and permit zones work, plus local tips — and you can check your exact address free.

What to know about parking in San Francisco

SF street parking is genuinely hard — roughly 54% of residents own cars and compete for limited curb space. The Financial District has the worst ticket record in the city, with the most-cited blocks clustered around Townsend, Mission, and 1st Street. Demand-based meter pricing and dense residential permit zones make hunting for a legal spot a daily ordeal in the northeast quadrant.

💡 Most of San Francisco's roughly 28,000 parking meters are free on Sundays and on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Local tips for parking in San Francisco

• Most of the city's ~28,000 meters are free on Sundays, plus New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas — but five commercial areas still charge on Sundays, so confirm the meter.
• Look up your exact street-cleaning schedule on the SF Property Information Map before parking overnight.
• You can legally park in one spot for up to 72 hours max, even on unmetered residential streets, before your car can be tagged and towed.
• Learn the curb colors: green is 10–30 minute short-term, white is a 5-minute passenger loading zone, and yellow is commercial loading (open to all outside its posted hours).
• If you park regularly in a neighborhood, an annual Residential Parking Permit runs about $128 and lets you skip the posted 2-hour limits in your zone.
• During street sweeping you can legally re-park once the sweeper has already passed your block, and sweeping enforcement is waived on legal holidays in residential areas.

Common San Francisco parking mistakes to avoid

• Street-sweeping tickets are relentless — the sweeper often passes early in the window and enforcement follows minutes behind it.
• The Financial District (Townsend, Mission, and 1st St blocks) is the highest-ticketing area in the city; don't gamble on a questionable spot there.
• Meters use demand-based pricing that can climb high in busy corridors, and five commercial zones charge even on Sundays.

How to pay for parking in San Francisco

San Francisco's on-street meters are paid with PayByPhone — enter the zone number posted on the meter or pole, or pay at the kiosk. Open PayByPhone →

What LegitPark shows for San Francisco

📍 LegitPark tracks 38,685 metered blocks, 37,856 street-sweeping segments, 7,778 permit zones, and 82 driver-scanned signs in San Francisco, updated weekly from official city data and driver reports.

LegitPark reads all of this per block from official city data (and driver-scanned signs) so you don't have to decode the pole.

Parking rules on every San Francisco street

Even where the posted rules vary, these state-law basics apply almost everywhere:

• 🚒
  Fire hydrant
  No parking within 15 ft (10 ft in some states) of a hydrant.
• 🚸
  Crosswalk & corner
  No parking on a crosswalk or within ~20 ft of one at an intersection.
• 🛑
  Stop sign & signal
  No parking within ~30 ft of a stop sign, yield, or traffic light.
• 🚗
  Driveways
  Never block a driveway — public or private — even partially.
• 🟥
  Painted curb
  Red = no stopping. Yellow = active loading only. White = quick pick-up/drop-off.
• 🚌
  Bus stop & transit
  No parking in a marked bus stop, transit zone, or taxi stand.
• 🚲
  Bike lane
  No stopping or parking in a bike lane at any time.
• ♿
  Accessible spaces
  Never use a disabled space or block its access aisle/ramp without a valid placard.
• ↔️
  Direction & distance
  Park with traffic, within ~12 in of the curb; no double-parking.
• 🚂
  Blocked zones
  No parking on a sidewalk, in an intersection, on a bridge, or within 50 ft of a rail crossing.

San Francisco parking FAQ

Check your exact San Francisco spot

Rules change block to block. Drop a pin or search your address and LegitPark shows the meter, time limit, street-sweeping and permit rules for that spot.