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Where Renters Can Find Parking in the Big City

March, 2016

By Jennifer Riner

 Navigating with a car around a big city can be tricky, with one-way streets, hilly roads, potholes and rushed commuters – but finding a parking space is even more difficult. Renters, who make up large portions of the nation’s biggest metros, notoriously struggle with finding places to safely park their vehicles throughout the day and overnight. 

And, sometimes, parking can make or break a renter’s decision on where to find an apartment, which is why so many landlords and property management companies offer covered spaces and garage access at an additional price.

To help renters in big cities determine the best and worst neighborhoods for parking, the “all-in-one real-estate site” Trulia and ParkNav, a leader in real-time on-street-parking data, dug through parking figures in seven major cities at peak weekday and weekend hours (Houston, New York [Manhattan and Brooklyn], Philadelphia, Portland, OR, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC.)

Then, led by Trulia data scientist Mark Uh, they cross-referenced these data with homes for rent listed on Trulia over a 10-month period to determine where lessees have opportunities at receiving private parking as part of their lease agreement.

Here are three of those major cities broken down by on-street parking ranks, and which neighborhoods within those metro areas offer alternative private parking as determined by listings on Trulia. 

 

New York

Individuals and families searching for rentals in Manhattan might want to map out their neighborhoods in advance if they are relocating with a car. The borough ranked No. 1 on Trulia’s list in terms of limited parking availability, with the Koreatown neighborhood being the most congested for parking. 

Only 4% of listings there offer private parking, and the neighborhood received a street-parking score of 12 out of 100, where 0 means parking is impossible and 100 is easy. Hell’s Kitchen came in at No. 2 on the list, with only 3% of listings offering dedicated parking, and a street parking score of 12. 

Alternatively, for renters looking in Manhattan for listings with garage parking, 33% of listings in Tudor City offer private parking, and the neighborhood has a street-parking score of 18. 

If you still prefer to park on-street, the data suggest that you consider expanding your apartment search to Brooklyn, where street parking is more available than in Manhattan. In Brooklyn Heights, only 3% of listings offer dedicated parking, but Trulia gave the neighborhood a score of 28 out of 100. For garage parking, consider Brighton Beach, Vinegar Hill and Manhattan Beach, where 30%, 27% and 26% of listings offer paid spaces, respectively.

 

Washington, DC

If you’re searching for a rental in the nation’s capital and prefer to park your vehicle on-street, avoid Barry Farm, Southwest-Waterfront and Trinidad. Trulia gave the first neighbor a score of 12, and the latter neighborhoods 13 out of 100 each. Fairlawn and Historic Anacostia also didn’t rank well for on-street parking, slating spots No. 4 and No. 5 for worst in DC. 

But renters willing to spring for garage parking can head to Near Northeast, where 57% of listings have dedicated parking for tenants either included in the rent or at an additional cost. Douglass, Friendship Heights, Burleith-Hillandale and North Michigan Park rounded out the top five in best DC neighborhoods for rentals with private parking. 

 

San Francisco

Looking for street parking in San Francisco? Head to the exclusive Noe Valley neighborhood, where both on-street and private parking are readily available, even for city standards. Apartment hunters in San Francisco looking for street parking should avoid Stonestown Apartments (which received a parking score of 19), SoMa, South Beach and the Financial District. 

On the other hand, Presidio, an upscale neighborhood on the north end of the city, ranked high for street and private parking, with a score of 35 and 63% of rental listings offering garage parking. Merced Manor, Ingleside Heights, Twin Peaks and South Beach are all in the top five for San Francisco’s garage and dedicated parking neighborhoods.

 

Additionally, although not necessarily the worst cities in the country for parking, parking near Philadelphia rentals and Houston apartments might be a struggle for car owners. Keep in mind, too, that parking prices vary by city, along with median rental rates. So while parking near rentals in Seattle might add on $70 to $100 (assuming a spot in the popular Pike’s Place Market area), Portland, OR, apartment hunters might spend a lot less on their monthly parking dues. 

 

Contact Jennifer Riner, a San Francisco freelancer in real-estate writing and content marketing, at http://jenriner.com. She wrote this for online real-estate platform Trulia, based on a blog post by its data scientist Mark Uh (“Best And Worst Places For Renters To Park In The Big City” at www.trulia.com/blog/trends/renter-parking). 

 

 

How Scores Were Calculated

On-street parking scores were calculated by averaging all parking probability samples assigned to a given street within a city. Listing parking scores were calculated by averaging the on-street parking score of each street within a mile distance from actual homes for rent on Trulia between January 2015 and October 2015. Neighborhood parking scores were calculated by taking the median of listing parking scores belonging to each neighborhood. For cities where listing parking scores were not calculable, the Trulia/Parknav researchers took the median of on-street parking scores belonging to each neighborhood.


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