Parking in Los Angeles is about to get more expensive after city leaders approved extended paid-parking hours and issued the first rate increase across thousands of metered spaces in more than a decade.
Meter prices will jump by 50 cents per hour for the city’s 35,000 paid spaces, with the new costs expected to be in effect by the end of October, according to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Prices currently range from $1 to $8.50 per hour depending on the location.
The City Council last week also unanimously approved charging for parking on Sundays and extending the hours that motorists will pay to park in metered spots. Meters in locations busy with nightlife will need to be fed up until midnight; in all other on-street areas, parking isn’t free at metered spots until 8 p.m. Those changes may take several months to be fully rolled out, officials said.
City transportation officials say the fee increases and extended hours encourage vehicle turnover to help businesses whose customers might struggle to find parking on busy days. Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Santa Monica and West Hollywood also charge for on-street parking daily.
“It’s a win-win,” Ken Husting, principal transportation engineer for LADOT’s Bureau of Parking Management, told the city’s transportation committee last month. “We think it helps the city, it helps the businesses and actually helps the motorists when they’re trying to find parking.”
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation could not immediately be reached for additional comment.
The parking cost increase comes at a time when the city is struggling financially. In May, the council — faced with a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall — approved a spending plan for fiscal year 2025-26 that cut money for police recruitment in an effort to spare other city workers from being laid off.
The city reached a financial crisis point this year driven in part by increasing legal payouts, lackluster tax revenues and scheduled raises for city employees.
Officials expect the increased parking meter rates to add $14.4 million to city coffers this fiscal year.
Los Angeles isn’t the only city that’s recently raised its parking rates. Beginning in November, Hermosa Beach will increase the cost of metered parking from $2 to $3 per hour. Santa Monica also recently bumped up its metered rates from $2.50 to $3 per hour downtown and up to $1.50 citywide.
In Orange County, Laguna Beach is considering ways to boost its parking revenue, possibly by adding additional paid spaces in the southern section of the city and continuing its 10% annual increase in rates over the next five summers.
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