Manhattan: The U.S.A.’s Most Expensive Parking Space

If you park a car in Manhattan with any kind of frequency, you may find yourself walking from the lot to the office shaking your head and thinking, “It’s so expensive to park here…” And, in fact, you’re right. According to a Wall Street Journal article, parking in Manhattan is, indeed, more expensive than anywhere else in the country. Specifically, Midtown and downtown Manhattan have the highest monthly rates, Midtown charging a median of $538/ month, and Downtown asking $529/ month.

The Good News

There is a silver lining in all of that green: both of those rates are down from last year. Midtown is down 2% and Downtown 6%. What’s more, the City is not the most expensive place to park in the world. According to Colliers, eight other central business districts are more expensive, the most expensive being London where monthly parking costs $933. At the same time, the daily parking rate in Downtown is $31, down 18% from 2009 and lower than either Boston or Honolulu. Midtown rates are still the country’s highest, though down 9% from last year, at $40/ day.

Tellingly, the use of public parking is also down. According to long-term trend numbers, The Department of City Planning shows that the number of people driving into Manhattan is down 57,000 between 2000 and 2007, even though the number of jobs increased by 212,000. While the job numbers have surely changed since 2007, I would guess that public transportation use has gone up as well.

Photo Credit: Daquella manera

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