Parking rates for Salt Lake City relatively low, survey finds

If you want to park in downtown Salt Lake City, it's going to cost 60 cents to $4 for the first hour during weekdays, depending on where you park, a new study of parking rates across North America has found.

In general, Salt Lake City's parking rates are below average for the West, where regional rates ranged from $2.41 to $6.94 an hour, according to the study "Parking in America."

The study was commissioned by the National Parking Association, based in Washington, D.C. The group represents private parking operators, parking consultants, colleges and universities, municipalities, hospital and medical centers and developers. The study was conducted at the end of the summer. Dozens of association members in cities across the United States and Canada answered.

To park during a weekday (under 12 hours) in Salt Lake City, it costs $4 to $15. That's lower than the average for the Western United States, which ranged from $9.10 to $24.74.

However, the Midwest, which ranged from $5.64 to $15.88, and the South, which ranged from $6.71 to $16.96, were cheaper than the West. Only the Northeast was more expensive, from $9.63 to $22.79.

To purchase monthly reserved parking in Salt Lake City, it costs $25 to $102. Part of the reason Salt Lake City averaged lower than other cities of the West is because it was lumped in with Los Angeles, which averages $60 to $444 for reserved monthly parking, and San Francisco, which averages $115 to $500.

In other large cities across the United States, parking is more expensive than in Utah's capital. Monthly reserved parking rates in Washington, D.C., average $60 to $300. In New York, they average $250 to $781, and in Chicago, $80 to $410.

In cities closer to Salt Lake, monthly reserved parking rates in Denver average $25 to $202; in Boise, $25 to $118; and in Phoenix, $30 to $90. No rates were given for Las Vegas.

To read the study, visit www.npapark.org.

— Laura Hancock