City of Santa Monica Parking Permits: Types, Zones, and Fees

Santa Monica parking permits come in several forms — residential, visitor, senior beach, oversized-vehicle, day lot, and employee — each with its own eligibility rules, fees, and renewal calendar. The most common is the residential preferential parking permit, which costs $40 for your first vehicle and lets you park in the zone tied to your street address for the full permit year.¹ Which permit you need depends on where you live, who you are, and what you drive.

Residential and Visitor Permits

Residential permits are tied to a specific vehicle registered at your Santa Monica address. There is no cap on how many a household can buy, but the price climbs with each additional vehicle:¹

First residential permit: $40
Second residential permit: $50
Third residential permit: $92
Fourth and beyond: $144 each
Visitor permit: $70

Visitor permits are permanent, not daily or weekly passes, and they work in any vehicle. Each household is capped at two.¹ They also carry the same parking rights as a residential permit, which matters if your vehicle registration doesn’t yet show your Santa Monica address. If you drive a company car, share a vehicle registered to someone else, or recently moved and haven’t updated your DMV records, two visitor permits can cover you in place of a residential permit.

Permits bought during the first half of the zone’s permit cycle cost full price; permits bought in the second half are discounted.¹ The city does not issue refunds, credits, or exchanges for unused permits.

Documents You Need

To apply for a residential permit, bring three things:¹

A valid government-issued ID such as a driver’s license or state ID card.
A California vehicle registration showing your name at your current Santa Monica address.
Proof of residency dated within the last 30 days: a utility, cable, or internet bill, or a bank, credit card, or mortgage statement, with your name at your Santa Monica address.

All documents must be in your name. The city does not accept applications submitted by proxies. If your registration doesn’t match your Santa Monica address, you cannot get a residential permit, but you can still buy up to two visitor permits.¹

How to Apply

Online

The fastest option is the city’s Customer Web Portal. Upload your documents and submit. Processing takes three to five business days. Once approved and paid, you can print a 30-day temporary permit while your permanent permit is mailed to you, which usually arrives within two weeks.¹

Watch the mail. If your permanent permit doesn’t arrive, you have 30 days from your purchase date to contact the city at parking@santamonica.gov. After that window closes, you have to buy a new permit.¹

In Person

You can also apply at the Parking Operations Office, 1444 4th Street, inside the GoSaMo Center. Counter hours are 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday and every other Friday.¹ Bring your documents in paper or digital form. Applying in person means you leave with your permits rather than waiting for the mail. Check the city’s parking permits page for which Fridays the office is open before making the trip.

Zones and Renewal

Santa Monica divides its preferential parking network into five zones, and each runs on its own annual cycle:¹

Zones 1 and 3: October 1 through September 30
Zone 2: July 1 through June 30
Zone 4: April 1 through March 31
Zone 5: January 1 through December 31

Your permit is valid only in the zone tied to your street address. It won’t protect you on streets in a different zone, and active permits must be displayed at all times to avoid a citation. The city does not auto-renew, so you have to renew before your cycle ends.

Renewing online through the Customer Web Portal is straightforward if you haven’t moved. If you moved within the same zone and still hold active permits, don’t use the portal. Email parking@santamonica.gov so staff can update your records first.¹ Renewing at the counter requires the same current documentation as a first-time application.

Senior Beach Permits

California residents age 62 and older can buy an annual beach parking permit for $30.² You’ll need a California driver’s license or state ID confirming your age plus a California vehicle registration in your name. Commercial vehicles, company-owned vehicles, RVs, and any vehicle wider than eight feet, taller than eight feet, or longer than twenty feet are not eligible.

Apply online, by mail, or in person at 1444 4th Street. Mail applications are accepted starting February 15 each year and must include a check for $30 payable to “City of Santa Monica.”² Card payments carry processing fees — 2.95% for in-person credit or debit transactions and a flat $2.50 online. Paying by cash or check avoids the fee.

Overnight Oversized-Vehicle Permits

Between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., any trailer (hitched or unhitched) or any vehicle that exceeds eight feet wide, eight feet tall, or twenty feet long cannot park on a Santa Monica public street or alley without an overnight oversized-vehicle permit.³ These permits are issued for residential areas upon application to the city. Owners of large work trucks or trailers often don’t realize the rule exists until a citation shows up on the windshield.

Employee and Day Lot Permits

Businesses and commercial property owners located within a preferential parking zone can apply for employee preferential parking permits. Approval depends on available street space, an approved worksite trip-reduction plan, and the business’s willingness to share its off-street parking with neighboring businesses where feasible. The business must sit within 1,500 feet of a block covered by the zone.⁴

Day Lot permits are separate. They go only to employees of businesses on the Santa Monica Pier or along Santa Monica State Beach, and the business must hold a valid city business license for its workers to qualify.⁵

Disabled Placard Exemption

A vehicle displaying a valid California disabled-person placard or disabled-person license plates can park on streets that require a residential or preferential permit without one.⁶ Santa Monica’s enforcement guidelines confirm the exemption.⁷ This is a statewide rule, so it applies in every zone. Other posted restrictions — time limits, no-parking zones, street sweeping — still apply, so read the signage.

1
City of Santa Monica. How to Obtain a Preferential Parking Permit
2
City of Santa Monica. How to Obtain a Senior Beach Parking Permit
3
City of Santa Monica. Santa Monica Municipal Code 3.12 – Traffic Regulations
4
City of Santa Monica. Santa Monica Municipal Code 3.10 – Preferential Parking for Employees of Businesses and Commercial Property Owners
5
City of Santa Monica. How to Obtain a Day Lot Parking Permit
6
California DMV. Disabled Person Parking Placards and Plates
7
City of Santa Monica. Holiday Parking Enforcement