SURFACEMEASURE

Data study · October 21, 2026

Average Parking Lot Size 267,932 U.S. Lots of 10,000 sq ft and Up

The median U.S. surface parking lot of 10,000 sq ft or more is 26,443 square feet, about 0.6 acre. Calculated from every lot that size mapped on OpenStreetMap across 116 areas in 43 states: 318,930 acres of parking in all.

26,443
sq ft, the median lot (0.6 acre)
51,851
sq ft, the mean lot
109,835
sq ft: 1 lot in 10 is bigger
267,932
lots of 10,000 sq ft and up
Download the CSVCite this study

Key Findings

Each sentence stands on its own. Copy one with its link.

  1. The median U.S. surface parking lot of 10,000 sq ft or more covers 26,443 sq ft (0.6 acre), per SurfaceMeasure's study of 267,932 OpenStreetMap lots in 116 areas of 43 states.

  2. Of U.S. surface parking lots of 10,000 sq ft or more, 73% are under 50,000 sq ft and 11% are over 100,000 sq ft, per SurfaceMeasure's study of 267,932 OpenStreetMap lots.

  3. Among U.S. parking lots of 10,000 sq ft or more, industrial lots are the largest (median 33,346 sq ft) and apartment lots the smallest (20,138 sq ft), per SurfaceMeasure's study of 267,932 OpenStreetMap lots.

  4. Of 69 U.S. metros, Las Vegas has the largest median parking lot (42,532 sq ft) and Tucson the smallest (21,128 sq ft), counting lots of 10,000 sq ft or more, per SurfaceMeasure's study of 267,932 OpenStreetMap lots.

Most Lots Are Small. A Few Are Huge.

Of lots of 10,000 sq ft and up, 73% are under 50,000 sq ft and 11% are over 100,000. The mean (51,851 sq ft) is 2.0 times the median because the big-box, stadium and office-park lots at the top are dozens of times the size of the smallest.

10,000 to 20,000 sq ft98,977 lots · 37%
20,000 to 50,000 sq ft97,815 lots · 37%
50,000 to 100,000 sq ft40,684 lots · 15%
100,000 sq ft to 10 acres28,475 lots · 11%
10 acres and up1,981 lots · 1%

Quartiles: 15,858 · 26,443 · 52,803 sq ft. 90th percentile: 109,835 sq ft.

Parking Lot Size by Property Type

The type is read from the map: the lot's own tags, the grounds it sits in, or the nearest business. Industrial lots run largest and apartment lots smallest; retail is 34% of every lot mapped.

Property typeLotsMedian sq ft
Retail and shopping89,82726,289
Office and commercial39,85527,158
Schools and colleges36,17327,602
Churches21,28025,412
Apartments19,91420,138
Industrial13,71233,346
Hotels7,02430,668
Other and unclassified40,14727,422

Average Parking Lot Size by City

69 metros with at least 1,000 lots mapped, each a 15-mile circle around downtown, counting lots of 10,000 sq ft and up. Las Vegas has the largest median lot (42,532 sq ft), Tucson the smallest (21,128 sq ft).

“Lots mapped” is how much of the circle OpenStreetMap volunteers have traced, not how many lots the city has: Indianapolis has 8,338 mapped, Reno 1,015. Compare medians, not counts. The national figures lean toward the best-mapped metros for the same reason.

MetroMedian sq ftLots mapped
Indianapolis, IN25,3818,338
Denver, CO24,8947,548
Tucson, AZ21,1287,350
Chicago, IL21,9096,223
Washington, DC23,8486,141
Raleigh, NC23,3255,823
Kansas City, MO25,0424,617
Baltimore, MD29,2374,451
Boston, MA23,6224,434
Philadelphia, PA27,1224,419
Portland, OR27,3404,105
Seattle, WA23,4644,011
Phoenix, AZ35,8674,006
San Diego, CA27,9163,940
San Jose, CA30,7183,859
Charlotte, NC24,1563,821
Columbus, OH26,8763,802
Milwaukee, WI24,6853,789
Akron, OH24,7483,474
Albuquerque, NM25,8603,429
Lansing, MI22,4873,285
Salt Lake City, UT30,9323,158
Des Moines, IA24,0413,144
Dallas, TX31,8263,108
Norfolk, VA29,7363,046
Pittsburgh, PA25,4863,018
Allentown, PA24,0082,987
South Bend, IN23,1932,754
Cincinnati, OH24,5102,750
Cleveland, OH27,7472,741
San Francisco, CA24,0552,729
Colorado Springs, CO25,5212,728
Buffalo, NY24,3752,711
Atlanta, GA30,2892,629
Omaha, NE27,6042,628
Albany, NY23,8272,602
Tulsa, OK23,5802,482
Rochester, NY29,1822,474
Sacramento, CA29,8922,441
Oklahoma City, OK27,6602,433
Fort Wayne, IN25,3562,335
Austin, TX32,6362,275
Madison, WI25,3712,261
Dayton, OH26,7702,234
Harrisburg, PA26,0682,097
Birmingham, AL25,9262,084
Spokane, WA22,1362,021
Riverside, CA35,5581,973
Louisville, KY30,2151,853
Fort Worth, TX35,2481,824
Grand Rapids, MI28,7681,815
Richmond, VA30,4251,763
Toledo, OH27,7831,717
Greenville, SC30,6711,677
Las Vegas, NV42,5321,604
Wichita, KS31,6951,555
Huntsville, AL32,1261,552
Worcester, MA24,0751,528
Jacksonville, FL31,6461,492
Lincoln, NE24,3221,445
Tampa, FL36,4661,437
El Paso, TX31,3941,419
Syracuse, NY25,9991,407
Knoxville, TN28,2711,298
Manchester, NH24,5981,278
Green Bay, WI24,2511,159
Miami, FL34,5841,103
Scranton, PA26,2781,090
Reno, NV27,7521,015

The 90th percentile and 10-acre columns are in the CSV.

How We Calculated It

  • What counts: amenity=parking polygons, leaving out parking=multi-storey, underground, rooftop, garage_boxes, carports, street_side, lane and layby; 10,000 sq ft and up; the property type read from the lot's own tags, the landuse or amenity grounds it sits in, or the nearest business.
  • Size: the area inside the mapped outline, in square feet. That is the whole outline, so islands inside it count, and so do gravel and grass lots mapped as parking.
  • Only lots of 10,000 sq ft and up. Counting smaller lots would pull the median well down, so every figure here describes lots of that size.
  • Areas: 116 circles of 15 miles in 43 states, imported 2026-10-16 to 2026-10-21. Most are centred on a downtown; some are centred on smaller markets where contractors work. Every area counts in the national figures; the city table shows only downtown-centred metros.
  • Coverage: OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers, complete in some cities and patchy in others, and the national figures lean toward the best-mapped metros.

Contains information from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), made available under the Open Database License 1.0. Snapshot taken October 21, 2026.

Use This Data

Quote any figure on this page. Credit SurfaceMeasure with a link to this page, and OpenStreetMap for the underlying data.

Suggested citation

SurfaceMeasure. "Average Parking Lot Size: 267,932 U.S. Lots of 10,000 sq ft and Up." October 21, 2026. https://surfacemeasure.io/average-parking-lot-size
Download every table as CSV (October 2026)

Your Lot Isn't Average. Measure It.

A median helps you plan a route; a bid needs the lot in front of you. Trace it on satellite in SurfaceMeasure, get its square footage, and send a branded quote. For a quick estimate from length and width, use the parking lot square footage calculator.

Measure a LotFirst week free · Card required · Cancel anytime

Parking Lot Size Questions

Among U.S. surface lots of 10,000 sq ft or more, the median is 26,443 square feet, about 0.6 acre. The mean is 51,851 sq ft, pulled up by a few very large lots, so the median is the better "typical" figure. Half of these lots fall between 15,858 and 52,803 sq ft. Smaller lots are not in the data, and counting them would pull the median well down.

For lots of 10,000 sq ft or more, retail lots have a median of 26,289 sq ft and office lots 27,158 sq ft. Industrial lots run largest (median 33,346 sq ft) and apartment lots smallest (20,138 sq ft). One lot in ten is bigger than 109,835 sq ft, about 2.5 acres.

Of the 69 metros with at least 1,000 lots mapped, counting lots of 10,000 sq ft or more, the largest medians are Las Vegas (42,532 sq ft), Tampa (36,466 sq ft), Phoenix (35,867 sq ft). The smallest are Tucson (21,128 sq ft), Chicago (21,909 sq ft), Spokane (22,136 sq ft).

Yes. Quote any figure, credit SurfaceMeasure with a link to this page, and download the CSV for the tables. It contains information from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) and is made available under the Open Database License 1.0, so credit OpenStreetMap too.

Keep Going on the Lot

Size one lotParking Lot Square Footage CalculatorHow many stalls fitParking Lot Layout CalculatorStall and aisle sizesParking Space DimensionsPrice the sealcoatSealcoating Cost Calculator