Statistics
ADU parking statistics
27 of 41 figures are HyreADU calculations. The statutory ceiling is one space, six independent conditions take it to zero — and on the Los Angeles permit record, 73.0% of ADU permits qualify under the one exemption that needs no map at all.
Written by HyreADU Research Desk Primary-source research and data analysis
Audited by HyreADU Research Desk Statutory citation and provenance audit
How to use this page
The maximum a California city may require for an accessory dwelling unit is one off-street parking space, whatever the bedroom count. Government Code section 66314(d)(10): “One parking space per accessory dwelling unit or per bedroom, whichever is less.” The “whichever is less” clause caps it at the unit, so a four-bedroom ADU faces the same maximum as a studio.
Six independent conditions in section 66322(a) take that space to zero, and any one of them is sufficient. The section applies “[n]otwithstanding any other law, and whether or not the local agency has adopted an ordinance governing accessory dwelling units”.
The figure this digest adds is which of the six actually carries the load. Almost every discussion of ADU parking is a discussion of the half-mile transit exemption, and the parking study explains why that one reaches so far: section 66313(m) defines public transit to include “a bus stop or train station”.
But subdivision (a)(3) exempts a unit that is “part of the proposed or existing primary residence or an accessory structure” — and that requires nothing of the neighborhood at all.
In the City of Los Angeles permit frame, 28,667 of 39,279 ADU-adding permits (72.98%) are alterations, additions or non-building work rather than new buildings, and 19,294 (49.12%) describe converting a garage. Those are HyreADU calculations from the city’s own open permit file.
They say that for most Los Angeles ADU applicants the parking question is answered by the project description, before anyone opens a transit map.
What is not on this page is a transit buffer. The study established that the Caltrans GTFS repository lists 25 active feeds, mostly small operators and mostly dated October 2022, and that a half-mile buffer built on it would understate the exemption around exactly the large metropolitan operators where it matters.
We publish no map and no coverage percentage. 27 of 41 figures here are HyreADU calculations (27 hyreadu calculation, 14 agency published). Not legal advice.
Read this before you quote anything here
- The permit shares are Los Angeles, and only Los Angeles
Every share drawn from a permit file on this page is the City of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is the largest ADU market in the United States by permit volume, and it is one city with one housing stock and one set of departmental habits.
73.0% is not a California figure and it is certainly not a national one. We hold no comparable complete extract with an ADU flag for any other jurisdiction, and manufacturing a state figure from a one-city file is the error this desk exists not to make.
- A permit type is a strong indicator of the exemption, not a legal finding
Section 66322(a)(3) exempts an ADU that “is part of the proposed or existing primary residence or an accessory structure”. A permit coded Bldg-Alter/Repair on an existing dwelling is, on its face, that.
But the coding is the department’s administrative classification, not a plan check finding, and a small number of records will sit on the wrong side of the statutory line in both directions.
We publish this as the share of permits whose type places them in the exempt class, not as the share of units a plan checker exempted. The distinction is real and we are not going to blur it to get a rounder sentence.
- The garage classifier is ours, and it undercounts
LADBS flags an ADU. It does not flag a garage conversion. The garage conversion study counts a permit as a conversion where the department’s free-text work description contains both a form of “garage” and a form of “conver”.
That misses conversions described only as “existing accessory structure”, so the true share is very likely a little higher than 49.1%. It is stated here as a floor, and the sensitivity work lives on the study.
- There is no transit buffer here, no map, and no coverage percentage
The parking study attempted a statewide half-mile transit buffer and abandoned it on the evidence: the Caltrans GTFS repository lists 25 active feeds, predominantly small operators, most carrying an upload date of 24 October 2022.
A buffer built on that would show the exemption clustered around a handful of small agencies and absent across the large metropolitan operators — close to the inverse of the truth.
The failure mode is asymmetric and it hurts applicants: a missing stop reads as “no exemption here”, and somebody who believed the map would build a space they were entitled not to build.
A digest cannot publish a number its own study refused to compute.
- This is a statute page and a permit page, not legal advice
Whether an exemption applies to a particular lot is determined by the permitting agency on the facts, and “walking distance” is a measurement about which reasonable people disagree. Nothing here measures any parcel, any route or any transit stop. The useful next step is the permitting agency, in writing, citing the sections by number.
Read the provenance, not just the number
California ADU parking facts fall into two very different classes — statute and permit arithmetic — and the whole value of this digest is keeping them apart.
Agency published — the statutory values. One space; six exemptions; half a mile; one block; no replacement parking. These are quoted from the Government Code as retrieved on 2026-09-05 and re-verified against the Chapter 13 section list on 2026-09-07. We cite the section, never an article about the section.
HyreADU calculation — the permit arithmetic. Every count and share drawn from the Los Angeles building permit extract, and the coding of the six exemptions by what each one requires an applicant to prove. The method lives on the parking study and the garage conversion study.
A note on citation currency, because this subject is a minefield. California’s ADU statute has been recodified twice in under two years.
SB 477 (Stats. 2024, Ch. 7) repealed Government Code section 65852.2 and moved the scheme into Chapter 13 with effect from 25 March 2024; SB 543 (Stats. 2025, Ch. 520) then renumbered part of Chapter 13 again with effect from 1 January 2026.
Any source citing § 65852.2(d) for the parking exemptions is describing a repealed section. Section 66322, which carries the six exemptions, was created by SB 477 and was not renumbered by SB 543 — so on this one point the 2024 numbering is still current, which is exactly the kind of trap that produces a wrong citation.
The figures most worth knowing
Full method on the parking study. A statutory ceiling is not a plan check finding.
The rule, in four provisions
Everything a California city may and may not do about ADU parking. Quoted as retrieved on 2026-09-05, with the enactment line on each, and re-verified against the Chapter 13 section list on 2026-09-07. Every value in this table is agency published — it is the Legislature’s number, not ours.
| Provision | What it fixes | The figure | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|
| § 66314(d)(10) | The ceiling, and that it does not scale with bedrooms. | 1 space — “One parking space per accessory dwelling unit or per bedroom, whichever is less.” | Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 67, Sec. 109 (AB 1170), effective 1 January 2026. |
| § 66314(d)(11) | Whether demolished covered parking must be replaced. | 0 replacement spaces. Where a garage, carport or covered parking structure is demolished or converted for the ADU, the agency “shall not require that those offstreet parking spaces be replaced.” | Same section and amendment. |
| § 66322(a) | The routes to zero, and whether a local ordinance can switch them off. | 6 independent conditions, applying “[n]otwithstanding any other law, and whether or not the local agency has adopted an ordinance governing accessory dwelling units”. Distances: ½ mile walking to public transit; 1 block to a car share vehicle. | Added by Stats. 2024, Ch. 7, Sec. 20 (SB 477), effective 25 March 2024. Not renumbered by SB 543. |
| § 66313(m) | How wide the transit exemption reaches. | Public transit means “a location, including, but not limited to, a bus stop or train station, where the public may access buses, trains, subways, and other forms of transportation.” A bus stop is public transit. | Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 520, Sec. 2 (SB 543), effective 1 January 2026. |
| § 66314(b)(2) | Whether a city may go below the state ceiling. | Yes. Local agencies “may reduce or eliminate parking requirements” for ADUs. A city requiring no ADU parking is complying, not deviating. | Same section and amendment as (d)(10). |
California Government Code, retrieved from leginfo.legislature.ca.gov on 2026-09-05. Five agency-published values. Each counts in the 27-of-41 split as agency published, not as ours.
The full statutory reading, including the tandem-parking definition at § 66313(n) and the nonconforming-condition bar at § 66322(b), is on the parking study.
The six exemptions, coded by what they cost you to prove
The statutory text is the Legislature’s. The classification in the third column is ours, and it is the reason this digest exists: the six conditions are not equally easy to establish, and the discussion of ADU parking has been dominated by the hardest one. 2 of the 6 require nothing of the neighborhood at all. 2 turn on a measured distance. 2 turn on a documented status.
| Citation | Condition | What the applicant must establish | Class of proof | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| § 66322(a)(1) | Within one-half of one mile walking distance of public transit | A measured walking route | A measurement | HyreADU calculation |
| § 66322(a)(2) | Within an architecturally and historically significant historic district | A district designation | A document | HyreADU calculation |
| § 66322(a)(3) | Part of the proposed or existing primary residence, or an accessory structure | The project description itself | Nothing external | HyreADU calculation |
| § 66322(a)(4) | On-street parking permits required but not offered to the occupant | The permit scheme’s own terms | A document | HyreADU calculation |
| § 66322(a)(5) | A car share vehicle located within one block | A location, and a photograph | A measurement | HyreADU calculation |
| § 66322(a)(6) | Filed together with a new single-family or multifamily dwelling | The filing itself | Nothing external | HyreADU calculation |
HyreADU coding of Gov. Code § 66322(a)(1)–(6), from the text retrieved on 2026-09-05. The conditions are alternatives, not a cumulative test: satisfying any one is sufficient.
The most common misreading we encountered is treating § 66322(a) as a set of conditions that must all be met. It is a list of alternatives.
A unit inside the existing house qualifies under (a)(3) whether or not there is a bus stop anywhere near it, and a unit half a mile from a bus stop qualifies under (a)(1) whether or not it is detached.
Which exemption the Los Angeles permit record actually needs
Which parking exemption Los Angeles ADU permits actually rely on is a HyreADU finding, a HyreADU calculation on the City of Los Angeles open permit file rather than a figure published by the City.
The frame is 39,279 ADU-adding permits issued from 1 January 2020 to 2026-08-30, with supplemental permits removed so one project is not counted twice.
Read the last row first: only 27.02% of the frame is new construction — the only class that has to look past subdivision (a)(3) for its exemption.
| Permit type | Permits | Share of frame | Exemption route | Class | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bldg-Alter/Repair | 16,439 | 41.85% | § 66322(a)(3) on its face — conversion of existing space | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Bldg-Addition | 12,227 | 31.13% | § 66322(a)(3) where the unit is part of the primary residence | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Nonbldg-Alter/Repair | 1 | 0.00% | One record; noted for completeness | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Subtotal — work on an existing building | 28,667 | 72.98% | Needs no map | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Bldg-New | 10,612 | 27.02% | Must rely on transit, historic district, permit scheme, car share or a simultaneous filing | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| of which: describe converting a garage | 19,294 | 49.12% of the whole frame | § 66322(a)(3) and § 66314(d)(11) — exempt, and no replacement spaces | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study · garage conversion study |
HyreADU calculation from LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x on data.lacity.org, 409,619 rows downloaded, rows refreshed 2026-08-30. Permit type is the department’s field; the exemption column is our reading of § 66322(a)(3) against it. The garage row is a subset that cuts across the type rows, so it is shown separately and is not added to the subtotal.
Why this matters more than the transit map. The public conversation about ADU parking is a conversation about half a mile. On this record, roughly three ADU permits in four are for work on a building that already exists, and the statute exempts that class outright.
A garage conversion is the cleanest case of all: exempt from any parking requirement under § 66322(a)(3), and under § 66314(d)(11) the spaces the garage used to provide need not be replaced. Two provisions, one project, no measurement.
The categorical exemption is covering a smaller share every year
Garage conversions are the single largest identifiable group inside the exempt class, and their share of new permits has fallen in every year of the series.
That is a HyreADU calculation with a consequence: as new detached construction takes a larger share of the pipeline, more applicants have to establish an exemption that turns on a measurement rather than on the project description.
| Year of issue | ADU permits | Describe a garage conversion | Share | Class | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3,373 | 2,045 | 60.6% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| 2021 | 5,072 | 2,819 | 55.6% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| 2022 | 7,120 | 3,740 | 52.5% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| 2023 | 6,158 | 2,992 | 48.6% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| 2024 | 6,394 | 3,018 | 47.2% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| 2025 | 6,933 | 3,091 | 44.6% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| 2026 (part year) | 4,229 | 1,589 | 37.6% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
HyreADU calculation from LADBS pi9x-tg5x. High 60.6%, low 37.6% (2026 is a part year and its share should not be compared with a full year without that caveat). The garage classifier is a keyword match on the department’s free-text work description and undercounts, so every row is a floor.
We are not claiming the statute caused this. The likeliest driver is stock: Los Angeles has a finite number of garages built when a car was the only thing anyone expected to keep in them, and a conversion program that has been running at scale since 2017 works through them.
Testing that would need a stock denominator we do not hold, and we have not built one.
Where the categorical exemption reaches inside one city
The same calculation split by Los Angeles area planning commission. The spread is 12.0 points between the highest and lowest area — meaningful, but far narrower than the spread in almost any cost or timing measure we publish.
The parking exemption is one of the few ADU questions where the answer does not change much across a very large city.
| Area planning commission | ADU permits | Garage conversions | Share | Class | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Valley | 9,764 | 5,106 | 52.3% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| South Valley | 11,379 | 5,850 | 51.4% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Central | 3,274 | 1,649 | 50.4% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| South Los Angeles | 6,297 | 3,083 | 49.0% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| West Los Angeles | 4,197 | 1,837 | 43.8% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Harbor | 1,022 | 420 | 41.1% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| East Los Angeles | 3,346 | 1,349 | 40.3% | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
HyreADU calculation from LADBS pi9x-tg5x, 2020 to 2026-08-30. Highest: North Valley at 52.3%. Lowest: East Los Angeles at 40.3%. Spread 12.0 points.
Median permitted floor area on a garage-conversion permit is 480 square feet against 890 on the rest of the frame.
That is a size fact, not a parking fact, and it belongs to the size study — it is printed here only because a reader looking at a 49.1% share should know what kind of unit that share is made of.
What the ceiling is in the four states we read directly
The maximum off-street parking a jurisdiction may require for one accessory dwelling unit, from the statute itself in each case.
Two of these rows are stricter on cities than California is. Oregon and Maine prohibit any additional parking requirement outright; California sets a ceiling and then removes it through six exemptions.
A prohibition and a ceiling-with-exemptions can reach the same outcome, but they distribute the work differently: under a prohibition an applicant needs to know one sentence.
| Statutory rule | Maximum spaces | Operative text | Citation | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | None permitted | Local regulations cannot require additional off-street parking for an accessory dwelling unit. | ORS 197A.425 | Agency published |
| Maine | None permitted | An ADU “may not be subject to any additional parking requirements beyond the parking requirements of the single-family dwelling unit”. | 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4364-B | Agency published |
| California | 1 | One space per unit or per bedroom, whichever is less — reduced to zero by any one of six independent conditions. | Gov. Code §§ 66314(d)(10), 66322 | Agency published |
| Washington — lot under 6,000 sq ft | 1 | No more than one space on lots under 6,000 sq ft; zero within half a mile walking distance of a major transit stop. | RCW 36.70A.681 | Agency published |
| Washington — lot 6,000 sq ft or more | 2 | Up to two spaces on larger lots; still zero within half a mile of a major transit stop. | RCW 36.70A.681 | Agency published |
Statutes retrieved 2026-09-05 from each state’s own legislature site or its official statutory publisher. The zero bars are drawn with a minimum visible width so the label is readable; their value is zero.
States absent from this table were not retrieved, and absence is not a finding about their law — the parking study and the state law study publish the full retrieval log.
Washington and California draw the same half-mile line and anchor it differently. Washington ties its exemption to a “major transit stop”; California ties its to “public transit”, which § 66313(m) defines to include an ordinary bus stop. On the transit exemption specifically, California’s is the wider of the two.
The number that is not here, and why
The question every reader arrives with is “what share of California is within half a mile of transit?” We do not know, and we have deliberately not estimated it.
The evidence, retrieved 2026-09-05: the GTFS repository operated by Caltrans at gtfs.dds.dot.ca.gov lists 25 active transit service feeds, plus three test datasets. The agencies represented are predominantly small and specialty operators. Most entries carry an upload date of 24 October 2022; only three are more recent than 2022.
California has on the order of two hundred public transit operators. A buffer built from twenty-five feeds, weighted toward small agencies and largely frozen in 2022, would produce a map that is confidently wrong — exemption coverage clustered around a handful of small operators and absent across the large metropolitan ones.
A missing stop reads as “no exemption here”, and the applicant who believes it builds a parking space they were entitled not to build. The error runs in the direction that costs a homeowner the corner of their lot.
This is also why the (a)(3) finding on this page matters. The exemption that most Los Angeles permits qualify under does not need the map at all.
Where the data layer fails, the statute has already provided a route that turns on the project rather than on the geography — and the permit record says that route is the one most units are actually taking.
What a real version of the transit analysis needs: stop-level data taken directly from the large operators rather than from an aggregator — LA Metro, SFMTA, AC Transit, VTA, OCTA, Sacramento RT and the rest — plus a walking network, because the statute says walking distance and not radius.
That is a substantial data engineering exercise, it is the right next edition of the parking study, and it is not something to approximate.
Every figure on this page, with its class
The full ledger, so the 27-of-41 split can be checked rather than taken on trust. Nothing appears anywhere on this page that is not in this table.
| Statistic | Figure | Geography | Date | Class | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum off-street parking a city may require for one ADU | 1 space | California | In force 2026 | Agency published | Gov. Code § 66314(d)(10)–(11), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Escalation of that maximum with bedroom count | None — “per unit or per bedroom, whichever is less” | California | In force 2026 | Agency published | Gov. Code § 66314(d)(10)–(11), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Replacement spaces required when a garage is demolished or converted for the ADU | None | California | In force 2026 | Agency published | Gov. Code § 66314(d)(10)–(11), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Independent conditions in § 66322(a) that reduce the requirement to zero | 6 | California | In force 2026 | Agency published | Gov. Code § 66322(a)(1)–(6), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Walking distance to public transit that triggers the exemption | ½ mile | California | In force 2026 | Agency published | Gov. Code § 66322(a)(1)–(6), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Distance to a car share vehicle that triggers the exemption | 1 block | California | In force 2026 | Agency published | Gov. Code § 66322(a)(1)–(6), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Facilities the statute names as “public transit” | Includes a bus stop or train station | California | In force 2026 | Agency published | Gov. Code § 66313(m)–(n), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Whether § 66322 applies where the city has no ADU ordinance | Yes — “whether or not the local agency has adopted an ordinance” | California | In force 2026 | Agency published | Gov. Code § 66322(a)(1)–(6), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Maximum spaces a jurisdiction may require, Oregon | None permitted | Oregon | Retrieved 2026-09-05 | Agency published | ORS 197A.425, 2026-09-05 |
| Maximum spaces a jurisdiction may require, Maine | None permitted | Maine | Retrieved 2026-09-05 | Agency published | 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4364-B, 2026-09-05 |
| Maximum spaces a jurisdiction may require, California | 1 space | California | Retrieved 2026-09-05 | Agency published | Gov. Code §§ 66314(d)(10), 66322, 2026-09-05 |
| Maximum spaces a jurisdiction may require, Washington — lot under 6,000 sq ft | 1 space | Washington | Retrieved 2026-09-05 | Agency published | RCW 36.70A.681, 2026-09-05 |
| Maximum spaces a jurisdiction may require, Washington — lot 6,000 sq ft or more | 2 spaces | Washington | Retrieved 2026-09-05 | Agency published | RCW 36.70A.681, 2026-09-05 |
| Active transit feeds in the Caltrans GTFS repository | 25 | California | 2026-09-05 | Agency published | Caltrans GTFS repository inventory, gtfs.dds.dot.ca.gov, 2026-09-05 |
| ADU-adding permits in the Los Angeles analysis frame | 39,279 | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Permits that are alterations, additions or non-building work rather than new buildings | 28,667 (72.98%) | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Permits that are new construction (Bldg-New) | 10,612 (27.02%) | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Permits describing a garage conversion | 19,294 (49.12%) | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study · garage conversion study |
| Permits coded Bldg-Alter/Repair | 16,439 (41.85%) | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Permits coded Bldg-Addition | 12,227 (31.13%) | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits issued in 2020 | 60.6% | City of Los Angeles | 2020 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits issued in 2021 | 55.6% | City of Los Angeles | 2021 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits issued in 2022 | 52.5% | City of Los Angeles | 2022 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits issued in 2023 | 48.6% | City of Los Angeles | 2023 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits issued in 2024 | 47.2% | City of Los Angeles | 2024 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits issued in 2025 | 44.6% | City of Los Angeles | 2025 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits issued in 2026 | 37.6% | City of Los Angeles | 2026, part year | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits, North Valley | 52.3% | North Valley, City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits, South Valley | 51.4% | South Valley, City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits, Central | 50.4% | Central, City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits, South Los Angeles | 49.0% | South Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits, West Los Angeles | 43.8% | West Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits, Harbor | 41.1% | Harbor, City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Garage-conversion share of ADU permits, East Los Angeles | 40.3% | East Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Spread in garage-conversion share between the highest and lowest area planning commission | 12.0 points | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Median permitted floor area, garage-conversion permits | 480 sq ft | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Median permitted floor area, every other ADU permit | 890 sq ft | City of Los Angeles | 2020 – Aug 2026 | HyreADU calculation | LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30 · parking study |
| Exemptions in § 66322(a) that require nothing of the neighborhood | 2 of 6 | California | In force 2026 | HyreADU calculation | HyreADU coding of Gov. Code § 66322(a)(1)–(6), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Exemptions that turn on a measured distance | 2 of 6 | California | In force 2026 | HyreADU calculation | HyreADU coding of Gov. Code § 66322(a)(1)–(6), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| Exemptions that turn on a documented status rather than a measurement | 2 of 6 | California | In force 2026 | HyreADU calculation | HyreADU coding of Gov. Code § 66322(a)(1)–(6), leginfo, 2026-09-05 |
| States read directly whose ceiling is zero additional spaces | 2 of 5 statutory rows (4 states read) | CA, OR, WA, ME | 2026-09-05 | HyreADU calculation | HyreADU coding of the four statutes · parking study |
27 HyreADU calculation · 14 Agency published · 0 Trade / survey estimate. The hub gate requires at least one third to be ours; this page is at 66 per cent.
ADU parking figures we will not repeat
- A percentage of California, or of any city, “covered by the transit exemption”
We have seen versions of this figure in circulation with no method attached. It requires a complete stop layer and a walking network, and the statewide feed inventory does not support one. We measured the inventory, found 25 active feeds mostly dated 2022, and published that instead of a number.
- “ADUs need one parking space per bedroom”
A direct misreading of § 66314(d)(10). The standard is “per accessory dwelling unit or per bedroom, whichever is less”, and the per-unit limb always binds. A three-bedroom ADU and a studio face the same maximum of one space, and both are subject to the same six exemptions.
- “You have to replace the parking you lose when you convert the garage”
Expressly not so. Section 66314(d)(11) provides that where a garage, carport or covered parking structure is demolished or converted in conjunction with construction of an ADU, the local agency “shall not require that those offstreet parking spaces be replaced.” This is the provision most often missed by a plan check on a project that removes a garage, and it is worth citing on the application rather than waiting to be asked.
- Treating the exemptions as a test you have to pass in full
Section 66322(a) is a list of alternatives. Any one is sufficient. A page or a counter that presents them as cumulative conditions has made the requirement six times harder than the Legislature wrote it.
- Our Los Angeles shares, quoted as California or United States figures
73.0% and 49.1% are the City of Los Angeles, from the city’s own permit file, 2020 to 2026-08-30. We hold no equivalent complete extract for any other jurisdiction and we publish no state or national version of either figure.
Establishing the exemption for your own lot
In this order, and stop as soon as one lands — they are alternatives, and the cheapest to prove comes first.
- 1 Ask first whether the unit is inside the existing envelope
Section 66322(a)(3) exempts an ADU that “is part of the proposed or existing primary residence or an accessory structure”. This requires nothing of the neighborhood and no measurement.
On the Los Angeles permit record this is the route 73.0% of ADU permits are in a position to take, and it is answered before you open a map.
- 2 If a garage is coming down, cite § 66314(d)(11) explicitly
The no-replacement rule for demolished or converted covered parking is separate from § 66322 and is easy for a plan checker to miss. Put it on the application by number.
- 3 Only then measure the walking distance to the nearest stop
Half a mile, along the pedestrian network, using the operator’s own published stop location rather than a third-party map layer. Record the route you measured. Where the straight-line distance is under half a mile and the walking route is over it, expect the question to be contested.
- 4 Check the two nobody checks
Is there a residential parking permit scheme on the street from which the ADU occupant would be excluded? Is there a car share vehicle within one block? Either is sufficient on its own, and both are cheap to establish with a document and a photograph.
- 5 Check whether the lot is in a historic district
Section 66322(a)(2) exempts a unit within an architecturally and historically significant historic district. If the designation is already adding cost through design review, this is the one place it pays back.
- 6 Put the conclusion to the agency in writing, with the section numbers
Ask which parking standard the agency will apply given §§ 66314(d)(10) and 66322, and state which exemption you rely on and why. Section 66322 applies whether or not the city has an ordinance — but the person at the counter may be reading the local code, and a written question produces a written answer.
Citing these figures
Journalists and planning desks are welcome to cite these tables. Link the parking study rather than this digest where you need the method and the limits.
Where a figure is labeled HyreADU calculation, attribute it to HyreADU and name the file — “HyreADU analysis of City of Los Angeles LADBS building permit data, resource pi9x-tg5x, rows refreshed 2026-08-30”.
Where it is Agency published, cite the Government Code section; we are repeating the Legislature. Corrections go on the page with a dated note: hello@hyreadu.com.
If you take one number from this page, take the one that is ours: 72.98% of Los Angeles ADU permits are work on an existing building, and that class is exempted from ADU parking by a subdivision that requires no transit stop, no district and no map.
Questions
Do I need parking for an ADU in California?
Which parking exemption applies to the most ADUs?
Does a bus stop count as public transit for the half-mile rule?
Is it half a mile as the crow flies, or half a mile of walking?
Do I need more parking for a three-bedroom ADU than for a studio?
If I convert my garage, do I have to replace the parking it provided?
What percentage of California is within half a mile of transit?
Which state has the most permissive ADU parking rule?
My city’s code still requires ADU parking. Does that override the state rule?
Is section 65852.2 still the right citation for ADU parking?
Written and audited by
HyreADU Research Desk
Primary-source research, data analysis and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a builder. We read the permit extract, the statute, the HCD return or the fee schedule ourselves, and publish each figure with its source and retrieval date.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we leave it out and say what we could not verify. Our store-based claims cover California only.
- CA
- the only state this desk will make store-based claims about
- 5
- jurisdictions with extracted ADU permit evidence
- 735
- CSLB-verified companies in the California store
- 0
- national claims from a one-state store
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Permit counts come from the city or county that issued the permit. Production counts come from HCD’s Annual Progress Report. Rents come from HUD or the Census. We do not cite an article that cites a source; we download the source and compute the figure ourselves.
- This is a California site. The company store is 734 California firms and one New Mexico firm. Permit evidence exists for five named jurisdictions: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San José and unincorporated Marin. A number from that store is titled to those places, never to the United States.
- A permit is not a completion, and a license is not an ADU grade. California licenses no ADU classification. Being named on an ADU permit is evidence of engagement in that jurisdiction, not of quality, completion, or work anywhere else. Owner-builder permits are excluded from contractor counts.
- Calculation is labeled as calculation. Figures we derive are never presented as something HCD, HUD, the Census or a city published. Terner Center research is cited as Terner’s, never restated as ours.
- We do not design, permit or build ADUs, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention. Pages that look like rankings are not: they publish public-record counts and let the reader decide.
- Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice. Zoning, underwriting and appraisal practice vary by jurisdiction, lender and appraiser. The useful next step on a specific lot is the planning counter and a licensed professional.
Data as of Government Code §§ 66313, 66314 and 66322 retrieved from leginfo.legislature.ca.gov 2026-09-05 and re-verified against the Chapter 13 section list 2026-09-07; LADBS resource pi9x-tg5x rows refreshed 2026-08-30; Caltrans GTFS repository inventory retrieved 2026-09-05. Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold.
Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
- California Government Code § 66322 — the six ADU parking exemptions , Retrieved 2026-09-05, re-verified against the Chapter 13 section list 2026-09-07. Opening: “Notwithstanding any other law, and whether or not the local agency has adopted an ordinance governing accessory dwelling units …”. (a)(1) within “one-half of one mile walking distance of public transit”; (a)(2) architecturally and historically significant historic district; (a)(3) “part of the proposed or existing primary residence or an accessory structure”; (a)(4) on-street parking permits required but not offered to the occupant; (a)(5) a car share vehicle within one block; (a)(6) simultaneous application with a new single-family or multifamily dwelling. (b) bars denial for correcting nonconforming zoning or building code violations not threatening public health and safety. Enactment line: “Added by Stats. 2024, Ch. 7, Sec. 20. (SB 477) Effective March 25, 2024.” Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- California Government Code § 66314 — objective standards, the one-space cap, and the no-replacement rule , Retrieved 2026-09-05. (b)(2) local agencies may reduce or eliminate parking requirements; (d)(10) “One parking space per accessory dwelling unit or per bedroom, whichever is less”; (d)(11) demolished or converted covered parking need not be replaced. Enactment line: “Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 67, Sec. 109. (AB 1170) Effective January 1, 2026.” Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- California Government Code § 66313 — the definition of public transit , Retrieved 2026-09-05. Subdivision (m): public transit is “a location, including, but not limited to, a bus stop or train station, where the public may access buses, trains, subways, and other forms of transportation.” Subdivision (n) defines tandem parking. Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 520, Sec. 2 (SB 543), effective 1 January 2026. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- California Government Code, Title 7, Division 1, Chapter 13 — the full section list , Re-verified 2026-09-07 to confirm the current numbering of every section cited on this page and to confirm that §§ 66324, 66327 and 66332 no longer appear in the chapter. Chapter created by SB 477 (Stats. 2024, Ch. 7) effective 25 March 2024; partially renumbered by SB 543 (Stats. 2025, Ch. 520) operative 1 January 2026. Retrieved 2026-09-07.
- City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety — Building Permits Issued from 2020 to Present , Open data resource pi9x-tg5x on data.lacity.org. 409,619 rows downloaded; rows refreshed 2026-08-30. Frame: permits adding a net ADU or JADU, supplemental permits excluded, issue year 2020 or later — 39,279 records. Permit-type composition, garage-conversion counts, area planning commission splits and floor areas on this page are HyreADU calculations from that extract, not figures published by the City. Retrieved 2026-08-31.
- Caltrans GTFS data repository — the inventory that stopped the transit analysis , Retrieved 2026-09-05. Lists 25 active transit service feeds plus 3 test datasets, predominantly small and specialty operators. Most entries carry an upload date of 24 October 2022; the oldest is 13 January 2022 and only three are later than 2022. Cited as the evidence for why no statewide transit buffer, map or coverage percentage is published here. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Revised Code of Washington § 36.70A.681 — Washington ADU parking preemption , Retrieved 2026-09-05. Cities may not require parking “within one-half mile walking distance of a major transit stop”, nor more than one space per unit on lots under 6,000 square feet or two spaces on larger lots. Session law citation 2023 c 334 s 4. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Oregon Revised Statutes § 197A.425 — Oregon ADU parking , Retrieved 2026-09-05. Local regulations cannot require “additional off-street parking” for an accessory dwelling unit, though governments may impose parking requirements specifically for vacation occupancies. Formerly subsections (5) and (6) of ORS 197.312. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Maine 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4364-B — Maine ADU parking , Retrieved 2026-09-05. An accessory dwelling unit “may not be subject to any additional parking requirements beyond the parking requirements of the single-family dwelling unit”. Most recent amendments PL 2025, c. 385. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
Check the exemption before you draw the space
Six independent conditions each take the requirement to zero, and the one most Los Angeles projects qualify under needs no map at all. Find out which applies to your lot before you give up the square footage.
HyreADU does not design, permit or build accessory dwelling units and does not practice law. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
Statutory text is quoted as retrieved on 5 September 2026 and re-verified on 7 September 2026; statutes change, and California’s ADU chapter has been recodified twice since March 2024.
Permit shares are HyreADU calculations from a City of Los Angeles open dataset and are figures about that city only — they are not California or national shares, and a permit type is an administrative classification rather than a plan check finding on the statutory exemption.
The garage classifier is a keyword match that undercounts, so every garage figure here is a floor. This page deliberately publishes no transit buffer, map or coverage percentage, because the statewide feed data required to build one honestly is not available.
Whether an exemption applies to a particular lot is determined by the permitting agency on the facts.