Guide · 14 min read
Washington DC Parking Map & Parking Zones
Updated August 2026 · Sources: official DC parking regulations and ParkDC.
Is there one DC parking map? No — there are five
DC's parking rules are split across separate maps, and no single one answers "can I park here right now?"
- Meters & rates → ParkDC. Commercial blocks only.
- RPP zones 1–8 → the official zone map. Shows the zone, not the hours.
- Street sweeping → a schedule by route, not a map of which side of the street.
- Rush-hour clearways → posted on signs only. Not mapped for drivers.
- Google / Apple Maps → garages and lots. Reads no signs at all.
Checking one block properly means opening two or three tools — which is why DC drivers still get ticketed on curbs their map called free.
Search "DC parking map" and you'll find at least three different official tools — none of which give you one answer for "can I park here right now?" This guide walks through every DC parking map that actually exists, what each one covers, and where they leave you guessing on the curb.
Interactive DC parking map
Explore the city below. Pick a neighborhood to refocus the map, then pan and zoom to see meter zones, RPP areas, and street layout.
Map data © Google. Curb rules vary block by block — always confirm against the posted sign.
Which DC parking map shows what
Start here. This table maps each official DC parking tool to the rules it actually covers, so you know which one to open — and what it will leave out.
Swipe table →
| Map / tool | Covers | Misses |
|---|---|---|
| ParkDC meter map | Metered blocks, hourly rates, time limits, pay-by-phone zone numbers in commercial corridors. | RPP zones, street sweeping, rush-hour clearways, loading zones, temporary paper signs. |
| Official RPP zone map | Which of RPP Zones 1–8 a block sits in, plus ward boundaries for permit eligibility. | The 2-hour visitor limit's exact hours, side-of-street exemptions, commercial time-zone blocks. |
| City curb regulation data | The raw GIS layer of posted curb rules by block segment — the source data behind the official maps. | Any driver-facing answer. It's a shapefile, not a map you check from the driver's seat. |
| Street sweeping schedule | Sweeping day, time window, and season (roughly March–November) by route and ward. | Which side of the street the sign applies to, and whether sweeping is suspended that week. |
| Google Maps / Apple Maps | Paid garages and lots, rough on-street parking density. | Every posted sign: RPP, rush hour, sweeping, no-standing, event-day restrictions. |
| Curblee (launching Fall 2026) | All layers combined into one time-aware answer per block: meters, RPP, rush hour, sweeping, posted signs. | Nothing yet — it's in private beta. Join the waitlist for access. |
What's enforced in DC right now
No static map tells you the time of day. This live card reads the current DC clock and shows which rule layers are active on a typical Adams Morgan block right now.
Adams Morgan
Checking current DC enforcement…
Rules vary block to block. Always confirm against the posted sign. You can check any DC neighborhood, or grab a free embeddable version, on the DC parking status tool.
1. ParkDC — Metered Blocks Only
ParkDC is the District's paid on-street parking system. Its map shows metered zones in commercial areas: downtown, U Street, H Street, Georgetown, and busy corridors across all quadrants. You can see hourly rates, time limits, and pay by phone.
What ParkDC does not show: RPP zones, rush-hour tow-away streets, street-sweeping schedules, or the actual sign text on the block you're standing on. If your block is residential, ParkDC is mostly blank.
2. DDOT RPP Zone Map — Residential Parking
DDOT publishes the Residential Parking Permit (RPP) zone map through ddot.dc.gov and the Open Data DC portal. Enter an address or drop a pin, and it shows which of RPP Zones 1–8 your block is in.
This is essential if you live in DC, but the RPP map alone doesn't tell you the 2-hour visitor rule, exact enforcement hours, or which side of the street is exempt on a given day. Read our RPP guide for the full breakdown.
3. Curb Regulation Data — The Raw Layer
Open Data DC hosts the underlying curb regulation dataset — every posted sign, mapped to a block segment. It's what powers the official maps, but it's a raw GIS layer, not a driver-facing tool. Nobody parking in real time is going to open a shapefile.
For the enforcement side of the map, use our DC parking ticket heatmap. It plots 1.6 million+ citations onto individual curb segments — the layer official maps leave out.
Free map
Where does DC write the most tickets?
Explore 1.6 million+ DC parking citations mapped to the street segment — see the hottest blocks before you park.
The RPP zone layer, in one table
Washington DC has eight residential parking zones, numbered 1 through 8, and each zone matches the ward with the same number: RPP Zone 1 is Ward 1, Zone 6 is Ward 6. Your zone is set by the address on your vehicle registration and printed on your RPP sticker. Inside your own zone the sticker exempts you from the posted 2-hour limit. Outside it, you get the same 2 hours a visitor from Virginia gets.
Type a neighborhood ("Adams Morgan"), a ward ("Ward 6"), or a zone number ("Zone 1").
All 8 DC residential parking zones
RPP Zone 1
Ward 1Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, U Street, Shaw (north), Park View
RPP Zone 2
Ward 2Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, Downtown, Penn Quarter
RPP Zone 3
Ward 3Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Tenleytown, Glover Park, Friendship Heights
RPP Zone 4
Ward 4Petworth, Brightwood, Takoma, 16th Street Heights
RPP Zone 5
Ward 5Brookland, Eckington, Bloomingdale, Trinidad, Edgewood
RPP Zone 6
Ward 6Capitol Hill, NoMa, Navy Yard, H Street NE, Southwest Waterfront
RPP Zone 7
Ward 7Deanwood, Benning, Hillcrest, Fort Dupont, Kingman Park (east)
RPP Zone 8
Ward 8Anacostia, Congress Heights, Bellevue, Barry Farm
Your sticker exempts you from the posted 2-hour limit inside your own zone only. The ResPP plate on the block is what enforcement reads — full zone guide.
Swipe table →
| Zone | Ward | Main areas |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | Ward 1 | Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, U Street, Shaw (north), Park ViewVery high — nightlife spillover plus dense rowhouse blocks with almost no off-street parking. |
| Zone 2 | Ward 2 | Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, Downtown, Penn QuarterVery high — the largest overlap of meters, RPP, and rush-hour tow-away routes in the city. |
| Zone 3 | Ward 3 | Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Tenleytown, Glover Park, Friendship HeightsHigh near Metro stations and Connecticut Ave; moderate on interior residential streets. |
| Zone 4 | Ward 4 | Petworth, Brightwood, Takoma, 16th Street HeightsModerate to high around Georgia Ave and Metro; lighter on side streets. |
| Zone 5 | Ward 5 | Brookland, Eckington, Bloomingdale, Trinidad, EdgewoodHigh near Catholic University, Union Market, and Rhode Island Ave. |
| Zone 6 | Ward 6 | Capitol Hill, NoMa, Navy Yard, H Street NE, Southwest WaterfrontVery high — event traffic from Nationals Park, Audi Field, and the Capitol complex. |
| Zone 7 | Ward 7 | Deanwood, Benning, Hillcrest, Fort Dupont, Kingman Park (east)Moderate — pressure concentrated near Metro stations and commercial corridors. |
| Zone 8 | Ward 8 | Anacostia, Congress Heights, Bellevue, Barry FarmModerate — heaviest near the Anacostia Metro and St. Elizabeths East events. |
Zone boundaries, the seams where one side of the street changes zone, and the blocks excluded from RPP entirely are all on the DC parking zone lookup.
4. Google Maps and Apple Maps
Both apps show some paid lots and rough parking density, but neither reads DC's street signs. That's why blocks that look perfectly parkable on Google Maps at 4:15 PM turn into $100 rush-hour tow-away zones at 4:30.
5. Street Sweeping and Rush Hour
DC posts street-sweeping schedules by ward and route, and rush-hour restrictions on major arteries like Connecticut Ave, Rhode Island Ave, and 16th St NW. Both are on posted signs, both show up in Open Data DC — but neither is baked into ParkDC or general navigation apps.
Sweeping signs are day-specific and season-specific, e.g. "No Parking 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM Tuesday, March 1 – Nov 30". Two things trip people up: the restriction usually applies to one side of the street only, and it goes dormant in winter — so the same curb that's illegal on a Tuesday in June is fine on a Tuesday in January.
6. Five Blocks Where the Maps Disagree
Abstract rules don't cause tickets — specific curbs do. These are the patterns that show up over and over in DC, and what each official map does (and doesn't) tell you. Always read the pole: block-level signage is the legal authority.
Connecticut Ave NW, Woodley Park → Dupont
Metered midday, reversible travel lane at rush hour. ParkDC shows you a payable meter at 4:10 PM; the posted sign says the curb becomes a travel lane at 4:00 PM. The meter being functional does not make the space legal.
Takeaway: on a commuter corridor, rush-hour signs beat the meter every time.
Capitol Hill residential blocks (Zone 6)
The RPP map shows the whole neighborhood shaded Zone 6, but individual blocks near Eastern Market carry a 2-hour limit that applies to everyone, permit holders included, because the block is signed as a commercial-adjacent time zone rather than a plain RPP block.
Takeaway: a zone shade on a map is not a promise of unlimited parking on that block.
H St NE corridor
Meters, a streetcar right-of-way, loading zones, and rush-hour clearways stack within a few blocks. The curb can change use three times in 300 feet, and the meter map treats it as one continuous paid zone.
Takeaway: mid-block, re-check the nearest sign in both directions — arrows define where a rule starts and stops.
Adams Morgan side streets
RPP plus weekly sweeping plus frequent paper "Emergency No Parking" postings for moves and construction. None of the official maps carry the temporary signs, which are posted roughly 72 hours ahead and override everything printed on the metal signs.
Takeaway: paper signs win. Read the dates and times on them before anything else.
Downtown near the Mall on a Sunday
Meters are free on Sundays, so the block looks open — but no-standing, bus-zone, hydrant, and event-day restrictions are still fully enforced. "Free meter" and "legal spot" are two different facts.
Takeaway: free parking time never cancels a no-parking or no-standing sign.
Key takeaways
- No single official map answers "can I park here right now?" — plan on ParkDC for meters, DDOT for RPP zones, and the pole for everything else.
- Order of authority on the curb: temporary paper signs → posted metal signs → meter status → any map or app.
- Rush-hour clearways and sweeping windows are the two rules mapping apps miss most often, and they're the two that lead to tows.
- Sweeping and RPP restrictions are usually one-side-of-street and weekday-only; check the day, the months, and the arrows.
- Before you walk away, confirm four things: day, time, side of street, and whether a paper sign is taped to the pole.
7. What a Real DC Parking Map Should Do
- Read every parking sign on a block, not just meters.
- Combine RPP zone, meter rules, rush hour, and street sweeping into one answer.
- Update in real time based on the current day and hour, not a static PDF.
- Warn before enforcement windows start, not after the ticket is on the windshield.
That's the gap Curblee is built to close.
Bottom Line
There is no single official DC parking map that answers "can I park here right now?" You'll bounce between ParkDC for meters, DDOT for RPP zones, and posted signs for everything else. Curblee's goal is to stitch those layers into one clear answer per block.
One DC parking map. One answer.
Curblee reads every DC parking sign and gives you one answer: park here, or don't. Join the waitlist for early access this fall.
Join the waitlist →