What’s worse than driving around desperately searching for a parking spot downtown or at a crowded beach? Returning to find a ticket stuck on your windshield.
inewsource dug into the most ticketed places in San Diego from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, using city data provided through reporting partner Crosstown. In all, the San Diego Police Department issued over 500,000 parking violations in the last year. Most were for street sweeping, other posted signs and metered zone violations.
The most ticketed places are clustered in East Village, Pacific Beach, North Park, Mission Bay and two popular outdoor destinations. Nearly half of the 100 most-ticketed locations were downtown. The top 100 locations amassed over 75,000 citations.
Inewsource shared the list with the San Diego Police Department, and spokesperson Ashley Nichols said that “all these locations are part of where the city has prioritized enforcement due to the infrastructure and community impact that currently exists.”
Here’s what you need to know about the worst places to park in the city.
The cost of Mission Bay parking
The biggest parking trap in the city is Ski Beach on Vacation Isle in the middle of Mission Bay for violating posted signs, with more than 2,200 citations worth over $200,000.
A 68-year-old man who has lived in San Diego for over 40 years, said he has racked up $3,000 in tickets over the three-plus years he has been homeless and living out of his van. He didn’t want to share his full name with inewsource.
“They get a lot of income from us,” he said. “They don’t know what people are really going through with homelessness.”
He said he’s gotten to know the people sleeping in Mission Bay lots like Ski Beach over the years, and more and more he sees older people like him falling into homelessness and living out of their cars. “They aren’t addicts,” he said. “A lot of them had high-paying jobs.”
The region’s annual homelessness count, conducted over a single day in January, estimated that more than 800 people — 16 percent of those living without shelter — slept in a vehicle, boat or recreational vehicle in the county of San Diego. One-third of the unsheltered residents counted countywide — 1,676 people — were 55 or older.
The city parking data doesn’t break down the citations further than saying tickets are for failing to follow posted signs, so it is hard to say how many of the tickets are for people like Walid.
Other posted signs besides the 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. close at Ski Beach include restrictions on parking in spots reserved for cars with boat trailers and large vehicle restrictions.
Mission Bay’s ticketing hotspots are spread across popular recreation areas.
Three of the Top 20 spots lead to Mission Bay: Ski Beach, 3500 Mission Bay Drive and South Shores at 404 Sea World Drive. Fiesta Island ranks No. 21.
Daytime parking in Mission Bay is free but the city prohibits parking in most lots from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., although Fiesta Island has a wider rule: It is closed to vehicles from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Feed the meters in East Village
The most commonly ticketed intersection in the city is 1400 Island Avenue in the East Village, in front of some apartments, Fault Line Park and IZOLA bakery, with over 1,600 tickets in the last year totaling over $112,000 in fines — most of those were for expired meters, and the others were for violating signs.
Seven of the 20 most ticketed spots are in East Village on 13th Street, 15th Street or Island Avenue.
Nichols, the SDPD spokesperson, said newer large apartment complexes in the East Village have contributed to the high number of tickets. “Many of these locations have had metered zones, bike lanes or other infrastructure changes added in the past couple years,” she said.
Metered parking violations also pile up on three consecutive blocks in North Park at the 3900, 4000 and 4100 blocks of 30th Street running from University Avenue to Howard Avenue through one of the neighborhood’s’s main business corridors.
Pacific Beach is also a place where visitors can face metered parking tickets, especially at the large parking lot off Hornblend Street where the Tuesday farmers market takes place and close to Crystal Pier.
Don’t park overnight at Gliderport
The eighth-most common place to get a ticket was the gliderport parking lot in La Jolla.
Nestled behind the University of California San Diego and above Blacks Beach, the Torrey Pines Gliderport is a popular place for paragliders, surfers and beachgoers.
Citations there netted the city over $118,000, mostly for posted sign violations.
Signs posted at the gliderport say it is closed from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. when the gate closes.
It’s also a popular spot for RVs and van lifers.
Jonathan DeWitt, who was at the gliderport lot on Wednesday morning with his dog, said he likes to sleep in his van in the lot since his home is almost an hour away.
“I’ve been coming here for years and never got a ticket,” he said, but recently, he’s gotten three tickets for staying after closing time.
“Why are we closing parking at a 24/7 venue?” he said. “The beach is open 24/7.”
All around the lot people were posted up in large vans and recreational vehicles.
“This is one of the cleanest lots despite the number of people passing through,” DeWitt said, comparing it to places like Ocean Beach. He said, “Drunk people give bad raps to van lifers,” adding that van lifers “are probably the ones picking up everybody else’s trash.”
“The increased enforcement in beach lots all throughout the city is a result of countless complaints by both businesses and residents,” Nichols said.
Yes, Cowles Mountain is an incline
The entrance to the popular Cowles Mountain hike that takes you to the highest point in the city was the 9th most-cited spot in San Diego — for failing to turn wheels properly on a hill.
The city says vehicles parked on a grade of at least 3% must turn their wheels toward the curb when facing downhill and turn their wheels away from the curb when facing uphill.
Another reason Mondays are the worst
The San Diego Police Department parking issued more citations on Mondays than on any other day of the week during the most recent 12 months.
It issued 90,261 tickets on Mondays and more than 80,000 each other weekday.
Sundays had the fewest tickets, with 31,007.
Another way April is the cruelest month
The city issued 49,116 parking citations in April, more than in any other month during the 12-month period. Compare that with November, when the city issued 36,494 tickets.
