San Mateo County, CA Parking Rules: Street Parking Limits (2026)

Street parking in unincorporated San Mateo County is shaped by the County Ordinance Code (Title 7, Vehicles and Traffic) and by the California Vehicle Code, which controls most rules of the road on public highways. The County Department of Public Works explains that parking restrictions such as no-parking zones, time-limited zones, and loading zones are evaluated based on safety, existing parking conditions, potential impacts to surrounding streets, traffic flow, and neighborhood character, and that all restrictions require Board of Supervisors approval before they are painted or signed. Curb colors carry their standard California meanings on County roads: red is a no-parking zone used to improve sight distance, regulate parking on narrow streets, and mark bus stops; green marks time-limited parking in some commercial areas (30-minute, 1-hour, 2-hour, and 4-hour intervals); yellow and white are loading zones; and blue designates disabled parking. Where the County has not posted a special restriction, the baseline rule comes from state law: under California Vehicle Code Section 22651(k), a vehicle left standing on a public street for more than 72 hours may be cited and removed. Parking on grades is separately addressed in the County's Chapter 7.28 miscellaneous parking regulations, and commercial-vehicle and oversized-vehicle limits apply on designated streets.