Empirical Results from the Eliminations of Municipal Minimum Parking Requirements

Author

• David A. Griffith, University of MississippiFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-7-2026

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Economics

First Advisor

John Gardner

Second Advisor

Thomas Garrett

Third Advisor

Jonathan Winburn

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

Minimum Parking Requirements (MPR) are municipal zoning ordinances mandating a set number of off-street parking spaces for new developments. Since the 1950s, MPR has been the near-universal way American municipalities supply parking, though growing criticisms since the late 1990s have targeted the policy for distorting development patterns, imposing high costs, and subsidizing personal vehicle use. Beginning in the early 2010s and increasingly in the early 2020s, cities and counties across the United States have moved to reform or eliminate MPR. This paper is the first empirical study of the economic effects of these removals. Using a two-way fixed-effects difference-in-differences OLS regression on a county-level panel dataset from 2010 through Q3 2023, this paper finds the effects of full MPR removal on commercial and residential development, vehicle use, rent costs, labor force population, and incomes. MPR removal is estimated to bring 632 additional new business applications, consistent with theoretical predictions that MPR imposes prohibitive fixed costs on entrepreneurs. Contrary to prior theoretical expectations, residential housing permits show no statistically significant response to policy removal. The absence of new housing supply, combined with increases in commercial activity and corresponding greater locational desirability, leads to an estimated increase of $51 in median monthly rent, with no corresponding increase in median incomes. This yields a loss of affordability for renters due to worsening housing costs, without offsetting income gains. MPR removal also produces a 0.84 percentage decrease in personal vehicle commuting, with no change in the labor force population, confirming that the policy functions as an effective subsidy to personal vehicle use. These findings suggest that while MPR constrains commercial development and incentivizes vehicle use, the barriers to residential development are more ingrained than parking costs alone, and policymakers should anticipate that incentivizing commercial-led growth without corresponding housing supply responses may worsen affordability in the short run.

Recommended Citation

Griffith, David A., "Empirical Results from the Eliminations of Municipal Minimum Parking Requirements" (2026). Honors Theses. 3478.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3478

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