Street parking
Which permit zone is this address in, and can anyone here get a permit?
Two different questions, and the second one is the expensive one. Downtown streets are split into residential permit zones, and without a permit you are capped at two hours on most of them. But a permit does not go with the address. It goes to a resident whose building has no off-street parking, and most large downtown buildings have a garage.
The rule that catches people out
Under Jersey City Municipal Code 332-58, a residential parking permit is issued only to someone who lives in the zone, has a car registered in their own name, and lives in a property for which no off-street parking is available to residents, either with or without charge.
Read that last clause slowly, because every word in it does work. It is not about whether you have a space. It is about whether the building makes one available. If the garage is full, you are still disqualified. If a space costs $400 a month on top of the rent, you are still disqualified. If you do not want one, you are still disqualified. The city keeps a standing list of every property with 30 or more homes that makes parking available to residents, so this is checked against a record rather than taken on trust.
The rule does not apply to a resident who is 65 or over, who held a permit before the restriction took effect, or whose home is restricted to low or moderate income occupancy under the New Jersey Fair Housing Act.
Your landlord or seller has to tell you. At least ten days before a lease is signed or a deed changes hands, they must give you a copy of 332-58, and file your signed acknowledgement with the city within thirty days. This applies to condominiums by name. If nobody mentioned it, that is a thing to ask about before you sign, not after.
One more, from the same chapter: a permit never reserves you a space. It exempts you from the time limit on the street. It does not mean there is anywhere to put the car.
The zones downtown
Jersey City publishes its zones as a list of streets, not as a shape on a map. Each row is one stretch of one street between two cross streets, with the rule in force on it. There is no polygon version anywhere in the city's data, so this page shows the record as it is: the streets themselves.
130 of the 245 buildings on this site sit on a street the city has zoned. The other 115 do not, which is covered below.
Zone 1
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of two (2) hrs; btw the hours of 7 am and 9 pm, M - F, except public holidays with a valid permit. Zone 1 permits shall be valid in Zone 19 and any border streets contained w/in the 2 zones.
Zone 2
No parking in excess of two (2) hours, between 8AM and 5PM, Mon thru Fri, except public holidays, without a valid permit
Zone 3
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of two (2) hours; between the hours of 7am and 9pm, Monday through Friday, except public holidays, without a valid permit upon any of the streets or parts of streets as described below. Not every street in this zone is posted the same. 1 of its 11 stretches carry a different limit or a different window. The one outside a given building is on that building's page, and the sign on the street is the thing that counts.
Zone 4
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of two (2) hours; between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except public holidays, without a valid permit upon any of the streets or parts of streets as described below.
Zone 5
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of two (2) hours; between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except public holidays, without a valid permit upon any of the streets or parts of streets as described.
Zone 6
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of two (2) hours; between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except public holidays, without a valid permit upon any of the streets or parts of streets as described.
Zone 7
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of two (2) hours; between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except public holidays, without a valid permit upon any of the streets or parts of streets.
Zone 15
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of three (3) hours; between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except public holidays, without a valid permit upon any of the streets or parts of streets.
Zone 17
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of three (3) hours btw the hours of 7am and 11pm Mon thru Fri, except public holidays without a valid permit upon any of the streets or parts of streets. Not every street in this zone is posted the same. 2 of its 10 stretches carry a different limit or a different window. The one outside a given building is on that building's page, and the sign on the street is the thing that counts.
Zone 18
No person shall park a vehicle in excess of three (3) hours; btw 7am and 11pm, Mon thru Fri, except public holidays, without a valid permit.
Border streets
Five stretches sit on the line between two zones, and the city lists them separately because either zone's permit is valid on them. If you live on one of these, you have a choice of zone rather than a problem.
Where the record gives two answers
10 buildings on this site match two zones, and their pages say both rather than choosing. Three different things cause it. A lot can run along two streets in different zones, or sit where one zone's stretch ends and the next begins. It can be on one of the border streets above. Or the city's own file can contradict itself: "Manila Av Between Boyle Plaza and Sixth St" is filed under Zone 6 and under Zone 7, and "Sixteenth St Between Marin Blvd and Jersey Av" under Zone 7 and Zone 18, the same wording and the same line, in two zones. Nothing published says which is right.
What a permit costs
These come from the city's codified fee schedule, not from its application form. The difference matters and is explained under the table.
| Permit | Cost |
|---|---|
| Resident, first vehicle in the household Each vehicle after the first goes up by $10: $30 for the second, $40 for the third. | $20 a year |
| Resident aged 65 or over With proof of age and residency. Vehicles after the first two pay the rates above. | Free for the first two |
| Resident of a deed restricted low or moderate income home, or an R-2 property | Free |
| Visitor pass Up to five at a time. Jersey City Housing Authority residents get up to five free. | $10 a day |
| New resident waiting on a license and registration, 14 days Needs a deed or lease and proof you have asked the NJ MVC to change your address. | $20 |
| Temporary resident, 90 days | $125 |
| Temporary work permit, 90 days One 90-day extension, six months at most. | $125 |
| Home healthcare permit, 90 days For the hours a nurse, aide or relative is actually providing care. | $50 |
| Transfer to another zone or another car The old permit has to go back. Maximum 14 days. | $15 |
| Works in the zone but does not live there Current pay stubs required. | $500 a year |
| Non-resident city employee, or teacher or staff at a Jersey City PreK-12 school | $40 a year |
| Contractor, one and two family homes only Not for work on high-rise units. | $175 for six months, or $15 a day |
A permit runs for a year at most and is renewed annually. Renewal is never automatic: the city re-checks the license and the registration by hand every time. And no permit of any kind is issued to anyone with unpaid Jersey City parking fines until those are settled in full.
The city's own application form has the wrong prices on it. The zone permit application still downloadable from the Division of Parking Enforcement is marked "Rev. 2/15" and is made out to the Jersey City Parking Authority, which was dissolved in 2014. It lists a $15 resident permit, a $300 non-resident permit, a $1 transfer and $5 visitor passes.
Those are the exact figures Ordinance 22-022 struck out on 9 March 2022. They are eleven years old, and they are why guides to Jersey City parking still quote $15. The figures in the table above are the ones in the code the city actually charges under. If a counter clerk quotes you something different, the code is the thing to ask about.
How to apply
Permits and visitor passes are handled through the city's parking permit portal, where you create an account. You can also go in person to the Parking Division at Two Jackson Square, 356 Martin Luther King Drive, second floor, open 7am to 5pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and 7am to 7pm on Thursday. The number is (201) 547-5538 and the email is parkingpermits@njjcps.org.
Note the address on the old form, 394 Central Avenue, is not where the parking division is. Both addresses appear on city-published material. Two Jackson Square is the one on the city's current page.
What you need to bring
Things this page cannot tell you
Whether a permit is available in your zone. The city does not publish how many permits are issued against how many curb spaces exist, so nothing here says whether a zone is oversubscribed.
Whether your building makes a space available to you. The city's records note that a building has parking. They do not say who may use it, at what price, or whether there is a waiting list. That is a question for the building, and it is the question the permit rule turns on.
The zone for 115 of the buildings here. Their streets are not in the city's zone list at all. Most are the private or newer street networks in Newport and Liberty Harbor, like River Court, Park Lane and Regent Street, and the Harborside and Exchange Place waterfront. An unzoned street is not a loophole: it usually means the street has no residential permit scheme, and may be metered or privately managed instead.
Zones 19 and 20. Zone 19 is named in Zone 1's own rule, which says a Zone 1 permit is also valid there, with no boundary published anywhere in the city's data. Zone 20 is written into Municipal Code 332-58C.3, covering ten streets off Pacific Avenue, with no boundary published anywhere in the city's data. Zones 9, 12, 13 and 14 appear in neither the data nor the code.
Zone boundaries and rules: Jersey City's parking zone dataset, which publishes street center lines rather than areas. A building is matched to a zone by its own street name, and then either because the city's record says the whole of that street is in the zone, or because the building's lot comes within 82 feet of a stretch the city maps. Fees: Jersey City Municipal Code 160-1.SS(10), as amended through Ord. 25-075, the city's codified fee schedule. Eligibility, proof and renewal: Municipal Code 332-58 and 332-62. Office hours and contact: the city's parking page. Checked 17 October 2026. Zones and fees both change by ordinance, so confirm with the city before you rely on either.
A weekly note about downtown
One email a week: what changed downtown, what opened, what is being built, and which buildings we have added. No spam, and you can leave at any time.