Improving the Way Developers and Planners Assess Parking Demand

September 2025: Phase 5 Update

On September 25, the Salem City Council voted 10-1 to eliminate parking minimums for new multifamily housing developments in the City. This milestone follows over a year of MAPC technical assistance to the City on this effort and makes Salem the first municipality to directly apply the Perfect Fit Parking methodology to inform their zoning changes. The Phase 5 Salem study adds yet another contribution to a robust regional dataset that highlights how most communities have built more residential off-street parking than is needed or utilized.

Click the buttons below to view the press release for the Phase 5 Salem study and successful City Council vote, as well as media coverage from the Boston Globe and project background from the Imagine Salem initiative. The website sections that follow further detail MAPC's findings from previous phases of Perfect Fit Parking research.

Press Release Boston Globe Article Imagine Salem - Residential Parking Minimums

Phases 1 and 2 examined overnight residential parking data from nearly 200 multi-family buildings in Boston's Inner Core municipalities between 2015 and 2019


Here is what we found:

Explore the slides below or read the executive summary to learn more about Phases 1 and 2. Then dig deeper and use the map to explore the data collected for Phases 1-5.

Executive Summary

Getting Parking Right Matters

Before Image of urban design with parking garage, cars, and buildings After Image of urban design with less parking, more building space, more greenery, and more transportation options

By achieving the perfect fit, we can:

Adjust the Slider to Explore the Data (Phases 1-5)

Interactive chart data legend, describing Parking Utilization, Parking Supply per Unit, and Parking Demand per Unit
Heatmap chart color legend

Read the Full Report (Phases 1 and 2)

Find the full phase 1 & 2 report and technical appendix here.

Read Report Technical Appendix

Learn More

Read more about Transporation Demand Management strategies you can advocate for in your community.

Learn More

Download the Data

Download a .csv file of our site-level data for Phases 1-5, or visit our open data portal DataCommon for more comprehensive Perfect Fit Parking data and metadata for Phases 1 - 5.

Direct .csv Download DataCommon

Have any questions?

If you have questions, or comments, or would like to learn more don't hesitate to reach out!

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