Most people looking up San Diego find the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. RV parking ban, decide they can be gone by 2, and stop reading. That is the wrong rule. The one that governs sleeping is a different section with different hours, and it starts at 9 p.m. Both sit in Chapter 8 of the San Diego Municipal Code, edition dated 7-2025, read on September 4, 2026.
Rule one: the parking rule
SDMC 86.0139(a) makes it unlawful to park or leave standing on any public street, park road or parking lot “any oversized vehicle, non-motorized vehicle, or recreational vehicle between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.” Subsection (b) bans parking any of those within 50 feet of an intersection at any time.
Then comes the part almost nobody quotes. SDMC 86.0141(a): “The prohibitions and restrictions contained in section 86.0139 shall be effective upon the posting of signs providing notice.” The ordinance ties its own effect to signage. The parking ban is a posted rule, not a blanket one.
Rule two: the habitation rule
SDMC 86.0137(f) is the one that matters if you plan to sleep. It makes it unlawful “to use a vehicle for human habitation on any street or public property,” unless the location is specifically authorized by the City Manager, and it lists three conditions: between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., at any time within 500 feet of a residence, and at any time within 500 feet of a school.
Two differences from the parking rule matter. It applies to any vehicle, not only oversized and recreational ones, so a car or a minivan is covered. And its text carries no sign-posting trigger.
Subsection (f)(4) lists what counts as evidence: sleeping, bathing, cooking, and possessing items “not associated with ordinary vehicle use, such as a sleeping bag, bedroll, blanket, sheet, pillow, used bedding, kitchen utensils, cookware, cooking equipment, camping gear, food, water, personal grooming items.” A packed camping kit is on that list.
The permit does not do what you think
The city sells a Temporary Overnight Recreational Vehicle Permit for $1.50 per 24 hours. It exempts the holder from 86.0139(a) under 86.0140(f), and it is available only to “any resident of the City or a bona fide guest of such resident,” capped at three consecutive 24-hour periods and 72 permits per address per calendar year.
Then 86.0143(h) says the permitted vehicle “shall not be used for overnight camping, lodging or for accommodation purposes while parked on the public street.” The permit buys a place to park an RV. It does not buy a place to sleep in one.
The verdict, and the method
San Diego is not a city where you sleep on a public street. Read the two sections together and there is no window left.
The wider lesson is that a city usually writes two rules, not one, and only one of them is easy to find. The parking rule turns up in search results. The habitation rule is the one that gets you woken up. When you check a new city, search its code for both “oversized vehicle” and “human habitation,” and read the hours on each. Whatever you find, the posted sign and what an officer tells you on the street beat any website, this one included.
We verified San Diego, not the city you are driving to. Our California car sleeping page explains why the answer is municipal in that state rather than statewide, and the where it is legal guide covers the land types that do allow it.