Also, the idea of comparing "parking spaces per acre" and "households per acre" is kinda silly in the first place. Des Moines households are generally larger th

Also, the idea of comparing "parking spaces per acre" and "households per acre" is kinda silly in the first place. Des Moines households are generally larger than parking spaces. A typical parking space, plus its corresponding lane space in a lot, is about 15m². The average Des Moines apartment is about 67m², and the average household population in Iowa is ~2.4. So even ignoring non-rental housing, you can see how this comparison is kinda bogus, since (like-for-like) apartments are naturally at least five times larger than parking spaces (and non-rental housing is usually even larger), and somewhere between one and two parking spaces per household is easy to justify even if you're only looking at residential space: when it comes to commercial areas, parking charges and volumes are clearly set to ensure availability, so in order for fees to remain reasonable, considerably more parking than "makes sense" must be provisioned.