Chicago Midway parking
Chicago's compact second airport. Off-airport lots on the southwest side are the value play.
About Chicago Midway
Chicago's compact second airport, and one of the most single-airline-dominated major airports in the country.
Midway served 19,379,940 passengers in 2025 from 43 gates across three concourses, A, B and C. Next to O'Hare it is small, and that is the point: the whole terminal is one 900,000 square foot building opened in 2001, and the walk from curb to gate is short by big-city standards.
It is also extraordinarily concentrated. Southwest Airlines carried 91.1 percent of Midway's passengers in the year to May 2026, some 17.4 million of them. Frontier, Delta, Volaris and Allegiant divide most of what is left. In practice, if you are flying from Midway you are almost certainly flying Southwest, and the departure peaks follow Southwest's bank structure rather than a spread of airlines.
The busiest routes are leisure-weighted and sun-weighted: Atlanta, Phoenix, Orlando, Las Vegas and Denver top the list. That shapes the parking market, because leisure trips run longer than business ones and long stays are where the gap between convenience parking and value parking opens up.
Getting to MDW
All the practical access info, by car, train, coach and otherwise.
Midway sits about 12 miles southwest of the Loop, reached from the Stevenson Expressway (I-55) and the surrounding grid of arterial streets. It is closer in than O'Hare and the approach is city driving rather than expressway sprawl.
The CTA Orange Line runs directly into Midway, with a journey time of roughly 20 to 25 minutes to downtown Chicago.
CTA bus routes serve the terminal and the surrounding neighborhoods.
The Orange Line is genuinely fast, so Midway's parking demand comes mostly from suburban drivers for whom the train is not a realistic start to the trip.
How parking works at Chicago Midway
On-airport parking is organized around the Terminal Garage, split into hourly and daily sections, with the Daily Lot alongside it. These are the closest options and priced accordingly.
The airport's value tier is its economy operation, made up of the Economy Garage and the Economy Lot at 5050 West 55th Street, immediately east of the garage. Free shuttle buses run every 10 to 15 minutes between the economy facilities and the terminal.
Because Midway is compact and its economy facilities are close by, the time penalty for choosing a cheaper space here is smaller than at a sprawling hub. The trade-off is availability rather than distance: this is a busy airport on a tight site.
Tips travelers wish they'd known
- Confirm your chosen lot is open before you travel. Midway's surface parking has been subject to closures and reconfiguration, and a lot that was open last trip may not be this one.
- Southwest flies 91 percent of Midway's passengers, so the airport's rush hours track Southwest's departure banks. Early morning is dense.
- The walk from the Terminal Garage into the terminal is short, but the economy facilities are a shuttle ride, so add 15 to 20 minutes if you are parking there.
- Midway's leisure-heavy route map means long stays are common. Compare the total price for your actual dates rather than the headline daily rate.
MDW questions, answered
The questions our 24/7 team gets asked most about flying from Chicago Midway.
How early should I arrive at Midway?+
Two hours for domestic flights. Midway is compact and the walk to the gate is short, but the security lines follow Southwest's departure banks and can build quickly in the early morning.
How often do the economy shuttles run at Midway?+
Free shuttle buses run between the airport's economy parking facilities and the terminal every 10 to 15 minutes.
Is Midway easier to park at than O'Hare?+
It is a smaller and simpler site, so the distances are shorter. It is also a tighter site with less parking overall, which makes booking ahead more useful, not less.
Should I just take the Orange Line instead?+
If you are starting from downtown or near an Orange Line stop, the train is quick. Most Midway parking demand comes from suburban drivers where that is not a practical option.