None of California's 162 DMV offices that take permit applications is open on a weekend, and none stays open past 5 p.m. (DMV data checked 2026-10-05). 133 are open all five weekdays, 29 are open only two or three days a week, and 139 open later on Wednesdays than on their other days. For a teen's permit visit, that means a weekday, booked early enough to start the knowledge test before 4:30 p.m.
| Finding | Offices | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Open Saturday or Sunday | 0 | 0% |
| Open all five weekdays | 133 | 82% |
| Open only part of the week | 29 | 18% |
| Open later on Wednesday than other days | 139 | 86% |
Is any California DMV office open on Saturday?
No. On 2026-10-05, not one of the 162 offices that handle permit applications listed Saturday or Sunday hours. The latest any of them is open on a weekday is 5 p.m., and the DMV stops starting knowledge tests at 4:30 p.m. A teen in school needs a weekday appointment, and an early pickup for an afternoon one. Book on the DMV appointments page (opens in a new tab).
Which DMV offices are open only part of the week?
29 offices open only on some weekdays, most of them in small towns. If one of these is your nearest office, check its days before you plan the trip, or use the office finder to see the next nearest.
| Office | County | Days open | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Andreas (opens in a new tab) | Calaveras | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Colusa (opens in a new tab) | Colusa | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Crescent City (opens in a new tab) | Del Norte | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Coalinga (opens in a new tab) | Fresno | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Willows (opens in a new tab) | Glenn | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Garberville (opens in a new tab) | Humboldt | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Bishop (opens in a new tab) | Inyo | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Lake Isabella (opens in a new tab) | Kern | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Ridgecrest (opens in a new tab) | Kern | Mon, Wed, Fri | Mon, Fri 8 am–5 pm; Wed 9 am–5 pm |
| Shafter (opens in a new tab) | Kern | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Taft (opens in a new tab) | Kern | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Lakeport (opens in a new tab) | Lake | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Susanville (opens in a new tab) | Lassen | Mon, Wed, Fri | Mon, Fri 8 am–5 pm; Wed 9 am–5 pm |
| Mariposa (opens in a new tab) | Mariposa | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Fort Bragg (opens in a new tab) | Mendocino | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Los Banos (opens in a new tab) | Merced | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Alturas (opens in a new tab) | Modoc | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| King City (opens in a new tab) | Monterey | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Grass Valley (opens in a new tab) | Nevada | Mon, Wed, Fri | Mon, Fri 8 am–5 pm; Wed 9 am–5 pm |
| Quincy (opens in a new tab) | Plumas | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Blythe (opens in a new tab) | Riverside | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Hollister (opens in a new tab) | San Benito | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Needles (opens in a new tab) | San Bernardino | Mon, Wed, Fri | Mon, Fri 8 am–5 pm; Wed 9 am–5 pm |
| Twentynine Palms (opens in a new tab) | San Bernardino | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Fall River Mills (opens in a new tab) | Shasta | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Mt Shasta (opens in a new tab) | Siskiyou | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
| Yreka (opens in a new tab) | Siskiyou | Mon, Wed, Fri | Mon, Fri 8 am–5 pm; Wed 9 am–5 pm |
| Red Bluff (opens in a new tab) | Tehama | Mon, Wed, Fri | Mon, Fri 8 am–5 pm; Wed 9 am–5 pm |
| Weaverville (opens in a new tab) | Trinity | Tue, Thu | Tue, Thu 8 am–5 pm |
When do DMV offices open?
Most offices open at 8 a.m. On Wednesdays, 139 of the 162 open later than on their other days, usually at 9 a.m. No office opens before 8 a.m. These are the hours the DMV publishes for each office; holidays and closures are posted on each office's DMV page.
DMV office hours by county
Each county with its permit-testing offices and how many high-school students each office serves on average (2025-26 enrollment from the California Department of Education). The highest loads are in Orange (27,884), San Francisco (19,508), Sacramento (17,681), Contra Costa (17,298) and San Diego (16,671). Counties with no office share one with a neighbor.
| County | Offices | Open 5 weekdays | Part-week | Later on Wednesday | High-school students per office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alameda | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 9,968 |
| Alpine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No office |
| Amador | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1,208 |
| Butte | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4,123 |
| Calaveras | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1,368 |
| Colusa | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1,698 |
| Contra Costa | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 17,298 |
| Del Norte | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1,007 |
| El Dorado | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4,036 |
| Fresno | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 12,136 |
| Glenn | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1,655 |
| Humboldt | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2,443 |
| Imperial | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6,220 |
| Inyo | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 779 |
| Kern | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 8,168 |
| Kings | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9,230 |
| Lake | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1,389 |
| Lassen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 966 |
| Los Angeles | 23 | 23 | 0 | 23 | 16,267 |
| Madera | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9,313 |
| Marin | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4,772 |
| Mariposa | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 508 |
| Mendocino | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1,921 |
| Merced | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9,049 |
| Modoc | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 304 |
| Mono | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No office |
| Monterey | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7,373 |
| Napa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6,406 |
| Nevada | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1,908 |
| Orange | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 27,884 |
| Placer | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7,108 |
| Plumas | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 690 |
| Riverside | 9 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 13,799 |
| Sacramento | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 17,681 |
| San Benito | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3,717 |
| San Bernardino | 8 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 14,974 |
| San Diego | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 16,671 |
| San Francisco | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 19,508 |
| San Joaquin | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 10,553 |
| San Luis Obispo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5,335 |
| San Mateo | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8,658 |
| Santa Barbara | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4,786 |
| Santa Clara | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 14,703 |
| Santa Cruz | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5,478 |
| Shasta | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3,786 |
| Sierra | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No office |
| Siskiyou | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 824 |
| Solano | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5,951 |
| Sonoma | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8,962 |
| Stanislaus | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 16,087 |
| Sutter | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5,254 |
| Tehama | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3,045 |
| Trinity | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 411 |
| Tulare | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9,826 |
| Tuolumne | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1,730 |
| Ventura | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 7,954 |
| Yolo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4,340 |
| Yuba | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No office |
How we counted
We read the DMV's field office list and each office's DMV page on 2026-10-05. An office counts only if its page lists both licensing services and testing, which a permit application needs, and it is open at least one day; business centers for the vehicle industry, commercial drive test centers and Express offices are left out. Hours are as the DMV publishes them. Students are counted by the county where each public high school stands. Anyone may use these numbers with a link to this page.
Quick answers
Sources
- California DMV field office list (fetched 2026-10-05) (opens in a new tab)
- California Department of Education: public schools directory, 2025-26 (fetched 2026-10-05) (opens in a new tab)
- California DMV: Appointments (opens in a new tab)
- California DMV: Instruction and learner's permits (knowledge tests end at 4:30 p.m.) (opens in a new tab)
Checked: October 5, 2026. Rules and forms can change; recheck the official page before acting.
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