diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/leiningen/extract.spec.ts b/lib/modules/manager/leiningen/extract.spec.ts
index a5e92389bac9db..76e3d765e03d4e 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/leiningen/extract.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/leiningen/extract.spec.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { codeBlock } from 'common-tags';
 import { Fixtures } from '../../../../test/fixtures';
 import { ClojureDatasource } from '../../datasource/clojure';
 import { extractFromVectors, extractVariables, trimAtKey } from './extract';
@@ -10,6 +11,12 @@ describe('modules/manager/leiningen/extract', () => {
     expect(trimAtKey('foo', 'bar')).toBeNull();
     expect(trimAtKey(':dependencies    ', 'dependencies')).toBeNull();
     expect(trimAtKey(':dependencies \nfoobar', 'dependencies')).toBe('foobar');
+    expect(
+      trimAtKey(
+        ':parent-project {:coords [my-org/my-parent "4.3.0"]\n:inherit [:profiles]}',
+        'coords',
+      ),
+    ).toBe('[my-org/my-parent "4.3.0"]\n:inherit [:profiles]}');
   });
 
   it('extractFromVectors', () => {
@@ -48,6 +55,20 @@ describe('modules/manager/leiningen/extract', () => {
         currentValue: '4.5.6',
       },
     ]);
+    expect(
+      extractFromVectors(
+        '[my-org/my-parent "4.3.0"]\n:inherit [:profiles]}',
+        {},
+        {},
+        1,
+      ),
+    ).toEqual([
+      {
+        datasource: ClojureDatasource.id,
+        depName: 'my-org:my-parent',
+        currentValue: '4.3.0',
+      },
+    ]);
   });
 
   it('extractPackageFile', () => {
@@ -124,6 +145,95 @@ describe('modules/manager/leiningen/extract', () => {
         },
       ],
     });
+
+    const parentProjectSrc = codeBlock`
+(defproject org.example/parent-project "1.0.0-SNAPSHOT"
+  :plugins [[lein-parent "0.3.9"]
+            [lein-project-version "0.1.0"]
+            [lein-shell "0.5.0"]]
+  :parent-project {:coords [my-org/my-parent "4.3.0"]
+                   :inherit [:profiles :managed-dependencies :local-repo]}
+  :profiles {:cljfmt {:plugins [[lein-cljfmt "0.9.2"]]}}
+  :dependencies [[org.clojure/core.async "1.6.681"]
+                 [org.clojure/core.match "1.1.0"]
+                 [org.clojure/data.csv "1.1.0"]
+                 [org.clojure/tools.cli "1.1.230"]
+                 [metosin/malli "0.15.0"]])`;
+
+    expect(extractPackageFile(parentProjectSrc)).toMatchObject({
+      deps: [
+        {
+          depName: 'org.clojure:core.async',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'dependencies',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '1.6.681',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'org.clojure:core.match',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'dependencies',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '1.1.0',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'org.clojure:data.csv',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'dependencies',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '1.1.0',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'org.clojure:tools.cli',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'dependencies',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '1.1.230',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'metosin:malli',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'dependencies',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '0.15.0',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'lein-parent:lein-parent',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'plugins',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '0.3.9',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'lein-project-version:lein-project-version',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'plugins',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '0.1.0',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'lein-shell:lein-shell',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'plugins',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '0.5.0',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'lein-cljfmt:lein-cljfmt',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'plugins',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '0.9.2',
+        },
+        {
+          depName: 'my-org:my-parent',
+          datasource: 'clojure',
+          depType: 'parent-project',
+          registryUrls: [],
+          currentValue: '4.3.0',
+        },
+      ],
+    });
   });
 
   it('extractVariables', () => {
diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/leiningen/extract.ts b/lib/modules/manager/leiningen/extract.ts
index a6df1128927f8c..680b5f14cb025f 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/leiningen/extract.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/leiningen/extract.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ export function extractFromVectors(
   str: string,
   ctx: ExtractContext = {},
   vars: ExtractedVariables = {},
+  dimensions: 1 | 2 = 2,
 ): PackageDependency[] {
   if (!str.startsWith('[')) {
     return [];
@@ -36,7 +37,8 @@ export function extractFromVectors(
   let vecPos = 0;
   let artifactId = '';
   let version = '';
-  let commentLevel = 0;
+  // Are we currently parsing a comment? If so, at what depth?
+  let commentLevel: number | null = null;
 
   const isSpace = (ch: string | null): boolean =>
     !!ch && regEx(/[\s,]/).test(ch);
@@ -82,7 +84,7 @@ export function extractFromVectors(
 
     if (char === '[') {
       balance += 1;
-      if (balance === 2) {
+      if (balance === dimensions) {
         vecPos = 0;
       }
     } else if (char === ']') {
@@ -91,15 +93,17 @@ export function extractFromVectors(
       if (commentLevel === balance) {
         artifactId = '';
         version = '';
-        commentLevel = 0;
+        commentLevel = null;
       }
 
-      if (balance === 1) {
+      if (balance === dimensions - 1) {
         yieldDep();
-      } else if (balance === 0) {
+      }
+
+      if (balance === 0) {
         break;
       }
-    } else if (balance === 2) {
+    } else if (balance === dimensions) {
       if (isSpace(char)) {
         if (!isSpace(prevChar)) {
           vecPos += 1;
@@ -170,20 +174,34 @@ export function extractVariables(content: string): ExtractedVariables {
   return result;
 }
 
+interface CollectDepsOptions {
+  nested: boolean;
+  depType?: string;
+}
+
 function collectDeps(
   content: string,
   key: string,
   registryUrls: string[],
   vars: ExtractedVariables,
+  options: CollectDepsOptions = {
+    nested: true,
+  },
 ): PackageDependency[] {
   const ctx = {
-    depType: key,
+    depType: options.depType ?? key,
     registryUrls,
   };
+  // A vector like [["dep-1" "1.0.0"] ["dep-2" "0.0.0"]] is nested
+  // A vector like ["dep-1" "1.0.0"] is not
+  const dimensions = options.nested ? 2 : 1;
   let result: PackageDependency[] = [];
   let restContent = trimAtKey(content, key);
   while (restContent) {
-    result = [...result, ...extractFromVectors(restContent, ctx, vars)];
+    result = [
+      ...result,
+      ...extractFromVectors(restContent, ctx, vars, dimensions),
+    ];
     restContent = trimAtKey(restContent, key);
   }
   return result;
@@ -198,6 +216,19 @@ export function extractPackageFile(content: string): PackageFileContent {
     ...collectDeps(content, 'managed-dependencies', registryUrls, vars),
     ...collectDeps(content, 'plugins', registryUrls, vars),
     ...collectDeps(content, 'pom-plugins', registryUrls, vars),
+    // 'coords' is used in lein parent, and specifies zero or one
+    // dependencies. These are not wrapped in a vector in the way other
+    // dependencies are. The project.clj fragment looks like
+    //
+    // :parent-project {... :coords ["parent" "version"] ...}
+    //
+    // - https://github.com/achin/lein-parent
+    ...collectDeps(content, 'coords', registryUrls, vars, {
+      nested: false,
+      // The top-level key is 'parent-project', but we skip directly to 'coords'.
+      // So fix the dep type label
+      depType: 'parent-project',
+    }),
   ];
 
   return { deps };