Photo by James0806

Residents of D.C. enjoy the sixth-best network of parks, as ranked by the Trust for Public Land. With 7,679 acres of parkland throughout the city, the trust’s annual scoring found that 96 percent of residents live within half a mile of a park.

Minneapolis was first overall, followed by New York, and a three-way tie between Boston, San Francisco, and Sacramento, Calif. Befitting D.C.’s relatively minuscule geography, though, parks here are on average the smallest in the nation at just 0.67 acres. There are, of course, plenty of large parks, such as Rock Creek Park, which at 1,754 acres accounts for 23 percent of all park space in the District.

D.C. also rated highly in proximity to parks regardless of household income. According to a map included in the annual ParkScore report, only a few neighborhoods in Washington are considered to have a “high” or “very high” need for immediate park access. Mayor Vince Gray’s budget for the 2014 fiscal year includes $50 million to construct a series of new parks in NoMa.

The Trust for Public Land also found that D.C. has 1.7 playgrounds for every 10,000 residents. The District government is currently renovating many of those spaces as part of a $35 million program.

However, there is one very important detail to consider when reviewing D.C.’s park space. Almost all of it—6,776 acres, or 88 percent—is controlled by the National Park Service, with only 668 acres controlled by the city itself.