Photo by Jim Havard
Dropping one spot from where the city landed for the past two years, D.C. is fourth on a list that ranks 100 U.S. cities based on its parkland, recreational activities, and more.
Arlington, which debuted on the list last year in fourth place, also dropped—to sixth place—on the Trust for Public Land’s annual analysis known as the ParkScore.
Minneapolis and Saint Paul continue to hold down their first and second places, respectively. San Francisco swiped the District’s bronze medal, and Portland, Oregon rounded out the top five.
The D.C. region also recently fell on an annual list of the country’s most fit metropolitan areas—Minneapolis topped that list, as well.
As far as parks go, the Trust for Public Land points out in a release that D.C. and Arlington didn’t alter their amenities; instead, San Francisco and Portland made enough improvements to bump them up.
The ParkScores are based on residents’ access to parks, the sizes of parks, and the abundance of amenities like basketball hoops, off-leash dog parks, playgrounds, and recreation and senior centers.
D.C. and Arlington’s scores fare well in most of these areas.
Like last year, the index shows that 97 percent of Washingtonians are within a 10-minute walk of a park. According to another report released last year, areas that lie east of the Anacostia River still have a significant need for safe and affordable place to engage in physical activity.
On the Parkscore scale, the District also got high marks for investment—officials spend about $270 per resident on park amenities and reserve 22 percent of the city’s land for parks.
And for every 10,000 residents, D.C. has 4 basketball hoops, 1.8 playgrounds, and 1.7 dog parks—plus, the city has 2.3 recreation and senior centers for every 20,000 residents.
Meanwhile in Arlington, where 98 percent of residents are within a 10-minute walk of a park, the city only reserves 11 percent of the area for parks, which the trust says is above the national average of nine percent, “but considerably behind” the Twin Cities and D.C.
But Arlington got higher marks than D.C. for playgrounds (4.6 per 10,000 residents) and dog parks (100,000 Residents: 3.5), and about the same numbers for basketball hoops.
