DC, Arlington Near Top of Public Parks Rankings

It's no secret that Washington, D.C. region has some of the best public parks in the nation, so the only surprise in a recent ranking of the top 100 cities in terms of their public parks was that the District wasn't No. 1.

D.C. came in 3rd and Arlington, Va. came in 4th behind the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota, which were Nos. 1 and 2 on the non-profit Trust for Public Land's 2016 ParkScore city rankings list that was just released.

The ranking system involved analyzing the 100 largest U.S. cities and using mapping technology and demographic data to determine how well each city meets the need for parks. The cities were ranked in three categories: acreage, or what is the total overall park space in a city; investments and amenities, or how much spending there is per resident and what kind of amenities there are at these parks; and access, or what percentage of the population live within a half mile of a public park.

Minneapolis scored an 86.5 to top the list, followed by St. Paul across the Mississippi River at 82.5. Washington, D.C. scored an 81.0, followed by Arlington across the Potomac River at 79.0. West coast cities San Francisco and Portland followed at 5th and 6th.

D.C. was dinged in terms of its median park size, but achieved max scores in parkland as a percent of adjusted city area, percent of residents within a half mile walk, spending per resident and recreation and senior centers per 20,000 residents. Arlington posted similar scores to D.C., but had a lower ranking in parkland percentage and a much higher score for playgrounds per 10,000 residents.

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