Whether it’s a gorgeous, sunny summer day or you’re all bundled up hiding from the winter’s chill, New York City’s parks provide us with the most welcomed escape from the hustle and bustle of every day life in the city. From serving as the perfect place for a picnic to offering up the most amazing waterfront views, the refuge the city’s parks provide us with can’t be overlooked.
So, naturally, we weren’t that surprised when we saw, according to the Trust for Public Land–a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors–that NYC made the top 10 list of cities in the U.S. with the best parks.
The ranking compared park systems across the 100 most populated cities in the U.S. based on five factors:
- Access – The portion of residents within a 10-minute walk of the park
- Acreage – Median park size and percent of city dedicated to parks
- Investment – 3-year average of all public and private spending
- Amenities – 6 popular features, such as basketball hoops and dog parks, that appeal to a diverse selection of users
- Equity – Distribution of parks and park space between neighborhoods by race and income
Here’s how NYC sized up in these five categories:
NYC’s overall score of 72.7/100 points placed it in the 10th spot in the ranking.
99% of NYC residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park, which is 25% higher than the median city in the ranking, where only 74% of residents live that close.
As for what amenities park goers can expect, NYC parks offer the following:
- Basketball hoops – 57/100pts
- Dog parks – 66/100pts
- Playgrounds – 27/100pts
- Bathrooms – 25/100pts
- Rec & Senior Centers – 11/100pts
- Splashpads – 100/100pts
Though for the city’s 2346 parks overall, park investment did drop to $199 per person this year, as compared to $209 per person in 2022.
We’re not the only ones with great parks though!
Some of our friends also made the list, including those over in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston, who we actually tied with!
You can read the full ranking here.