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US Cities With the Best Public Parks

DC is No. 1 in annual ranking
Posted May 24, 2026 9:20 AM CDT
US Cities With the Best Public Parks
   (Getty/andrbk)

The Trust for Public Land is out with its annual ranking of park systems around the US, and it tags Washington, DC, as a repeat champ. One big reason is that 99% of residents live within 10 minutes of a public park. Access is a big factor in the ratings, along with others such as acreage, investment, and amenities. Here are the top and bottom performers in the ranking of the nation's most populous cities:

  1. Washington, DC
  2. Irvine, California
  3. Minneapolis, Minnesota
  4. St. Paul, Minnesota
  5. Cincinnati, Ohio
  6. San Francisco, California
  7. Arlington, Virginia
  8. Seattle, Washington
  9. Portland, Oregon
  10. Chicago, Illinois

The bottom 10:

  1. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
  2. Bakersfield, California
  3. Chandler, Arizona
  4. Mesa, Arizona
  5. Los Angeles, California
  6. Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky
  7. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  8. Lubbock, Texas
  9. Glendale, Arizona
  10. Durham, North Carolina
See the full list and methodology, along with details on particular cities.

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