2019 ParkScore Rankings Now Available

Washington, D.C. has the highest ParkScore among the 100 largest U.S. cities, according to an annual ranking announced today by the Trust for Public Land (TPL).

The rankings combine U.S. Census data with a TPL database of local parks and ESRI's 2018 Demographic forecasts to score cities, towns, and communities on how well they provide needed parks. The TPL website provides much more detail about the methodology of the rankings.

The complete top ten in the ParkScore rankings reads as follows:

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

The 2019 rankings only differed slightly from the 2018 rankings, when Minneapolis and St. Paul finished first and second, respectively.

Local media outlets have already been picking up the story. Here's a roundup of what we found on the morning of the new ParkScore rankings' announcement.

• Seattle Scores 11th in Nation for 2019 ParkScore Index (The Urbanist)
• D.C. has the nation’s best park system, study says. Arlington isn’t far behind. (The Washington Post)
• All Boston residents live within roughly half a mile of a park, report says (Curbed Boston)