These cities have America's best parks
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Washington, D.C.; Irvine, Calif.; and Minneapolis, Minn. have the country's best city park systems, per the Trust for Public Land's new rankings.
- TPL's annual report ranks the 100 most populous U.S. cities' park systems relative to one another based on five categories: access, acreage, amenities, equity, and investment.
Driving the news: D.C. once again took home top honors thanks to its high scores for investment and access, with nearly all residents within a 10-minute walk of a park.
- It's now been in the top spot for six years running.
- Chicago is back in the top 10, "pulling narrowly ahead of Denver on increased investment and several creative park projects, such as converting a vacant lot into a community plaza and roller rink."
Zoom in: Texas is a bright spot, too.
- Irving, a Dallas suburb, rose 28 spots in the rankings from last year. Ft. Worth rose 14 spots, while Austin and Frisco are both up 7 spots.
- TPL credits Texas' gains to new parks and big investments, plus agreements letting people use school playgrounds and ballfields after hours and on the weekend.
Yes, but: Cities' inflation-adjusted parks and rec spending rose just 2% in fiscal 2025, TPL found, down from 7-8% in each of the prior two years.
- That comes as pandemic-era federal aid is running dry, straining cities' budgets.
What they're saying: "For all of us that love parks and know parks and know green space, and how important it is to health and mental health and kids and all those things, it is concerning to us, and it's counter to public sentiment around parks and green space," TPL president and CEO Carrie Besnette Hauser tells Axios.
- Parks return $3 in economic benefit for every $1 invested, Besnette Hauser adds, pointing to new TPL research accompanying this year's report.
The intrigue: President Trump has been busy making over D.C. in his own image, including big changes and repairs at local parks.
- Some of that work — including an effort to repaint the Reflecting Pool — has been controversial with locals, historians and Trump critics.
The bottom line: Parks are "places of real joy," Besnette Hauser says — adding that their green spaces, trails and benches give us all a chance to meet and connect with different kinds of people.
- "Parks bring us together in a world and a society right now, in a country that is so — people are so at odds with each other."
