Minneapolis, St. Paul drop in nationwide park rankings
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Minneapolis and St. Paul lost ground in the latest national park rankings, but not because their green spaces got worse.
State of play: Minneapolis dropped to third (from second) and St. Paul moved to fifth (from third) in the 2025 ParkScore index, an annual ranking from the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a pro-park nonprofit.
How it works: The report ranks the 100 most populous U.S. cities' park systems relative to one another based on five categories: acreage, access, amenities, investment and equity.
- Both Minneapolis and St. Paul performed well above the national average on those marks.
Between the lines: Makers of the score said the backslide was due to improvements in two other cities that made the top five, not negative changes to local parks here.
The silver lining: Some 99% of residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul live within a 10-minute walk to a park, TPL says. Nationally, the figure is just 76%.
The bottom line: Washington, D.C., remains the system to beat, after claiming the top spot for a fifth consecutive year.