Here’s How Tucson Ranks For Park Systems In 2020

TUCSON — Tucson is home to the 84 best park system out of the 100 largest cities in the United States, according to a new ranking released Wednesday by The Trust for Public Land.

The nonprofit organization released the rankings as state and federal leaders continue to reopen parks and green spaces across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s what the authors found for our city, which has a total of 224 parks.

• Percent of Tucson residents who live within a 10-minute walk of a park: 63 (national average is 55 percent)
• Percent of Tucson’s land that is used for parks and recreation: 3 (national median is 15 percent)
• Tucson has 4.9 basketball hoops per 10,000 people: 74 percentile
• Tucson has 1.4 dog parks per 100,000 people: 66 percentile
• Tucson has 2.7 playgrounds per 10,000 people: 53 percentile

Additionally, here’s how our city ranked in the four characteristics of an “effective park system”:

Access: 44 out of 100
Acreage: 30 out of 100
Investment: 24 out of 100
Amenities: 50 out of 100

The Trust for Public Land reported overall progress for parks in its 2020 rankings but warned that the U.S. park system has reached a crucial period, as coronavirus-related budget cuts could cause lasting damage moving forward.

“Residents deeply value parks, but continued inequity and the risk of future budget cuts threaten severe damage to the park systems that make many cities so livable,” said Diane Regas, president and CEO of The Trust for Public Land, in a news release.

In the 2020 rankings, Minneapolis, Minnesota, reclaimed the honor of the nation’s best park system from Washington, D.C.

The full methodology for the 2020 report is available on the nonprofit’s website.

Here are the top 10 U.S. cities for park systems and their scores:

1. Minneapolis, Minnesota: 85.3
2. Washington, D.C.: 83.3
3. Saint Paul, Minnesota: 82.5
4. Arlington, Virginia: 81.5
5. Cincinnati, Ohio: 80.6
6. Portland, Oregon: 79.8
7. Irvine, California: 79.6
8. San Francisco, California: 78.9
9. Boston, Massachusetts: 76.5
10. Chicago, Illinois: 76.0