Arlington Ranks As 5th Most Dog Park-Friendly In The U.S.: Report

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County ranked as the fifth-best city in the U.S. for its dog parks in 2023, up from its ranking as 14th best a year ago, according to a new report by LawnStarter.

Among the key metrics used by LawnStarter, Arlington ranked fourth for the number of top-rated dog parks, eighth for the number of dog parks per 100,000 residents, and 44th for the number of very hot days.

Boise, Idaho, came in at No. 1 in LawnStarter’s "2023 Best Dog Park Cities" list, followed by San Francisco at No. 2, Henderson, Nevada, in the third spot and Tampa in fourth.

“We compared 98 of the biggest U.S. cities based on Access, Quality, and Climate,” LawnStarter said in the report. “More specifically, we factored in the number of dog parks per 100,000 two-legged residents, visitor ratings, and historical weather data, among eight total metrics.”

LawnStarter is a website that provides information on the top lawn care providers in areas across the country.

Other Virginia cities on the list were Norfolk, which ranked as the 10th best city for dog parks, followed by Virginia Beach in 54th place, Chesapeake in 66th place and Richmond at 81st.

According to the report, the U.S. cities with the fewest number of dog parks per 100,000 residents were Cleveland, Newark, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Garland, Texas, and Fort Worth, Texas. The cities with the lowest average rating for dog parks were Oakland, California, Santa Clarita, California, San Jose, California, Cleveland and Kansas City, Missouri.

Arlington has 10 official dog parks, including Fort Ethan Allen Dog Park in the northern part of the county, Benjamin Banneker Park in the western part, Shirlington Dog Park in the southern part and James Hunter Dog Park in Clarendon.