Cincinnati Ranks Top 10 in the Nation for Parks

Cincinnati remains top 10 for parks in the nation for the 11th straight year. The annual ranking by Trust for Public Land (TPL), an independent park policy organization, uses various data sets to evaluate the largest 100 US cities for the quality and availability of public park spaces. Their analysis found that 91% of Cincinnati’s 314,915 residents live within a 10-minute walk of a public greenspace. Additionally, TPL found that 17.1% (8,397 acres) of Cincinnati’s total area are parklands. 

This technical evaluation is broken into 5 categories: access, acreage, investment, amenities, and equity in access to public green space based upon race and income. In the review, Cincinnati received an exceptional score of 99 out of 100 points for amenities, which reviews things like basketball hoops, dog parks, playgrounds, and restrooms. In terms of equity, the TPL found 91% of low-income households are within a 10-minute walk of a park. The analysis also determined that Cincinnati invests in its parks with a total annual investment of $81.3 million, equating to $259 per resident.

This detailed and comprehensive data based ranking helps us continue to try and get better year after year at providing awesome outdoor parks and recreation spaces for citizens to enjoy. This is why Cincinnati Parks is excited to have independent organizations such as TPL validate what we already believe. Cincinnati’s parks rock!

The ranking includes parks and greenspaces in Cincinnati managed by the Cincinnati Park Board as well as the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, Cincinnati Public Schools, and the Hillside Trust. Cincinnati Parks is grateful to have had their collaboration and partnership throughout the evaluation process.  Successful public green spaces in Cincinnati are only possible with strong support from the Mayor, City Council, City Manager, many partner agencies such as the Cincinnati Parks Foundation, the primary  philanthropic partner to Cincinnati Parks, and of course all of the park users and volunteers who spend thousands of ours making our parks the best they can be.

Parks have a long and distinguished tradition in Cincinnati. The city is fortunate to have a robust and thriving system of parks dating back to the 1860’s with the development of Washington, Hopkins and Eden and Piatt Parks’. In 1907, George Kessler, Landscape Architect created Cincinnati’s first park master plan to lift the city out of the dirty environment created by the Industrial Revolution. As a result, many have described Cincinnati as being created as a city within a park.

Today, Cincinnati’s Parks consists of 5,000-plus acres of city parklands including 8 regional parks, 70 neighborhood parks, 34 natural areas, 6 neighborhood nature centers, 30 sites managed by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, 5 parkways, 16 scenic overlooks, 2 arboretums and 65 miles of hiking and bridle trails.

The complete Trust for Public Land rankings may be found here.

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