Baltimore City ranks 43rd out of 100 in Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore index for 2024. This score is 19 spots lower than 2023’s finish of 29th place.
Washington, D.C. ranked first in the nation, narrowly edging out Minneapolis which landed in 2nd place. The ParkScore index ranks the nation’s 100 most populous cities.
Baltimore City scored highly for park access, with 87% of City residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park. The national ParkScore city average was 76%.
What harmed Baltimore’s ranking was declining levels of park investment. Last year, the city spent $152 per person on parks, and this year it spends $132 per person. It is still spending above the national ParkScore city average of $124 per person.
Two developments in local parks for 2024 include a new park in South Baltimore, which is named after the late U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings. Elijah’s Park is part of Baltimore Peninsula, and the 28,000-square-foot park is one of two new city parks that honor Cummings.
Another investment comes at Druid Hill Park, where Druid Park Lake Drive is getting a safety redesign with the help of $6 million in federal funding to improve access for the neighborhoods surrounding the park.
“Park leaders are stepping up to promote community connection and address the national epidemic of loneliness and social isolation,” said Diane Regas, President and CEO of Trust for Public Land. “By mixing tried and true strategies like fitness classes and sports leagues with innovative ideas like intergenerational storytime, where senior volunteers share their favorite books with children, cities are finding creative ways to bring people together and strengthen community bonds. We’re impressed by what we’ve seen this year, and we will continue working with cities throughout the United States to support park access for all.”
This year was Washington, DC’s fourth year atop the ParkScore Index as the best big-city park system in the United States. Twenty-four percent of land in the District of Columbia is reserved for parks.
According to Trust for Public Land, the 10 highest-ranking park systems in the United States are:
Rank City ParkScore (Max 100) 1. Washington, DC 84.8 2. Minneapolis, MN 82.5 3. St. Paul, MN 81.6 4. Irvine, CA 80.1 5. Arlington, VA 79.2 6. Seattle, WA 77.4 7. San Francisco, CA 76.5 8. Cincinnati, OH 75.8 9. Portland, OR 74.0 10. Chicago, IL 71.8
