Atlanta ranks top 25 in annual ParkScore rankings

Atlanta achieved its highest annual ParkScore to date in 2024, ranking 25th out of the 100 largest U.S. cities in the Trust for Public Land annual park ranking index.

This is a jump of three places from last year, when Atlanta ranked 28th. The city has experienced a meteoric rise since 2016, when it ranked 51st out of 100.

The annual ParkScore index ranks park systems in the 100 most populous U.S. cities based on five factors: access, equity, acreage, investment and amenities. The ten highest-ranked cities in the United States are Washington, DC; Minneapolis, Minn.; St. Paul, Minnesota; Irvine, California; Arlington, Virginia; Seattle, WA; San Francisco, California; Cincinnati, Ohio; Portland, Oregon and Chicago, Illinois.

Atlanta’s good ratings come in part from its park access. 79 percent of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park, which is five percent more than the national median. The city also ranks high in spending on parks: at $249 per capita, it invests double the national average.

George Dusenbury, Georgia state director and southern region vice president of Trust for Public Land, said this score will make Atlanta’s continued growth viable.

“Atlanta continues to be one of the fastest growing cities in America, and I think its improvement in the ParkScore speaks to its appeal as a place where people come to live,” Dusenbury said.

Park Pride executive director Michael Halicki said he was “thrilled” with the rankings, but now is “not the time to take our foot off the gas.” As leader of the city’s nonprofit dedicated to improving parks, he used the annual score to request a budget of $51.8 million for fiscal year 2025, an increase of several million compared to last year for the Ministry of Parks and Recreation.

“We must continue to rise and do our best to create a world-class parks system,” Halicki said. “We should do this for the economic competitiveness of our region, attracting top talent and capital to our city; we should do this for our residents; we should do this for the next generation.

Halicki pointed out that while Atlanta ranks well in some areas, it has “room to grow” in others, like equity and square footage. He also said the 100/100 investment ranking is excellent, but is due in part to significant philanthropic contributions.

About 21 percent of investment in Atlanta’s parks is due to private donations, compared to a national average of 5 percent. Halicki said the trust has changed its ranking methodology in recent years — previously the organization did not count philanthropic contributions and Atlanta stood at 51 out of 100.

However, Atlanta increased taxes in 2023 to dedicate more funds to maintaining the park — a move that increased funds by $10 million to $12 million.

He also highlighted Atlanta’s lower categories of equity and square footage. Only six percent of the city’s land area has been dedicated to parks, and the 457 existing parks have a median size of 2.9 acres, compared to the national average of 5.4.

Dusenbury said the biggest opportunity for improvement lies in the amount of land in the park, and he hopes the city’s continued land allocation will solve that problem. The city is on pace to reach 5,000 park acres by this year, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens aims to increase that number to 7,000 by 2030.

Dusenbury also hopes to see more collaboration with parks. He hopes to continue the national Park Pride Community School Yards initiative in Atlanta, which would have school parks serve as educational spaces during the day but become community recreation spaces outside of school hours.

So far, the city has eight community schoolyards and six more are under construction.

With the release of the annual ParkScore, park leaders are already considering improvements for the coming year.

“Aligning parks and equity is our mandate from this study,” Halicki said.

Executive Director Halicki also said he would like to incorporate more robust equipment into existing parks. Atlanta ranked 60th out of 100 in the ParkScore index. Halicki said that when Atlanta residents were surveyed for the 2022 park master plan, one of the top requests was for public restrooms.

“Bathrooms are one of those things that everyone wants, but no one wants to talk about,” Halicki said.

He also highlighted “more creative ideas” for creating resilient parks in different Atlanta communities, such as splash pads and water features to combat extreme heat. He hopes ParkScoore will focus on equity, acreage and resiliency.

“There are a lot of good ideas that this helps strengthen,” Halicki said.

Along with the annual rating list, the Trust for Public Land released new research titled “The Power of Parks to Strengthen Community.” Using 900 examples of municipal leaders across the country, the study found that residents of cities ranked in the top quarter of the index are 60 percent more likely to volunteer than residents of lower-ranked cities. High-status urban residents are also 26% more likely to form friendships with people from different socioeconomic groups.

“Park leaders are stepping up to promote community connections and combat the national epidemic of loneliness and social isolation,” said Diane Regas, president and CEO of the Trust for Public Land.

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