Minneapolis dethroned as city with best parks system in country

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Minneapolis has been dethroned as the city with the best parks system in the country. 

When it came to the best parks in the country, Minneapolis had been king of the hill for the past six years. 

But, in this year’s ranking by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, Washington, D.C. has taken the top spot, with St. Paul coming in second and Minneapolis third.   

When you break it down, St. Paul has 264 parks and Minneapolis has 266, with more acreage. However, according to the park score index, it is not only about how many parks a city has. Instead, the ranking is based on "four criteria of an effect park system," including access, investment, acreage and amenities. 

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul devote 15 percent of its land for parks and recreation, which matches the national median. 

Minneapolis did not fare as well in the amenities ranking, scoring 67.5 out of 100 compared to St. Paul’s score of 80. The study knocked Minneapolis for a lack of splash pads, dog parks and basketball hoops.

According to the data, Minneapolis dropped in the rankings as access to parks in the city also fell, with more and more people on the city’s north and northeast sides are living farther away from a park. 

Ninety-eight percent of St. Paul residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

The Trust for Public Land ranks over 14,000 cities across the country. You can see how your city compares here.