WalletHub Study: 2015’s Best & Worst Cities for Recreation

With July being National Park and Recreation Month and America’s largest cities investing more than $6.4 billion on park and recreation in 2014, the leading personal finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2015’s Best & Worst Cities for Recreation.To highlight the benefit of public spaces and recreational activities to consumers and the local economy, WalletHub compared the 100 largest U.S. cities across 27 key metrics. The data set ranges from parkland acreage to the number of attractions to average movie cost.

 

	Best Cities for Recreation			Worst Cities for Recreation
	1	Cincinnati, OH		91	Anaheim, CA
	2	Omaha, NE		92	Garland, TX
	3	Scottsdale, AZ		93	Fremont, CA
	4	Tampa, FL		94	North Las Vegas, NV
	5	Boise City, ID		95	Chula Vista, CA
	6	Orlando, FL		96	Hialeah, FL
	7	Minneapolis, MN		97	Laredo, TX
	8	St. Louis, MO		98	Irving, TX
	9	Reno, NV		99	Newark, NJ
	10	Denver, CO		100	Jersey City, NJ

Key Stats 

• Madison, Wis., has 14 times as many park playgrounds per 100,000 residents as Hialeah, Fla.
• The percentage of the population with walkable park access is 4 times higher in San Francisco than in Charlotte, N.C.
• Washington spends 100 times more on parks per capita than Hialeah, Fla.
• Seattle has 46 times as many coffee shops per 100,000 residents as Laredo, Texas.
• The number of bike rental facilities per 100,000 residents is 28 times higher in San Francisco than in Tulsa, Okla.