2010 City Park Facts Report

The total area covered by urban parkland in the United States exceeds one million acres, with parks ranging in size from the jewel-like 1.7-acre Post Office Square in Boston to the gargantuan 490,125-acre Chugach State Park in Anchorage. And their usage dwarfs that of the national parks—the most popular major parks, such as Lincoln Park in Chicago receive upwards of 20 million users each year, and New York's Central Park gets about 25 million visits annually—more than five times as many to the Grand Canyon.

Some cities have plenty of parkland that's well distributed around town; others have enough land but an inequitable distribution; others are short of even a basic amount of park space for their citizens.

Through an annual survey, the Center for City Park Excellence maintains the nation's most complete database of park facts for the largest 85 U.S. cities. With the help of CCPE data, you can see how your city compares to others. City Park Facts was supported through a grant from PlayCore, a Chattanooga-based company that promotes the value of play through a variety of educational programs.

Individual reports—including some not in the full report—are available as related content. Please refer to the Population Density Classes document for explanations of the population density classes used in the reports and the different classifications.

Related Files

CityParkFacts_2010 Download
City Park Facts 2010-Population-Density-Classes Download
City Park Facts Acreage_and_Employees_Data_2010 Download
City Park Facts 2010-Facilities_Reports Download
City Park Facts 2010 Spending_Reports Download
City Park Facts 2010: Largest, Oldest, and Most Visited Parks Download