Which U.S. city is top dog for dog parks?

By Trust for Public Land
Published March 21, 2019

Which U.S. city is top dog for dog parks?

Here’s a trend that ought to set some tails wagging: since The Trust for Public Land first started keeping track in 2009, the number of dedicated dog parks in the United States has grown by over 70 percent. Today, 810 dog parks are scattered around the 100 largest cities.

One of our favorites is Potso Park in Tigard, Oregon, where dogs and their people love to gather for all kinds of off-leash adventures. When the field was threatened by development back in 2010, we helped mobilize support for a park bond measure to fund the city’s purchase of the land for the public.

Since then, the city’s parks department has since upgraded Potso with improved fencing and gates, so that Tigard’s 9,200 pups can play safely any day of the week.

If you live in one of the 100 largest U.S. cities, you’ll find your home turf on our newly released dog park rankings (just in time for National Puppy Day this Saturday). Here’s a sneak peak at the top 10 cities for dog parks:

  1. Boise, Idaho
  2. Portland, Oregon
  3. Henderson, Nevada
  4. Norfolk, Virginia
  5. San Francisco, California
  6. Tampa, Florida
  7. Las Vegas, Nevada
  8. Madison, Wisconsin
  9. Oakland, California
  10. Arlington, Virginia

Check out tpl.org/dogparks to see where your city ranks!

And there’s more where that came from: watch for the release of our 2019 ParkScore® rankings in May, packed with tons of detail about city park systems from coast to coast. We study parks, and work with experts to bring the data to life in your community, because every person (and every pup!) needs a great park within a 10-minute walk of home. 

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