What makes a city a great place for recreation?
According to personal financial website WalletHub, the best cities “have a wide range of leisure activities, both indoor and outdoor. Those activities require varying levels of exercise and contribute to a city’s overall well-being and economy.”
To highlight the benefits of recreational activities for consumers and economies across the country, WalletHub compared the 100 largest U.S. cities across 48 key indicators of recreation-friendliness. For each city, we examined the accessibility of entertainment and recreational facilities, the quality of parks and the weather.
Source: WalletHub
| Best Cities for Recreation | Worst Cities for Recreation |
| 1. Las Vegas, NV | 91. Indianapolis, IN |
| 2. Orlando, FL | 92. Aurora, CO |
| 3. Tampa, FL | 93. Hialeah, FL |
| 4. Cincinnati, OH | 94. Fort Wayne, IN |
| 5. Atlanta, GA | 95. Jersey City, NJ |
| 6. Scottsdale, AZ | 96. Oakland, CA |
| 7. San Diego, CA | 97. Irving, TX |
| 8. Honolulu, HI | 98. Durham, NC |
| 9. St. Louis, MO | 99. Newark, NJ |
| 10. Chicago, IL | 100. Chula Vista, CA |
Best vs. Worst
- San Francisco and Boston have the highest share of the population with walkable park access, 100 percent, which is 3.1 times higher than in Indianapolis, the city with the lowest at 32 percent.
- New York has the most playgrounds per square root of the population, 0.660085, which is 13 times more than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the fewest at 0.050668.
- San Francisco has the highest spending on parks per capita, $515, which is 15.6 times higher than in Jersey City, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at $33.
- San Francisco has the most bike rental facilities per square root of the population, 0.049433, which is 35 times more than in Kansas City, Missouri, the city with the fewest at 0.001411.
