Tietze Park. Photo by Renee Umsted.
Dallas was ranked No. 53 of the 100 most-populous cities in the United States in a recent study on parks.
Cities were classified according to access, investment, acreage, amenities and equity in a 2022 Trust for Public Land study.
Here’s how those terms are defined:
- Access: Portion of residents who live within a 10-minute walk to a park
- Investment: How much is spent on parks per resident
- Acreage: Median park size and percent of area dedicated to parks
- Amenities: Six features that are popular for park users
- Equity: Distribution of parks and park acres according to race and income
A score was assigned to each category for each city. The highest score possible was 100. Here’s how Dallas scored.
- Access: 59
- Investment: 51
- Acreage: 58
- Amenities: 25
- Equity: 67
Among Texas cities, Plano was ranked at No. 15; Austin at No. 39; San Antonio at No. 59; Arlington at No. 68; Houston at No. 70; Fort Worth at No. 86; Garland at No. 91; and Irving at No. 98.
Access and Equity
In Dallas, 73% of residents can walk to a park in 10 minutes. The median for the 100 cities analyzed was 75%.
Access to parks is also consistent across income levels in Dallas, where 75% of residents with high incomes and 72% of residents with middle and low incomes live within a 10-minute walk to a park.
The study also included race in its analysis of access to park space. Predominantly Asian neighborhoods have 17% less access than the city median, whereas Black neighborhoods have 40% more access. Hispanic and Latinx neighbors have 12% less access, and white neighborhoods have 14% more access.
Investment
Dallas spends $109 per person on parks.
Of that, $85 comes from city agencies, $20 comes from private organizations and $4 comes from monetized volunteer hours.
The national average of park spending per capita is $98.
Acreage
In Dallas, 10% of the city land is used for parks and recreation. This is below the median for the 100 most-populous cities, 19%.
Dallas has 471 parks. Use this link to see where they are on a map.
Amenities
Dallas parks have 2.8 basketball hoops per 10,000 people; 0.5 dog parks per 10,000 people; 1.9 playgrounds per 10,000 people; 0.1 bathrooms per 10,000 people; 0.6 recreation and senior centers per 20,000 people; and 1.2 splash pads per 100,000 people.
