With July being National Parks and Recreation Month and 7 out of 10 Americans now leaving their homes on an average day thanks to the COVID-19 vaccine, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s Best & Worst Cities for Recreation, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary.
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.
| Best Cities for Recreation | Worst Cities for Recreation |
| 1. Orlando, FL | 91. Fremont, CA |
| 2. Las Vegas, NV | 92. Hialeah, FL |
| 3. San Diego, CA | 93. Newark, NJ |
| 4. Cincinnati, OH | 94. Jersey City, NJ |
| 5. Tampa, FL | 95. Irving, TX |
| 6. Honolulu, HI | 96. Fort Wayne, IN |
| 7. Atlanta, GA | 97. Chula Vista, CA |
| 8. Albuquerque, NM | 98. Garland, TX |
| 9. St. Louis, MO | 99. Durham, NC |
| 10. New Orleans, LA | 100. Oakland, 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, 0.664460, which is 13.4 times more than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the fewest at 0.049557.
- San Francisco has the highest spending on parks per capita, $350, which is 18.4 times higher than in Stockton, California, the city with the lowest at $19.
- San Francisco has the most bike rental facilities per square root of the population, 0.051315, which is 42.3 times more than in El Paso, Texas, the city with the fewest at 0.001213.
