2021 Best Park Systems: Irvine Parks Rank High

IRVINE, CA —During the coronavirus pandemic, parks were a valued amenity for many living in Irvine and other U.S. cities. Communities relied on parks for safer exercise and play, and some became makeshift community centers for emergency services such as food distribution, COVID-19 virus testing and vaccination sites.

However, not everyone in the nation’s largest cities had equal access to these shared green spaces, according to this year’s ParkScore Index, recently released by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.

The ParkScore Index compares park systems across the 100 most-populated cities in the United States. Published annually, the index measures park systems according to five categories: access, public investment, amenities, acreage and — new for 2021 — equity.

Beyond the largest 100 cities, the ParkScore index also details park access levels for nearly every city and town in the United States.

The full methodology for the 2021 report is available on the nonprofit’s website.

The purpose of the index is to provide communities with information to help close the park equity gap, according to the Trust For Public Land.

In Orange County, this year’s ranking confirmed what many parkgoers may already know: Our city is home to one of the best park systems in the nation.

In fact, the parks in Irvine ranked 7th among 100 park systems. Overall, our city received a score of 10 out of 100.

Here’s a look at how our city parks scored in each category:

• Access: 83 out of 100
• Acreage: 77 out of 100
• Investment: 91 out of 100
• Amenities: 66 out of 100
• Equity: 64 out of 100

Here are the top 10 U.S. park systems and their overall scores:

1. Washington, D.C.: 84.4
2. St. Paul, Minnesota: 80.0
3. Minneapolis, Minnesota: 79.7
4. Arlington, Virginia: 79.6
5. Chicago, Illinois: 77.2
6. San Francisco, California: 76.3
7. Irvine, California: 76.0
8. Cincinnati, Ohio: 75.9
9. Seattle, Washington: 75.4
10. Portland, Oregon: 75.0

While this year’s ParkScore Index revealed the highest access score in the index’s 10-year history, new collected data shows major disparities in that access, according to the report — disparities that fall largely across racial and economic lines.

In all, about 100 million Americans — including 28 million kids — don’t have access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of home.

On a per-person basis, residents of neighborhoods where most people identify as Black, Hispanic and Latinx, Indigenous and Native American, or Asian American and Pacific Islander have access to about 44 percent less park space than residents of neighborhoods that are predominantly white.

In fact, 70 of the 100 most populated cities have more park acreage per person in predominantly white neighborhoods as compared to neighborhoods where a majority of residents identify as people of color.

Low-income neighborhoods also have less quality park space. On a per-person basis, residents of low-income neighborhoods have access to 42 percent less park space than residents of high-income neighborhoods, this year’s index found.

Irvine parks scored 64 out of 100 in park equity, according to the report.

Washington, D.C., reached the No. 1 spot this year mostly due to park equity, according to the report. In Washington, D.C., someone who identifies as a person of color is equally likely to live within a 10-minute walk of a park as a white resident.

No. 12 Boston and No. 6 San Francisco remain the only ParkScore cities where 100 percent of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park or other public open space.

The park equity disparities are detailed more in Parks and an Equitable Recovery, a supplemental report from the Trust For Public Land.