Cities Offering the Most Public Parkland Per Household

As the closest East Bay city to Silicon Valley, Fremont is home to tens of thousands of professionals in science, education and manufacturing industries, who have every reason to brag about their spacious “backyard.” Each household in Fremont has a share of 0.34 acres of public parkland, or around 15,000 square feet. To put that in perspective, a college basketball court is usually 5,000 square feet.

• 2. New Orleans, La.

  Adjusted City Area: 107,655 acres

• Parkland: 27,208 acres
• Number of households: 152,788
• Parkland per 1,000 households: 178.1 acres

Outside of museums, music and coffee, historic New Orleans is also blessed with beautiful grand parks–at least a quarter of the city is covered with green space. New Orleans’ most popular public parks include Louis Armstrong Park, Palmer Park, Audubon Park, Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge (the country’s sixth largest park), and City Park (the nation’s sixth oldest). Aside from common activities like boating, fishing, kayaking, and biking, City Park also offers space people can reserve to hold weddings and throw birthday parties, and the New Orleans Museum of Art, Botanical Garden, and Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden are located inside its bounds. Public parkland for each household is about 0.18 acres, or nearly 7,800 square feet.

• 3. El Paso, Texas

  Adjusted City Area: 159,763 acres

• Parkland: 29,767 acres
• Number of households: 218,127
• Parkland per 1,000 households: 136.5 acres

Coming in third, El Paso is home to the nation’s largest urban park, Franklin Mountains State Park. The Franklin Mountains State Park takes up 26,627 acres, all within El Paso’s city limits. The plan to create a park out of the Franklin Mountains started in 1970s, and finally came to fruition in 1987. Needless to say, El Paso is a paradise for hikers. Instead of driving long hours to a hiking site, residents of El Paso can easily have some fun with their friends in the city park.

• 4. Henderson, Nev.

  Adjusted City Area: 68,542 acres

• Parkland: 14,558 acres
• Number of households: 107,007
• Parkland per 1,000 households: 136.0 acres

The city of Henderson does a better job in livability than its world-famous neighbor Las Vegas, thanks to its 64 public parks. Outside of some common features like open lawns, playgrounds and walking courses, Henderson also offers skate parks, dog parks, splash pads and lighted sport areas to the public. Some of the local favorites include Acacia Park, Acacia Demonstration Gardens, and Hidden Falls Park–and don’t forget those spraying jets in Reunion Trails Park and Mission Hills Park!

• 5. Albuquerque, N.M.

  Adjusted City Area: 116,051 acres

• Parkland: 27,463 acres
• Number of households: 219,867
• Parkland per 1,000 households: 124.9 acres

As the most populous city in the state of New Mexico, Albuquerque provides its residents with rich resources in public park land–the city’s Park Management Division has more than 287 park sites under its management.
The Albuquerque Bio Park, one of the local favorites, is located a few minutes from downtown. A great place for families, the Bio Park complex includes a botanical garden, zoo, and aquarium. Certain areas of the park are open to schools and students for summer camps and class field trips. The Balloon Fiesta Park hosts the famous Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta every year, and other special events such as model aircraft flying, movie productions, and car shows. In addition, Albuquerque city officials have announced that an additional 12,000-square-foot pavilion inside Balloon Fiesta Park will be open by this winter.

The parkland per household is about 5,200 square feet in Albuquerque.