Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Lands in Top 10 Among Large U.S. Cities

The City of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department is wrapping up National Parks and Recreation Month by celebrating a report released earlier this month by WalletHub, which ranks Albuquerque’s parks and recreation offerings among the top 10 of the 100 largest U.S. Cities. The Duke City landed in the 8^th spot, right behind Atlanta, Georgia, and right above St. Louis, Missouri.

For the full report, please click here.

“We know that green spaces and recreational offerings are core to the physical, social, environmental and economic health of our community,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “It is great to see that our investments in making parks safer and more accessible are paying off for folks who live here.”

Cities were compared across 48 key indicators of recreation-friendliness; including the accessibility of facilities, quality of parks, and the weather. Albuquerque landed in the 3^rd spot for quality of parks and the 5^th place spot for percentage of parkland within city limits, also receiving high marks for number of tennis courts and playgrounds per capita.

“It is an honor to have the hard work of our department staff be nationally recognized,” said Dave Simon, Director of Parks and Recreation. “We love making Albuquerque a beautiful place to live.”

Accessibility to parks, recreation facilities and open space were also factored into WalletHub’s ranking. Earlier this year, the Trust for Public Land’s 2021 ParkScore ranking revealed that 90% of Albuquerque Residents now live within a 10-minute walk to one the City’s nearly 300 parks or 29,000 acres of Open Space.