Have you ever stopped and wondered how accessible playgrounds there are where you live? Playgrounds are an instrumental part of every childhood, and there are so many ways that playing on one benefits a child’s development. They are not only great for physical development, but playgrounds help a child develop mentally as well. That’s why it’s so crucial to have enough playgrounds available across each U.S. city for children to play on. Which U.S. cities are doing it right when it comes to offering the most playgrounds in their parks? One company that is certainly an advocate of play, aptly named Playground Equipment, “dug into the data” and put together this colorful map that highlights the cities with the most playgrounds per capita. Using data from the Trust for Public Land (TPL), they found the total number of park playgrounds in fifty cities across the U.S. and determined the ratio of park playgrounds for every 10,000 people that live in the city.
A quick look at the map will show you that cities along the Rust Belt and the West Coast were found to have the highest rates of playgrounds. Madison, WI and Cincinnati, OH were the two clear leaders among all of the U.S. cities included in the study. Madison came out on top with a healthy ratio of 6.71 playgrounds per 10,000 people. Cincinnati wasn’t far behind in second with a ratio of 6.12 playgrounds. Plano, Texas sits at the bottom of the list with a ratio of 2.71 playgrounds per 10,000 people. Plano and Madison have similar sized populations of almost three-hundred thousand people but Plano’s 69 park playgrounds only make up a third of the 189 park playgrounds that the city of Madison has to offer. How many playgrounds are there where you live? If your city isn’t on the list, check out the TPL report to see how play-friendly your city really is!
