Take in the View at Smale Riverfront Park 166 W. Mehring Way, The Banks You can’t be a Cincinnati tourist if you don’t stop to look at one of our most iconic landmarks: the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge. While it’s true the best view of the bridge is from Covington with Cincinnati’s skyline in the background, Smale Riverfront Park offers stunning views of the bridge, plus a whole lot more. Recently voted one of the top five riverwalks in the country in USA Today’s 10Best, Smale connects downtown from Paul Brown Stadium to Great American Ball Park with 45 acres of greenway. The park features public art, interactive fountains, playgrounds and giant swing sets that give a hell of a view of the Ohio River. Not only that, but you can walk or bike the paved trail from Smale through Sawyer Point, Yeatman’s Cove and down to Montgomery Inn and Friendship Park, or over the Purple People Bridge into Newport, all without getting near a car. And at Smale, you’re near all the fun The Banks has to offer, like the Andrew J Brady Music Center, Carol Ann’s Carousel, The Banks’ DORA (designated outdoor refreshment area) and quality Cincinnati establishments like Moerlein Lager House, E+O Kitchen and The Filson. Photo: Scott Dittgen

Cincinnati has some pretty amazing parks, according to a new national index report.

Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit focused on connecting people to the outdoors, released its annual ParkScore index this week. The report measures factors like park investment, park access and park amenities among the 100 most populous cities in the United States, and it’s widely considered the gold standard in evaluating parks.

On the list, Cincinnati ranked No. 4, jumping from its place at No. 8 in 2024 and matching its all-time-high ranking first set in 2022. In a score out of 100, Cincinnati received an 82, falling just behind third-place Minneapolis (83.6); second-place Irvine, California (84.3); and first-place Washington, D.C. (85.5).

To come up with these rankings, Trust for Public Land looks at five main metrics:

  • Park access: The percentage of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park
  • Park equity: Compares per capita park space and 10-minute-walk park access in communities of color versus white communities and in low-income neighborhoods versus high-income neighborhoods
  • Park acreage: A city’s median park size and the percentage of city area dedicated to park space
  • Park investment: Park spending per resident
  • Park amenities: The availability of seven popular park features — basketball hoops, off-leash dog parks, playgrounds, splashpads and other water-play structures, sports fields, recreation and senior centers and restrooms

Over the last 11 years, Cincinnati has consecutively ranked in the top 10 on the index. According to ParkScore, Cincinnati’s four-spot jump this year over last’s can be attributed to improvements to park access to places like schoolyards and other open spaces, as well as park investment, including the $5-million renovation of Lytle Park downtown.

Overall, access to parks is very high in Cincinnati, with 91% of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park — up from 87% last year and above the 76% national average. Cincinnati also received high marks in amenities, ranking as a national leader in access to sports fields and playgrounds. In terms of investment, the city spent $239 per person on its park system this year, up from $190 last year and much more than the national average of $133 per person.

To figure out these metrics, ParkScore uses advanced geographic information systems (GIS), as well as spatial analysis to help evaluate accessibility. So, instead of measuring distance to a local park, the GIS technology considers park entrance locations and physical obstacles that could hinder access, like a major highway.

Along with the annual ratings list, Trust for Public Land also released new public opinion research that shows U.S. residents across demographics and ideological lines value public parks and access them frequently. The survey, National Survey on Outdoor Public Spaces, conducted by pollster YouGov in March, is included in a special research report, Parks, The Great Unifiers, which shows how four major U.S. cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Colorado Springs and Fort Worth) have invested in their parks to strengthen communities and bring people together.

This research also found that 89% of ParkScore city residents visited a park at least once in the past year, and 79% said they visited a local park regularly and feel comfortable spending time there. Two-thirds of respondents also said they started a conversation in a public park with a person they didn’t know previously.

“Parks bring people together and deliver enormous physical and mental health benefits for visitors,” Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser, president and CEO of Trust for Public Land, said in a press release. “At a time when so much in our nation seems fractured or polarized, parks may be the last ideology-free zones, where everyone can come together, form meaningful relationships, and enjoy a few hours of peace and relaxation. At Trust for Public Land, we will continue to work with park departments and leaders at all levels of government to realize the full community-building potential for parks.”

You can find the full 2025 ParkScore index report here.

This article appears in May 14-27, 2025.

Katherine Barrier is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s journalism program and has nearly 10 years of experience reporting local and national news as a digital journalist. At CityBeat, she...