2024’s Best Cities for Children’s Playgrounds

A young boy smiles while kicking his legs in the air on the swings at the playground

Which cities offer the best spots to take the kids for a fun day on the playground?

To mark National Playground Safety Week starting April 22, LawnStarter ranked 2024’s Best Cities for Children’s Playgrounds.

We compared over 430 of the biggest U.S. cities based on three categories. We considered the number of playgrounds, average visitor ratings, and local crime rate, among 7 total metrics.

Swing through our ranking below. To learn how we ranked the cities, see our methodology.

City Rankings
Top 5 Close Up
Key Insights
Ask the Experts
Behind the Ranking
Final Thoughts: Turn Your Backyard Into a Playground

City Rankings

See how each city fared in our ranking:

Top 5 Close Up

Check out the slideshow below for highlights on each of our top 5 cities.

Skyline Photo of Empire State Building in New York City — **No. 1:** New York | **Overall Score:** 67.96

**Number of Playgrounds:** 1,951 | Rank: 1
**Walk Score:** 88 | Rank: 4
**Number of Top-Rated (4.5+ Stars) Playgrounds per Square Mile:** 0.17 | Rank: 29
**Average Number of Reviews:** 5 | Rank: 196
**Registered Sex Offenders per 10,000 Residents:** 5 | Rank: 91

**Local tips:** Kids are usually warned to look but not touch the artwork. However, at Silver Towers Playground, kids can climb, scamper, and slide all over *Playground*, a functional sculpture by Tom Otterness. A Hell’s Kitchen hidden gem, this 25-foot sculpture features slides and a lookout tower.

Photo Credit: Roberto Vivancos / Pexels / Pexels License

City hall in Cambridge, Massachusetts stands out on a street of historic buildings thanks to its Romanesque design and clock tower — **No. 2:** Cambridge, Massachusetts | **Overall Score:** 54.29

**Number of Playgrounds:** 15 | Rank: 117
**Walk Score:** 90 | Rank: 1
**Number of Top-Rated (4.5+ Stars) Playgrounds per Square Mile:** 1.09 | Rank: 1
**Average Number of Reviews:** 3 | Rank: 280
**Registered Sex Offenders per 10,000 Residents:** 1.5 | Rank: 21

**Local tips:** Spend the day at the Louis A. DePasquale Universal Design Playground — a playground built for all ages and abilities to enjoy. The park includes a sensory walk, interactive trails and sculptures, and a splash pad.

Photo Credit: Thomas Steiner / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.5

A skyline view of Somerville, Massachusetts, taken from Prospect Hill — **No. 3:** Somerville, Massachusetts | **Overall Score:** 52.2

**Number of Playgrounds:** 9 | Rank: 155
**Walk Score:** 89 | Rank: 2
**Number of Top-Rated (4.5+ Stars) Playgrounds per Square Mile:** 0.73 | Rank: 2
**Average Number of Reviews:** 3 | Rank: 253
**Registered Sex Offenders per 10,000 Residents:** 1.38 | Rank: 15

**Local tips:** Lincoln Park boasts an adventure playground with a skywalk and splash pad for children. There’s something for everyone at this park, featuring a parkour area for older kids and adults as well as a dog park for Fido.

Photo Credit: Eric Kilby / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

Two people bike along the water overlooking the Chicago skyline. — **No. 4:** Chicago | **Overall Score:** 51.13

**Number of Playgrounds:** 980 | Rank: 2
**Walk Score:** 77 | Rank: 10
**Number of Top-Rated (4.5+ Stars) Playgrounds per Square Mile:** 0.11 | Rank: 54
**Average Number of Reviews:** 6 | Rank: 178
**Registered Sex Offenders per 10,000 Residents:** 13 | Rank: 200

**Local tips:** Maggie Daly Park boasts a 3-acre fantasy-themed play area featuring a ship for playing pirates and an enchanted forest with unique tree species and a mirror maze. This isn’t your typical park — visitors can pay to experience rock climbing, 18-hole mini golf, and bungee trampolines. Roller blades and micro scooters are also available to rent and roll.

Photo Credit: Chait Goli / Pexels / Pexels License

A woman reads a book on a grassy hill overlooking the historic painted ladies and greater San Francisco skyline. — **No. 5:** San Francisco | **Overall Score:** 49.24

**Number of Playgrounds:** 272 | Rank: 14
**Walk Score:** 89 | Rank: 2
**Number of Top-Rated (4.5+ Stars) Playgrounds per Square Mile:** 0.53 | Rank: 3
**Average Number of Reviews:** 29 | Rank: 24
**Registered Sex Offenders per 10,000 Residents:** 10 | Rank: 171

**Local tips:** Kids have been scampering around McLaren Park since 1965. This 313-acre park boasts four playgrounds, a bike park, a rock labyrinth, and a ropes course. It also features a golf course and a community garden.

Photo Credit: Juan Salamanca / Pexels / Pexels License

Key Insights

Big cities such as New York (No. 1), Chicago (No. 4), and San Francisco (No. 5) landed at the top with the best access to playgrounds. These cities also boast some of the highest Walk Scores, making it easy for children and their caregivers to get to the playground.

Two states stood out in our ranking: California boasts 34 cities in the top 100, and nearly all Massachusetts cities in our ranking finished in the top 100, except for Brockton (No. 342) and Springfield (No. 350), where playgrounds have low visitor ratings.

Less populous suburbs like New Rochelle, New York (No. 6), Waukegan, Illinois (No. 8), and Johns Creek, Georgia (No. 24) have fewer playgrounds to choose from when compared with NYC, Chicago, and Atlanta (No. 220). However, they scored near the top thanks to their high playground ratings and safe communities.

Richmond, Virginia (No. 427), finished near the bottom of our ranking not from an absence of playgrounds — the city claims 58 — but due to a lack of safety. Richmond has the highest rate of sex offenders out of the cities in our ranking with 295 registered offenders per 10,000 residents at the time of writing. Flint, Michigan (No. 422), has the next-highest rate of sex offenders, with 121 per 10,000 residents.

Ask The Experts

Over 200,000 children end up in the emergency room as a result of playground injuries each year.

We turned to a panel of childcare experts for their best playground safety tips. Stay prepared and explore their insights below.

What are 3 essential tips for parents and caregivers who are supervising kids at the playground?
Which part of the playground is most dangerous and why?
What should parents do if an unsupervised kid is causing trouble at the playground?
What are 3 ways playgrounds can be more inclusive of children with disabilities?
How can local governments improve playground access and design for their communities?
What is one cutting-edge innovation in playground design?

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph. D.

Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor, Author of Making Schools Work: Bringing the science of learning to joyful classroom practice

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph. D.

Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor, Author of Making Schools Work: Bringing the science of learning to joyful classroom practice

University of Delaware, School of Education and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph. D.

Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor, Author of Making Schools Work: Bringing the science of learning to joyful classroom practice

University of Delaware, School of Education and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science

What are three essential tips for parents and caregivers who are supervising kids at the playground?

Put away the cell phones.

Which part of the playground is most dangerous and why?

This takes actual data. Some organizations must be studying where the most injuries occur. I would think swings, but this is just a hypothesis.

What should parents do if an unsupervised kid is causing trouble at the playground?

Try to speak to the child kindly.

What are three ways playgrounds can be more inclusive of children with disabilities?

Have devices that can be done just with arms or just with legs.

How can local governments improve playground access and design for their communities?

Invest in Playful Learning Landscapes to make their playgrounds contain learning as well.

What is one cutting-edge innovation in playground design?

Once again, go to Playful Learning Landscapes.

Other links:

Expert bio: https://www.cehd.udel.edu/faculty-bio/roberta-michnick-golinkoff
Expert file: https://expertfile.com/experts/roberta.golinkoff

Behind the Ranking

First, we determined the factors (metrics) that are most relevant to rank the Best Cities for Children’s Playgrounds. We then assigned a weight to each factor based on its importance and grouped those factors into 3 categories: Access, Quality, and Safety. The categories, factors, and their weights are listed in the table below.

For each of the 500 biggest U.S. cities, we then gathered data on each factor from the sources listed below the table. We eliminated 69 cities lacking sufficient data in a single category, resulting in a final sample size of 431 cities.

Finally, we calculated scores (out of 100 points) for each city to determine its rank in each factor, each category, and overall. A city’s Overall Score is the average of its scores across all factors and categories. The highest Overall Score ranked “Best” (No. 1) and the lowest “Worst” (No. 431).

Notes:

The “Worst” among individual factors may not be No. 431 due to ties.
The “Number of Playgrounds” may not encompass all playgrounds available at schools, churches, private properties, or in gated communities.

Sources: City-Data.com, NeighborhoodScout, The Trust for Public Land, Walk Score, and Yelp

Final Thoughts: Turn Your Backyard Into a Playground

Experts say kids older than 6 should get 60 minutes of physical activity daily, but only 24% of children between the ages of 6 and 17 achieve that daily hour.

Reports show that exercise can help kids improve sleep quality, school performance, and emotional well-being.

It’s possible to turn a yard — big or small — into a safe environment for children to play. Get the kids active outdoors with help from our tips below.

Invest in a couple of fun yard games for kids.
Have the youngsters help out with the gardening this summer.
Have your kiddos play with their furry best friend in a dog-friendly landscape.
Fill the lawn with a durable grass type that can endure plenty of running and playing.
Design your own backyard playground with a tire swing or treehouse.
Keep your turf neatly mowed and pest-free.