Boston Parks have climbed this year’s Parkscore rankings to break back into the highest levels nationwide, with a perfect score on park accessibility tempered by limited space and funding.

The city came in twelfth in 2025’s list, three spots above its placement last year and just barely enough to make it into the dozen best cities showcased by the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a nonprofit advocating better parks nationwide.

Boston’s best score continues to be its park accessibility. It’s maintained a perfect 100, indicating that every resident inside the city limits is half a mile of walking or less away from a public park.

That range is what the TPL wants every city to achieve, chosen since it’s the average distance most people are willing to walk to get somewhere. Boston’s perfect score places it “among the highest in this category [nationally]” according to the TPL report, with only San Francisco matching it among the top dozen.

The city’s accessibility also contributes to a high equity in its park distribution. It’s not perfect, with neighborhoods of color having 12% less park space nearby and low-income neighborhoods having 25% less. But having every resident a short distance from a park, including neighborhoods of color or low income, netted the city a score of 81.

A clearer picture of the city’s parks strategy can be gleaned from its acreage, which is actually Boston’s lowest score at 54. That judgement is split into overall city space used and average park size, with the city’s land use again “among the highest [nationally]” at 20% but average size lagging well behind the competition.

That seeming contradiction is explained by Boston’s small area compared to other cities. While it doesn’t have the geography to compete with places like NYC or Chicago on raw park size, the city still dedicates a large portion of the land it does have to parks and achieves its nearly unparalleled coverage and equity by spreading out a large number of smaller parks.

A spokesperson for the Boston Parks and Recreation Department (BPRD) told The Boston Guardian the department is nevertheless looking to continue expanding parkland.

“As our neighborhoods grow denser, ensuring access to high-quality public open space is more important than ever,” they said in a statement. “While Boston faces various barriers to land acquisition such as high costs and limited land, the Parks Department has prioritized open space acquisition as a way to meet the demands of a growing city.”

The department said it’s been streamlining its land buying process in recent years through policies like the Open Space Acquisition Program. It acquired land to expand the Roslindale Wetlands Urban Wilds and Sherrin Woods Urban Wilds, as well as establish new parks at the Egleston Square Peace Garden and Sprague Pond Reserve.

That said, the city’s scores in investment and amenities remain above average rather than outstanding. Boston’s parks spending sits at $183 per resident, above the national average of $133 but well short of Chicago’s $227, Washington, D.C.’s $393 or Seattle’s $418. Boston’s above-average 66 score on amenities also varies wildly when broken down by amenity type, scoring 100 on splashpads but 31 on sports fields and just 11 on permanent restrooms.

BPRD spokespersons declined to comment directly on funding, but did say that the department is working to unify Boston’s public spaces under BPRD’s portfolio and look for opportunities to create new ones as part of public or private housing construction projects.

“We’re working with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and the Planning Department to identify city owned properties that are currently serving as important parks, plazas, and natural areas, and to transfer them to BPRD to ensure their permanent protection,” they said. “BPRD is also collaborating with city agencies to create new parks as part of affordable housing development. The Odom Serenity Garden in Mattapan is an example of a park created through this process.”

Residents can find Boston’s full Parkscore report, and a breakdown of the Trust’s methodology, online at https://www.tpl.org/city/boston-massachusetts.