Minneapolis may be nicknamed the "City of Lakes," but it could also be called the city of parks for its incredible amount of green spaces.
The Trust for Public land recently released their 2013 ParkScore Index, which ranks the cities with the best and worst parks.
Minneapolis took the top spot on their list, replacing San Francisco (last year's winner). Bustling New York City came in right behind at number two.
The Trust for Public Land looked at three categories to compile this list: park access, park size, and services and investment, which each held equal weight in importance.
They generated a ParkScore index out of 100, and then converted those scores to a scale of zero to five "park benches." A low score of one park bench means that the city's park system needs major improvement, while five park benches connotes an outstanding park system.
10. Seattle: 4.0 Park Benches
The city of nearly 600,000 inched in at number ten for this year's list. Median park size is average and while park land takes up only ten percent of the city, Seattle's spending per resident of $260 added extra points to the total score.
9. San Diego: 4.0 Park Benches
San Diego's park system consists of close to a quarter of the total city's area. Median park size is also high, at almost seven acres. Servicing the city's 1.3 million residents are the popular Mission Bay Park and the large Mission Trail.
8. Virginia Beach: 4.0 Park Benches
Virginia Beach is one of the new cities to join the index this year. Median park size is relatively low, but each park acre serves an average of 11 people. The city of nearly half-a-million also has an average of five playgrounds for every 10,000 residents, which is highest amongst the top 10 chosen.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider