File Photo

Long Beach was ranked 18th this year on the Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore index, six spots higher than last year’s ranking, the organization announced Wednesday.

The index measured the 75 largest cities in the U.S. and evaluated categories that include park access, park size, and facilities and investment with data culled from GIS (geographic information systems).

“Our goal is for every American to live within a 10-minute walk of a park, and ParkScore is a good snapshot of how America’s largest cities are doing in meeting that goal,” said Trust for Public Land President Will Rogers in a statement.

According to the release, Long Beach jumped six spots up on the list because the index considered dog parks and recreation and senior centers for the first time this year.

Long Beach scored extremely high in park access, as the report data showed 80 percent of Long Beach residents live within a 10 minute walk of a park—well above the national average of 71 percent. In comparison, Los Angeles scored 55 percent.

ParkScore’s park size category measured the city’s median park size and percentage of total city area dedicated to parks. Long Beach reserves 10.1 percent of its city area for parks, below Los Angeles’ 14.2 percent. Long Beach scored 19 out of 20 for spending on parks, while Los Angeles scored seven out of 20.

Long Beach’s overall ranking was ahead of Los Angeles (ranked 51—tied with Anaheim) and just below Sacramento (13), Denver (16) and Plano (17). The top five cities for park space, according to the ParkScore index are: Minneapolis and St. Paul (1), Washington, D.C. (3), San Francisco (4) and New York (5). The five lowest-rated cities on ParkScore are: Mesa, Arizona and Oklahoma City (70), Louisville (72), Indianapolis (73) Charlotte and Fresno (74).