Portland ranks No. 6 in the nation for city park access

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Portland's largest park, Forest Park, helped propel the city No. 6 on a list of U.S. cities ranked by park system.

The Trust for Public Land debuted its ParkScore ranking Wednesday, placing Portland at No. 6 among 40 major U.S. cities judged on their park systems.

ParkScore ranks cities based on park access within a 10-minute walk; median park size and percentage of city area devoted to parks in addition to services and investment, which includes number of playgrounds per residents and parks spending.

The trust reports that Portland boasts 13,864 park acres, with 32 residents served per acre. The city's largest park is of course Forest Park at 5,157 acres.

Such data propelled Portland to a sixth-place ranking with a score of 69 out of 100. Portland fared better than Seattle, which placed No. 9 with a score of 66.5.

The top five cities in the ranking were:

1. San Francisco
2. Sacramento, Calif.
3. Boston
4. New York
5. Washington, D.C.