Orlando Named Best City for Recreation

Orlando is named best City for its beer gardens, music venues, and Orlando fishing lakes. Which has earned the Beautiful City the No. 1 spot in WalletHub’s annual list of top cities for recreation.
Each of the 100 cities that were included in the study was analyzed based on four categories: entertainment and recreational facilities; costs; quality of parks; and climate. The scores from each four of these categories were then averaged to give each city an overall rank.

Orlando snagged the top spot in the entertainment and recreation facilities ranking but fared worse than average at 54 when it came to the quality of theme parks. It ranked at 28 for both the cost and climate categories.

While there’s still room for improvement in some of the subcategories, Orlando did climb several spots from last year when it came in at No. 6 overall with a score of 6 for entertainment and recreational facilities; 45 for costs; 57 for quality of parks; and 28 for the climate.

This year only one other Florida city was able to crack the top 10 and that location trailed just behind Orlando at No. 2.

Read below the methodology used to identify the best from the worst.

The methodology behind Orlando Named Best City

To identify the best and worst cities for recreation, WalletHub compared the 100 most populated U.S. cities in four overarching categories: 1) Entertainment & Recreational Facilities, 2) Costs, 3) Quality of Parks and 4) Climate.

Each city was rated according to 35 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was scored from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions for recreational activities. The cities were then ranked based on their overall weighted average score across all metrics.

Please note that Orlando is Named Best City, “city” refers to the city proper and excludes surrounding metro areas.

Entertainment & Recreational Facilities – Total Points: 40

• Number of Music Venues per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Coffee & Tea Shops per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Public Beaches per 100,000 Residents: Half Weight (~0.98 Points)
• Number of Tennis Courts per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Public Golf Courses per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Public Swimming Pools per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Ball Diamonds per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Basketball Hoops per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Bike Rental Facilities per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Beer Gardens per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Fishing Spots per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Hiking Trails per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Boat Tours and Water Sports per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Water Parks per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Restaurants per 1,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Shops per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Movie Theaters per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• Number of Attractions: Double Weight (~3.90 Points)
• Number of Food Festivals per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
• WalletHub “Sports Fans” Ranking: Full Weight (~1.95 Points)
  Note: Includes football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer.

Costs – Total Points: 30

• Spending on Parks per Capita: Half Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Average Fitness Club Fee: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
• Movie Costs: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
• Bowling Costs: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
• Grooming Costs: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
• Average Beverage Price (Heineken’s, 6-pack, 12-oz. containers, excluding any deposit; 1.5-liter bottle, Chablis or Chenin Blanc or any white table wine): Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
• Average Food Price: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)
• Prevalence of Affordable 4.5+ Star Restaurants: Full Weight (~4.00 Points)

Quality of Parks – Total Points: 20

• Percentage of the Population with Walkable Park Access: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Percent of Designed Parkland Areas: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Presence on TripAdvisor’s “Top 25 Parks” List: Half Weight (~1.82 Points)
• Park Playgrounds per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Parkland as Percentage of City Area: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Acres of Parkland per 1,000 Residents: Full Weight (~3.64 Points)

Climate – Total Points: 10

• WalletHub “Weather” Ranking (~10.00 Points)

To read the entire full report Orlando Named Best City from WalletHub.com.