By 2035, increase three-year average annual per capita park spending from $86 to $95 as tallied by the Trust for Public Land's ParkScore®.
A well-funded and well-maintained park system contributes to the quality of life of all Philadelphians.
According to the 2024 ParkScore® report, total park investment in Philadelphia is $86 per person—aggregating park and recreation spending across all agencies and organizations within the city, including monetized volunteer hours for publicly accessible parks and recreation in the city. Included in this investment is the three-year average of the City of Philadelphia budget of $62 per person to fund Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. That's well below the national median of $106 per person for park budgets. However, Philadelphia does boast an unusually high level of investment from volunteer hours and private groups – $25 per person vs. the national average of $8 [1]. This suggests the presence of a large and active base of residents motivated to improve their parks.
In order to improve the quality of Philadelphia’s parks, we are seeking ways to increase available funding for maintenance and operations.
In advancing this objective, we recognize that there are many ways that organizations and communities can work to increase investment in Philadelphia’s parks and build a lasting network of advocates to support those efforts.
We measure progress on this objective using the Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore® on per person (or per capita) funding for parks and recreation.
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