Boston dog parks: City among the leaders nationally in a growing trend, report says

Boston had 1.8 off-leash dog parks per 100,000 residents in 2018, placing it among a vanguard of large U.S. cities providing what’s becoming a more popular amenity.

That is according to the Center for City Park Excellence at the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, which tallied the data and which says in its new report, “2018 saw continued growth in dog parks in the 100 largest U. S. cities, with 810 dog parks in operation.

“Since 2009, we’ve seen a 74 percent increase in dog parks, when there were 466 dog parks in the largest U. S. cities.”

Overall, Boston has 12 of what the report defines as “off-leash dog areas.” That ties it for 24th among the 100 largest cities in terms of parks per 100,000 residents. Boise, Idaho, led the rankings with 5.7 parks per 100,000 residents, followed by Portland, Oregon, at 5.4.

Below is a snapshot to show how Boston stacked up. The full report’s here.