ATLANTA — It might sound surprising to people in other parts of the country, but it wouldn’t shock anyone who’s been on the Beltline lately: Atlanta is one of America’s best cities for recreation.
A study done by the financial advice website WalletHub ranks Atlanta No. 6 in the country for recreation, in league with cities like San Diego and Honolulu.
It also found Atlanta's in league with cities like New York and Los Angeles - in terms of being too expensive to see a movie.
The survey compiled scores for dozens of things like “basketball hoops per capita,” “average alcoholic beverage price” and “share of population with walkable park access,” and concentrated them into four key rankings: entertainment and recreational facilities, costs, quality of parks and weather.
Experts said cities that are emphasizing their existing features and “playing to their strengths” are doing the best job of making their spaces recreationally accessible.
The Beltline project in Atlanta, in particular, has taken advantage of the city’s sprawling space and creatively transformed a once notoriously immobile city into one that’s more walkable and bikeable (and, now, scooter-able).
That, in turn, has given rise to a boom for new food, drink and shopping options around the pathways.
“Many areas have some wonderful natural resources that can provide fantastic opportunities for low-cost outdoor recreation,” said Zach Miller, a professor at Utah State University’s Department of Environment and Society. “Local authorities should focus on these natural assets and work to promote their inherent strengths.”
Atlanta was boosted by ranking 13th for entertainment and recreational facilities, with the city’s explosion in restaurants, bars and shopping developments, as well as a packed sports and events calendar.
In the overall rankings, Atlanta ranked in the top half for quality of parks (37th) and weather (41st).
Success, though, comes at a price. The only thing dragging the ranking down was overall costs, where Atlanta ranked 64th.
One of the most severe drawbacks to Atlanta living, apparently, is the cost of seeing a movie: Of the 100 cities surveyed, Atlanta was in the bottom four for highest movie costs, beating only New York, Los Angeles and Long Beach.
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