Best Cities for Outdoor Lovers 2020

Finally, the weather seems to be agreeing with what the calendar says. After a seemingly endless winter in which we got a snowstorm in March, spring seems to have finally arrived for good.

No more days where it is dark by 4:30 PM, no more wrapping yourself in blankets, and no more days where you are locked inside because of the biting cold.

It is time to get outside!

Unfortunately in 2020, chilly weather is not the only thing keeping us from enjoying the outdoors. There is an endless number of distractions available that can keep us from spending time with Mother Nature. Cell phones, uber-interactive video games, Netflix, laptops, tablets, and thousands of cable channels are all enticing us to stay indoors.

However, none of these things can offer you what nature can. No matter how clear televisions become, they will never be able to match the beauty of a gorgeous natural landscape unchanged for billions of years. And, while nature documentaries on t.v. are cool, they do not compare to seeing the real thing. Only Mother Nature can provide the sense of euphoria that comes from hiking to the summit of a mountain and actually being above the falcons soaring through the sky.

We should all dedicate a certain amount of time to get outside and enjoy the amazing gifts that nature provides. It has been scientifically proven that spending regular time outside is beneficial for the mind, body, and soul.

In this spirit, Millennial Personal Finance has created an indicator that ranks the 100 best cities in the United States for outdoor lovers. Using licensed data, I was able to find the exact number of parks, campsites, and outdoor reservations for over 5,000 U.S. towns and cities. That number was divided by the respective city’s population to develop the Outdoor Lover Index, which is indicative of the number of outdoor places per person in a given place. The higher a town’s Outdoor Lover Index, the better the ranking.

Below, you will find the 100 best places in the U.S. to enjoy the outdoors; I hope this list motivates you to get out and behold Mother Nature, instead of binge-watching the next Netflix show!

100 Best Cities for Outdoor Lovers

Methodology

To compile the rankings for this report, MPF has licensed data from Onboard Informatics, a data company. To provide my readers with the most accurate results, I reviewed information for over 5,000 cities and towns throughout the United States. For each city and town, I was able to get an exact number of outdoor places in that respective city. Parks, campgrounds, and outdoor reservations all counted as outdoor places. Then, that number was divided by the respective city’s population and the resulting number was multiplied by 100,000 to normalize the results. The final number was the Outdoor Lover Index and was representative of how many outdoor places there were per person in a given town. The higher the Outdoor Lover Index, the better the score and vice versa. 

Project CRediT sources data from Wealthy Genius including net worth, earnings, and various wealth statistics.