Tampa is one of the top 3 best cities for recreation in America, according to WalletHub

July is National Parks and Recreation Month, so the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on the Best & Worst Cities for Recreation in 2024, and the city of Tampa came in as third best in the nation.

WalletHub compared the 100 largest U.S. cities across 47 key indicators of recreation-friendliness. For each city, they examined the availability and cost of recreational activities, along with the quality of parks and the weather.

Recreation in Tampa (1=Best; 50=Avg.):

• Overall Rank: 3^rd
• 48^th – Spending on Parks and Recreation per Capita
• 29^th – Bike Rental Facilities per Capita
• 51^st – Music Venues per Capita
• 7^th – Number of Coffee & Tea Shops per Capita
• 27^th – Swimming Pools per Capita

It’s easy to enjoy free recreation activities across Tampa. Tampa’s Downtown Partnership hosts a variety of free classes at parks across the city. Check their events list for a full guide to community workouts. We also have plenty of waterfront activities such as Urban Kai by Armature Works, and Riverwalk Boating Co by the Tampa Convention Center. We are also home to some fabulous run clubs.

Our beautiful sunny city is also the eighth-best place for hockey fans in the U.S. according to the site.

Finally, Tampa has the 13th-most restaurants per capita overall, and when it comes to affordable restaurants with at least 4.5 stars, it’s one of the top cities. It also has a very high number of food festivals and ice cream shops.