This Is The Worst Recreation City In New York State

Getting outside and getting active is essential for our mental and physical health, and the summer weather in New York State is the perfect time to do so.

Take a drive past your local on a nice summer day and you’ll see hundreds of locals jogging, playing tennis or pickup basketball, along with tons of other outdoor activities. Our New York lakes and rivers are packed with boats and jetskis this time of year. And both rural roads and busy city streets are packed with cyclists getting some exercise as they head to their destination.

Now that it’s summertime, there’s a national spotlight on parks and recreation in America’s cities. The website WalletHub recently looked at 100 major cities throughout the United States, and ranked them using 47 different metrics in four key categories including entertainment and recreational facilities, costs, and quality of their parks, to determine which cities were the best and worst in the country for recreation.

“The best cities for recreation have a wide variety of indoor and outdoor activities that can help people of all ages stay entertained and active.” - Cassandra Happe, WalletHub Analyst

One major city in the Empire State didn't fare so well in WalletHub’s findings– but is it really one of the worst cities for recreation in New York State?

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Buffalo The Worst City For Recreation In New York State

According to WalletHub’s most recent rankings, Buffalo, New York came in at #52 out of 100 in the “Best and Worst Cities For Recreation.”

It’s better than the ranking WalletHub gave the Queen City last year of #74, but eek. Still not great.

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The reason Buffalo came in so low likely has to do with WalletHub’s metric with the highest weight– the weather. In fact, Buffalo was ranked dead last of all 100 cities when it came to ideal weather.

In comparison, here are the top five US cities for recreation according to WalletHub:

Las Vegas, Nevada
Orlando, Florida
Cincinnati, Ohio
Tampa, Florida
Honolulu, Hawaii

Why Did Buffalo Rank So Low For Recreation?

It’s easy to figure out why Buffalo was put towards the bottom of Wallethub’s list, with the top ranking cities (except for Cincinnati, but we digress) having nice weather throughout most of the year.

But weather aside, we think Buffalo didn’t get a fair shake from WalletHub. The city has great parks like the famous Delaware Park (designed by the same man who designed Central Park in New York City), along with developments in recent years along their waterfront.

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Our opinion? Take away the elements out of our control (we’re looking at you, Mother Nature), and Buffalo is actually one of the best cities for recreation in the United States.

Is This the Best "Small" New York State Park? We Think So!

New York State is blessed with some of the best state parks in the country. And historic ones too! And huge ones also! For example our Adirondack State Park is certainly our state park pride and joy. Opened in 1892, the park covers a whopping 9,000 square miles and is the largest park in the contiguous Untied States. Allegany State Park, clocks in at 65,000 acres in size and is rough and raw and beautiful. It is called The Wilderness of Western New York." Letchworth State Park is another gem. Founded in 1906 it covers15,000 acres and in 2015 was named "Best State Park in the United States."

So they are the big ones. But what about the relatively smaller ones. This gallery looks at a real Upstate New York treasure. Green Lakes State Park, just east of Syracuse and west of Utica, gets over 1.5-million visitors a year. It has two lakes unlike any others in the USA, and it is the focus of this gallery.

Learn more here and then put it at the top of your bucket list for upcoming trips. It is simply amazing!

Gallery Credit: Chuck D'Imperio