Did you know Illinois has more parks than 43 other states?

When it comes to parks there are very few states that have more than the Land of Lincoln, Illinois is a leader when it comes to parks for its people.

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According to playgroudequpiment.com, the Land of Lincoln has the 7th most parks of any state in the country, with 142 parks statewide. Illinois' 142 parks rank behind only California in 1st with 270 parks followed by New York with 215, Washington with 212, Oregon with 195, Florida with 191, and Massachusetts with 154. Another stat that shows Illinois' commitment to parks, and park space is that 1.39% of the total land in Illinois is covered with state and national park space. That 1.39% may not seem like a ton but the highest percentage is Hawaii at 9.41% and when you compare Illinois to its neighbors, Iowa sits at .21% and Missouri at .34%. To see the full diagram of stats on states and their parks click here!

I have lived in Illinois my whole 31 years of life and I would have never guessed that Illinois was this high on these park rankings. Maybe it is because I grew up in Chicagoland and I think of parks as something like Millenium park, and don't think of parks as things like the massive Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. But it makes me really happy to see that I live in a state that has a commitment to making sure there are parks and park space for its people, but it is concerning to me that having 1.39% of the land in your state committed to park space is considered high and in the top 20 of the states in the country. Do you think states need to commit more space to parks?