Austin, TX
Austin lands top-5 spot on new list of best park systems in Texas
Austin and its stellar park system were just ranked the fifth-best in Texas, according to the newly released ParkScore Index.
Every year, land conservation nonprofit Trust for Public Land rates the park systems in the 100 largest American cities with regard to their accessibility, equity, acreage, investment, and amenities.
On a national level, the best park systems are located in Washington, D.C. (No. 1); Irvine, California (No. 2); Minneapolis (No. 3) and St. Paul (No. 4), Minnesota; and Cinncinati, Ohio (No. 5).
Austin’s No. 47 ParkScore ranking in 2026 is a solid improvement over last year’s No. 54 rank.
The organization attributes much of the city’s progress to numerous recent new parks in South Austin and downtown, which have dramatically increased the percentage of residents that live within close proximity of a park — a crucial metric in the report’s methodology. Currently, 76 percent of Austinites live within a 10-minute walk of a park, compared to 68 percent last year.
“Ten years ago, only 48 percent of Austin residents lived within a 10-minute walk of a park,” a release said. “The city’s dedication to opening new parks in park-deficient neighborhoods is paying off.”
Austin also spends far more to maintain its park system — a three-year average of about $236 per resident — than the national average $154 per resident. The Austin City Council is currently considering a $260 million bond investment that would benefit the local park system and Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department.
Elsewhere in Texas, Plano and Frisco in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex boast the best park systems in the state.
Molly Morgan, the Texas State Director and Associate Vice President of Trust for Public Land, said in the release that Texas’ high-scoring performance in the annual index has proved that it is making park accessibility a statewide priority.
“Cities across the Lone Star State are making serious investments, opening new parks, partnering with school districts, and closing gaps that have existed for decades,” Morgan said. “They’re showing what’s possible when Texas gets serious about parks.”
Morgan added that there’s still more work to be done to increase park accessibility to the 9 million Texans that don’t have a park within a 10-minute walk of their homes.
Here’s how the rest of Texas stacks up in the national ranking:
- No. 13 – Plano
- No. 30 – Frisco
- No. 38 – Dallas
- No. 45 – Arlington
- No. 58 – Fort Worth
- No. 61 – San Antonio and El Paso (tied)
- No. 64 – Garland
- No. 69 – Houston
- No. 71 – Irving
- No. 72 – Corpus Christi
- No. 77 – Laredo
- No. 96 – Lubbock
Elon Musk’s electric car manufacturing company Tesla recently leased a 682,000-square-foot speculative industrial building in the Austin Hills Commerce Center.
The industrial building, which sits at 11801 Decker Lake Road, is set to be completed by January 2027. The project is helmed by Sansone Group and Principal Asset Management, and Musk’s Tesla is set to occupy the second phase of the development, according to reporting from the Austin Business Journal. The total size of the Austin Hills Commerce Center will be 1.4 million square feet when complete. It’s currently unclear what Tesla will utilize the space for.
The development highlights the increased demand for massive industrial buildings in the Austin area. According to the outlet, there are at least a dozen speculative buildings that span upwards of 400,000 square feet in various stages of development, from finished to the early planning phases.
Throughout the Austin Metro and across Texas, large swaths of real estate are rapidly becoming Musk’s playground. The world’s richest man has 2.2 million square feet of space around Austin on lease, and more than 10 million square feet that he owns and built.
The Musk company portfolio includes a reported 112,000-square-foot sublease at the Seaholm Power Plant in downtown for xAI and the airport-adjacent Gigafactory, which spans over 10 million square feet. A $20 billion Terafab campus, that would feature 2 million square feet for research and development, is in the planning stages.
Bastrop County is home to several Musk-owned business’ buildings, most of which are placed along country road FM 1209. Musk is also building an Optimus humanoid robot production facility near the Gigafactory. Musk’s companies have spanned the Austin area’s entire suburban space, from as far north as Taylor to as far south as Kyle.
Areas outside of Central Texas within the Musk companies include Cameron County, which is the home of Musk’s Starbase that functions as a manufacturing hub as well as the headquarters of SpaceX. The Starbase facility also includes the company’s primary launch site, which was recently relieved of local legal pressure centering around the company’s ability to shut down public Boca Chica Beach for launches.
— Hunter Cooke
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AUSTIN, Texas — THC products in Texas will once again be up for discussion during a hearing from state lawmakers today. The hearing will look at the health and public safety impacts of THC. This is the first step in deciding on potential changes to hemp laws when state lawmakers return to the Capitol in January. Currently, the state’s hemp industry remains in legal limbo. Retailers can legally sell many hemp-derived products, but the rules surrounding smokeable hemp like Delta-8 THC remain tied up in court.
Should Texas pass stricter or looser laws on THC products? ANSWER BELOW and see the results LIVE on CBS Austin This Morning from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — With the summer solstice in the rearview mirror, we are now losing about 20 – 30 seconds of daylight every day in Central Texas, adding up to around 20 – 30 minutes of daylight loss at the end of the month.
Sunrise in Central Texas on Monday [July 6] was at 6:35 a.m. and sunset is at 8:36 p.m. On July 31st, sunrise will be at 6:49 a.m. and sunset will be at 8:31 p.m.
We’ll continue to slowly lose daylight through the summer months, but accelerates in meteorological fall before the winter solstice on December 21st. So the gradual decline in daylight daily won’t do much to combat the extreme heat in the coming weeks.
At the end of August [31st], sunrise in Central Texas will be at 7:06 a.m. and sunset will be at 8:17 p.m. Cooler days are ahead, but not for a while.
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