Best cities for sports in California

BookrGo Best Sport Cities ranking: we rank the cities of California by their 0-10 sports score, which combines density of centers per resident, variety of sports, listing quality and real activity. To keep the comparison fair, we measure every city's offering with the same sources of national coverage. An honest way to see where it's easiest (and hardest) to find somewhere to play.

743 scorable cities in California.

#	City	Score /10	Centers
1	Santa Cruz	8.8	269
2	Chico	8.8	201
3	Norco	8.8	69
4	Poway	8.7	173
5	Fountain Valley	8.7	139
6	Big Bear Lake	8.7	46
7	Berkeley	8.6	321
8	San Rafael	8.6	191
9	San Buenaventura (Ventura)	8.6	186
10	San Leandro	8.6	144
11	Antioch	8.6	117
12	Gilroy	8.6	114
13	Moorpark	8.6	92
14	Sonora	8.6	59
15	Newport Beach	8.5	439
16	Santa Clarita	8.5	391
17	Livermore	8.5	202
18	Redding	8.5	195
19	Rancho Cordova	8.5	127
20	Agoura Hills	8.5	121
21	Pacifica	8.5	90
22	Martinez	8.5	71
23	Encinitas	8.4	257
24	Folsom	8.4	228
25	Clovis	8.4	208
26	Alameda	8.4	207
27	Davis	8.4	137
28	Santa Maria	8.4	128
29	Tulare	8.4	60
30	Lakeport	8.4	24
31	Roseville	8.3	357
32	Santa Rosa	8.3	355
33	Murrieta	8.3	298
34	San Marcos	8.3	221
35	Oxnard	8.3	207
36	Redlands	8.3	196
37	Vallejo	8.3	155
38	El Dorado Hills	8.3	101
39	Manteca	8.3	96
40	Auburn	8.3	94
41	San Dimas	8.3	90
42	Yucaipa	8.3	85
43	Oroville	8.3	56
44	Sacramento	8.2	971
45	Chula Vista	8.2	449
46	Temecula	8.2	364
47	Thousand Oaks	8.2	297
48	Pleasanton	8.2	269
49	Elk Grove	8.2	234
50	San Clemente	8.2	194
51	Rocklin	8.2	164
52	Milpitas	8.2	148
53	Brentwood	8.2	143
54	Westlake Village	8.2	141
55	Arcadia	8.2	129
56	Manhattan Beach	8.2	123
57	South Lake Tahoe	8.2	109
58	Apple Valley	8.2	93
59	Eureka	8.2	82
60	San Diego	8.1	3641
61	Fresno	8.1	622
62	Riverside	8.1	502
63	Walnut Creek	8.1	265
64	Redwood City	8.1	235
65	Lake Forest	8.1	228
66	Mission Viejo	8.1	217
67	San Bernardino	8.1	181
68	Camarillo	8.1	179
69	Chino	8.1	173
70	Lancaster	8.1	163
71	Burbank	8.1	163
72	Los Gatos	8.1	162
73	San Juan Capistrano	8.1	161
74	Garden Grove	8.1	144
75	Palmdale	8.1	143
76	Novato	8.1	129
77	Rohnert Park	8.1	109
78	Watsonville	8.1	92
79	Cypress	8.1	89
80	Mill Valley	8.1	85
81	Los Altos	8.1	68
82	Ukiah	8.1	63
83	Oakland	8.0	720
84	Huntington Beach	8.0	581
85	Bakersfield	8.0	568
86	Torrance	8.0	356
87	Stockton	8.0	324
88	Concord	8.0	262
89	Vista	8.0	220
90	Upland	8.0	199
91	Petaluma	8.0	174
92	Vacaville	8.0	157
93	Tracy	8.0	135
94	Cupertino	8.0	129
95	Truckee	8.0	110
96	Pleasant Hill	8.0	82
97	Union City	8.0	80
98	Del Mar	8.0	72
99	Arcata	8.0	65
100	Stanford	8.0	56

How do we calculate the score?

Variety (25%) — how many different sports the city covers.
Quality (20%) — richness of each center's information.
Activity (20%) — real user interest over the last 30 days.
Scale (15%) — number of centers in the city.
Density (10%) — centers per resident (dampened).
Courts (10%) — total capacity: number of courts.

Each section is measured as a percentile against the other cities in the United States and combined into the final score, on a 0-10 scale. Variety and density are measured with a uniform instrument (only sources with homogeneous national coverage) so that no city is favored by having a more complete open catalog. We only score cities with population data and a presence in those sources.