Minorities and those with lower socioeconomic status (SES) are at higher risk for chronic diseases compared to their Caucasian counterparts and those with higher SES. Establishing life-long physical activity (PA) behavior in childhood could lower the risk for chronic disease in adulthood. Access to opportunities for PA in the built environments is associated with increased PA behavior in children. Understanding patterns of access to these opportunities for minority and low SES children would be useful in developing interventions to increase PA in these populations. PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship among race, SES, proximity to public parks for children and adolescents in a mid-sized city. METHODS: ArcGIS Online was used to map public parks with 10-minute walking buffers, census track-level demographics (race of children and adolescents [≤ 19 yrs], household poverty status, and population density). Central city neighborhoods were also mapped. Partial correlations between the variables were performed, controlling for all other variables. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified homogeneous census tracts with regard to race, SES, park proximity, and population density. One-way ANOVA measured differences in the variables used to construct the clusters. Significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS: Poverty correlated with black race (r²=0.60, p<0.001) and park proximity (r²=0.53, p=0.54), but there was no significant correlation between race and park proximity. Population density correlated with black race (r²=0.63, p<0.001), but not with any other variables. Two census track clusters were identified. Parks in cluster 1 corresponded with neighborhoods centrally located in the city. Compared to cluster 2, cluster 1 showed higher percentages of households below the poverty level (36.1±13.2 vs 4±8.6), children and adolescents of black race (63.4±18.6 vs 30.3±18.3), and children and adolescents living within 10-minute walking distance to a park (76.7±16.7 vs 8.0±11.4). CONCLUSIONS: Abundant proximity to parks may provide opportunities for physical activity interventions for at-risk children and adolescents in urban areas. Future directions should include the investigation of additional aspects of access in these subgroups such as patterns of PA-promoting park amenities.