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Sears House, Austin, ARPhoto: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0
DOutdoors
Outdoors in Austin

Few parks or trails are on the map in Austin

0.4 miles of mapped trail cross Austin, 0.1 per square mile of land.

Ahead of 5% of U.S. towns · #120 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it

Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 3.1 sq mi of land
Trails
0.4 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
318 ft
Rock Hill
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Austin have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Austin is ahead of 5% of U.S. towns, #120 of 123 in Arkansas. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; trail miles come closest.

D
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Austin’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 5%
LessMore
Arkansas towns of 2,500+ (123)Ahead of 2%

Few Arkansas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Austin’s under 1% is ahead of 7% of Arkansas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 29% of them.

NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Austin. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.

PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →

The map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.

Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Things to do

1 places to go in Austin

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Peaks in Austin
Rock Hill318 ft elevation
Directions
When to get out

The walking year in Austin

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)10.010.911.913.014.014.514.313.512.311.210.39.8
High (°F)505564738189929185756252
Rain (in)3.84.25.15.75.53.43.63.63.54.24.75.2

June is the driest month (3.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 92 °F). 5.7 inches fall in April, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 92 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Austin →

Next door

Austin and its neighbors

Austin has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Austinunder 1%0.1under 1under 1%D
Cabotunder 1%0.3443%C−

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Austin

How much of Austin is conserved land?

under 1% of its land, against a typical 1% for an Arkansas town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Is there public land near Austin?

236 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Austin or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Austin have?

Ahead of 5% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #120 of 123 in Arkansas. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Trail talk

Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Austin neighbors.

Town Square →
Share a tip
Sources

Where this page comes from

Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →