Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: OldYorkGuy · CC BY-SA 3.0Walkers have 9 mapped routes close by, starting with the Uptown Toronto Discovery Walk and Central Ravines, Belt Line & Gardens Discovery Walk. 13 beaches are mapped within 5 km, the nearest HTO Beach. 4.0 km out lies the largest, E.T. Seton Park, at 130 ha.
Each figure against Canadian towns of 2,500+; tap a tile for the detail.
Out of doors, Annex leads with Rouge National Urban Park within easy reach, with its choice of walking routes close behind.
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. Outdoors isn’t one of Canada’s graded subjects, so there’s no letter here: each figure is set against other Canadian towns instead.
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (29,066 to 32,167 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
For protected land nearby, Annex lags towns its size: 25 of 39 are ahead.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pierrefonds-Ouest QC | 34% | 25% | 48 | 0 | 13 |
| 2 | Des Explorateurs QC | 23% | 12% | 46 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | Du Plateau QC | 22% | 25% | 48 | 4 | 9 |
| 4 | Vieux-Lachine - Saint-Pierre QC | 17% | 0% | 30 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Portobello South ON | 12% | 0% | 41 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Centretown ON | 12% | 1.5% | 37 | 4 | 6 |
| 7 | Savane QC | 11% | 0% | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | La Cité QC | 9.1% | 0% | 46 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Verdun-Centre QC | 8.2% | 0% | 18 | 0 | 7 |
| 10 | Du Moulin QC | 8.2% | 9.9% | 46 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Magog QC | 7.5% | 1.2% | 53 | 1 | 16 |
| 12 | West End BC | 6.6% | 51% | 12 | 4 | 76 |
| 13 | Sainte-Julie QC | 5.8% | 0.7% | 45 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Saint-Constant QC | 5.8% | 0% | 25 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Johnston Heights BC | 5.8% | 29% | 131 | 7 | 6 |
| 16 | Rockland ON | 5.2% | 0.9% | 57 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | Alloa ON | 4.2% | 8.7% | 14 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | King ON | 4.1% | 2.7% | 94 | 6 | 1 |
| 19 | Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown ON | 4.1% | 0% | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | Killarney BC | 4% | 3.5% | 14 | 2 | 6 |
| 21 | Conception Bay South NL | 3.6% | 0% | 1 | 2 | 23 |
| 22 | Victoria-Fraserview BC | 3.1% | 0% | 15 | 2 | 4 |
| 23 | Chambly QC | 2.7% | 1.1% | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Est (Montréal-Nord) QC | 2.6% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Boisbriand QC | 2.3% | 0.2% | 35 | 2 | 1 |
| 26 | Annex ON | 2.1% | 0% | 13 | 9 | 13 |
| 27 | Vimont QC | 1.9% | 0% | 33 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Crémazie QC | 1.8% | 0% | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Val-Bélair QC | 1.7% | 2.9% | 27 | 2 | 12 |
| 30 | St Lawrence-East Bayfront-The Islands ON | 1.7% | 6.1% | 12 | 9 | 48 |
| 31 | Parc-Extension QC | 1.6% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Glenfield-Jane Heights ON | 1.6% | 0% | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Nouveau-Bordeaux QC | 1.4% | 0% | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Meadowvale Village ON | 0.9% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Alma QC | 0.8% | 0.2% | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| 36 | Elmira ON | 0.8% | 0% | 27 | 10 | 1 |
| 37 | Grimsby ON | 0.7% | 1.5% | 26 | 7 | 8 |
| 38 | Lisgar ON | 0.7% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Chestermere AB | 0.5% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 40 | Fort Saskatchewan AB | 0.1% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
The neighbourhood’s parks, woods, protected land and paths, with its named places numbered.
Largest first: David A. Balfour Park leads with 28 ha. Numbers match the map.
Most of it sits in David A. Balfour Park and Christie Pits Park: 51% together.
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
That beats the typical Canadian town, where it is 83%.
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
5 of the 13 belong to a government or an Indigenous nation. At 130 ha, E.T. Seton Park is the largest. Not named: 8 areas held privately or with no public owner on record.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Paths are denser here than in 90% of Canadian towns. It is less wooded than 66% of Canadian towns.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
For a longer outing, the PATH runs 28.4 km. For a short stroll, 2 are under 3 km.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals from Toronto (City) (0.2 km), and daylight at the town’s latitude. Good months: 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15–30 °C, little rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°C) | 0 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 19 | 24 | 27 | 26 | 22 | 15 | 8 | 3 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 65 | 54 | 53 | 78 | 76 | 82 | 77 | 72 | 69 | 69 | 71 | 58 |
Expect around 115 cm of snow over a winter. July is the warmest month, with highs around 27 °C; January the coldest, at 0 °C. Expect 82 mm in June, the wettest month, and 53 mm in March. The climate in Annex →
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
There are also 10 beaches without a name. No open data on beach water quality covers every province, so check with public health before a swim.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
There are 183 playgrounds, more than of anything else.
Plus 9 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Plus 179 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Plus 9 dog parks without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Gardens and arboretums within 15 km of the town’s edge, and the historic gardens, parks and estates in the town itself, nearest first.
Sources: OpenStreetMap (leisure=garden), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, and Wikidata (CC0), as gathered in TownRatings’ Canadian attractions set; historic places from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, the Canadian Register of Historic Places and Québec’s Répertoire du patrimoine culturel.
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annex | 2.1% | 13 | 9 | 13 |
| University 1.1 km | 2.2% | 12 | 9 | 20 |
| Casa Loma 1.4 km | 2.3% | 14 | 4 | 3 |
| Bay-Cloverhill 1.4 km | 2.4% | 12 | 9 | 18 |
| Church-Wellesley 1.6 km | 2.3% | 11 | 9 | 20 |
| Palmerston-Little Italy 1.9 km | 2.1% | 11 | 6 | 17 |
| Yonge-St.Clair 2.1 km | 2.5% | 14 | 3 | 4 |
None of the places nearby has twice as much protected land around it as Annex.
May and July to September: long days, mild highs and little rain.
Rouge National Urban Park, 22 km from the edge of town.
Protected areas cover 2.1% of the land within 10 km.
Bronte Creek Provincial Park, 39 km away.
Try the Uptown Toronto Discovery Walk, Central Ravines, Belt Line & Gardens Discovery Walk and PATH; more are on the map.
HTO Beach, 3.6 km from town, is the nearest mapped beach.
It is E.T. Seton Park, a nature reserve covering 130 ha.
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Gardens: OpenStreetMap (leisure=garden) and Wikidata gardens within 15 km, as gathered in TownRatings’ Canadian attractions set; historic gardens and parks from Canada’s heritage registers (Parks Canada DFHD, the Canadian Register of Historic Places, Québec’s Répertoire du patrimoine culturel).
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).