Brookside Park
Park
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Robert Stinnett · CC BY 2.0COutdoors
Outdoors in State Center
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in State Center
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 13 acres are parks and preserves, 8.9 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 1.0 sq mi of land
Trails
0.0 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
13 ac
8.9 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is State Center?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does State Center have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, State Center is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of State Center’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical IA town 3% · U.S. 4%DTrails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · IA 0.3 · U.S. 0.4DPark land8.9 acres of park per 1,000 residents (13 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · IA 91% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 29%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. 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
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Kaufman City Park
Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Rose Garden of State Center
Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
5Baseball
2Tennis
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →5 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Watson's GroceryBuilding · listed 1998
About itState Center Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2002
About itAugust and Josephine Riemenschneider FarmsteadBuilding · listed 2022
About itLouis F. and Emma M. (Edler) Wohlert House-Emma Wohlert Maternity HomeBuilding · listed 2024
About itHome Oil Service StationBuilding · listed 2025
About itWhen to get out
September is the best month for walking in State Center
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.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 14.9 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 28 | 33 | 46 | 60 | 71 | 80 | 84 | 81 | 75 | 62 | 46 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 1.9 | 1.3 |
January is the driest month (0.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 5.6 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in State Center →
Questions about parks and trails in State Center
How much of State Center is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 3% for an Iowa town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on State Center’s trails?
Brookside Park and Kaufman City Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near State Center?
2,497 acres of parks and open public land lie inside State Center or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 13 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does State Center have?
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. 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 State Center neighbors.
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 →