Patterson Park
Managed by Hometown Park District
3 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: AlphaBeta135 · CC BY 4.0B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Hometown
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Hometown
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 7 acres are parks and preserves, 1.7 per 1,000 residents. 1% of Hometown’s land is conserved, about 3 acres.
Ahead of 50% of U.S. towns · #509 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
3 acres · of 0.5 sq mi of land
Trails
0.2 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
7 ac
1.7 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Hometown?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Hometown have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Hometown is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns, #509 of 768 in Illinois. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Hometown’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%CTrails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4BPark land1.7 acres of park per 1,000 residents (7 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 50%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 34%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. 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
The longest trail network is Patterson Park, with 0.2 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Unity Park
Managed by Hometown Park District
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
3 conserved acres
1% of Hometown’s land. Who manages Hometown’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city3 ac
Local Park · 3 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patterson Park Local Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| Anderson Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
3 places to go in Hometown
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Hometown
3 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
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
3Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Hometown: April, July and September
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) | 9.5 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 14.9 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 36 | 47 | 60 | 71 | 80 | 84 | 82 | 76 | 63 | 49 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 2.1 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
February is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.4 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Hometown →
Next door
Hometown and its neighbors
Hometown has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hometown | 1% | 0.4 | 2 | 99%+ | B− |
| Oak Lawn | 4% | 0.4 | 4 | 99% | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Hometown
Where can I hike in Hometown?
The longest trail networks: Patterson Park, 0.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Hometown is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 4% for an Illinois town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Hometown’s trails?
Patterson Park and Unity Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Hometown?
8,607 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Hometown or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 7 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Hometown have?
Ahead of 50% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #509 of 768 in Illinois. 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 Hometown 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 →