Photo: Antony-22 · CC BY-SA 4.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Central City
4.8 miles of mapped trail cross Central City, 0.9 per square mile of land. 8 acres are parks and preserves, 1.3 per 1,000 residents. 45% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns · #92 of 142 in Kentucky. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Central City?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Central City have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Central City is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns, #92 of 142 in Kentucky. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
Few Kentucky towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Central City’s under 1% is ahead of 17% of Kentucky towns, while its trails per square mile lead 91% of them.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
7 conserved acres
under 1% of Central City’s land. Who manages Central City’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Park Local Park | Town or city | 5 | Open |
| Gish Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
1 places to go in Central City
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
0.7 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
June is the best month for walking in Central City
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) | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 14.7 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.1 | 9.6 |
| High (°F) | 44 | 49 | 59 | 70 | 78 | 86 | 89 | 88 | 82 | 71 | 58 | 48 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 4.4 |
August is the driest month (3.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 5.1 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Central City →
Questions about parks and trails in Central City
How much of Central City is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Kentucky town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Where can I bike in Central City?
0.7 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.7 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Central City?
22,290 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Central City or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 8 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Central City have?
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #92 of 142 in Kentucky. 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 Central City neighbors.
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 →