Patuxent River Greenway
Nature preserve
79 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: MsCrof at English Wikipedia · CC BY 3.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Crofton
Crofton has 6.3 miles of mapped trails, 1.0 for every square mile of land
89% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 157 acres are parks and preserves, 5.3 per 1,000 residents. 2% of Crofton’s land is conserved, about 105 acres.
Ahead of 60% of U.S. towns · #166 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
Conserved land
2%
105 acres · of 6.6 sq mi of land
Trails
6.3 mi
1.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
157 ac
5.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
89%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
5.1 mi
5.1 mi lanes
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Crofton?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Crofton have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Crofton is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #166 of 261 in Maryland. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Crofton’s overall grade.
Conserved land2% of the land · typical MD town 9% · U.S. 4%B−Trails1.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (6 mi) · MD 0.5 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land5.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (157 acres) · MD 9 · U.S. 13CParks close to home89% of residents within a half mile of a park · MD 87% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 60%
LessMore
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 37%
Maryland towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 9%; the U.S., 4%), so Crofton’s 2% is ahead of 9% of Maryland towns, while its trails per square mile lead 71% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B− 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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Crofton Park
Managed by Anne Arundel County
44 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Hardy Field Park
Managed by Crofton Civic Association
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
105 conserved acres
2% of Crofton’s land. Who manages Crofton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other or Unknown Local Government93 ac
Other state land6 ac
County6 ac
State parks2 ac
Local Park · 93 acHistoric or Cultural Easement · 6 acConservation Easement · 4 acUnknown Easement · 2 acForest Stewardship Easement · 2 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 12 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 4 of 11 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire/patuxent R. Grnwy Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 82 | Open |
| Crofton Natural Area Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 11 | Open |
Things to do
25 places to go in Crofton
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Crofton
Barbara & Thomas Swann Park Playground
DirectionsCrofton Mews Playground
DirectionsPlayground Crofton Commons
DirectionsRiverwalk Tot Lot
DirectionsTownes at Walden playground
DirectionsPlus 20 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
5.1 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
5.1 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
Courts & fields
35Tennis
11Basketball
11Baseball
6Pickleball
4Multi-sport
2Volleyball
2Golf
1Beach volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Linthicum WalksBuilding · listed 1984
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Crofton: April to June
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) | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 44 | 47 | 55 | 67 | 76 | 84 | 88 | 86 | 80 | 69 | 57 | 48 |
| Rain (in) | 3.0 | 2.7 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
February is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 4.5 inches fall in July, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Crofton →
Next door
Crofton and its neighbors
Crofton 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crofton | 2% | 1.0 | 5 | 89% | B |
| Odenton | 7% | 1.3 | 35 | 83% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Crofton
How much of Crofton is conserved land?
2% of its land, against a typical 9% for a Maryland town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Crofton’s trails?
Patuxent River Greenway and Crofton Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Crofton?
5.1 miles of bike routes are on the map: 5.1 of painted or protected lanes.
Is there public land near Crofton?
11,373 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Crofton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 157 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Crofton have?
Ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #166 of 261 in Maryland. 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 Crofton 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 →