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B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Philadelphia

Philadelphia has 82 acres of parks, 53 for every 1,000 residents

1% of Philadelphia’s land is conserved, about 310 acres. 8.0 miles of mapped trail cross Philadelphia, 0.2 per square mile of land. 54% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 49% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
1%
310 acres · of 37.7 sq mi of land
Trails
8.0 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
82 ac
53 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
54%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
1 boat launch
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Philadelphia have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Philadelphia is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.

B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Philadelphia’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 49%
LessMore
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
Who protects it

310 conserved acres

1% of Philadelphia’s land. Who manages Philadelphia’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Joint225 ac
Town or city82 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)2 ac
Unknown Easement · 225 acLocal Park · 82 acConservation Easement · 2 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 228 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 4 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Philadelphia Town of Land
Local Park
Town or city74Unknown
Philadelphia Village of Land
Local Park
Town or city8Unknown
Things to do

2 places to go in Philadelphia

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Playgrounds in Philadelphia

1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.

Trails & water

1 named trail and 1 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Sissy Danforth Rivergate Trail3.2 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
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.

Sissy Danforth Rivergate TrailBike route
3.2 mi
Courts & fields
7Baseball
7Tennis
4Soccer
1Football
1Basketball

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

When to get out

The best walking months in Philadelphia: May to 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.210.411.813.414.715.515.214.012.410.99.58.9
High (°F)283040546775807971584534
Rain (in)3.32.52.73.43.43.73.43.63.84.63.73.5

February is the driest month (2.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.6 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Philadelphia →

Next door

Philadelphia and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Philadelphia1%0.25354%B−
Antwerp4%0.291039%B
Theresa7%0.320837%B+
Le Rayunder 1%0.4836%C
Wilna1%0.73074%B

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Philadelphia

How much of Philadelphia is conserved land?

1% of its land, against a typical 5% for a New York town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Is there public land near Philadelphia?

13,378 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Philadelphia or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 82 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Philadelphia have?

Ahead of 49% 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 Philadelphia neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →