Photo: User:Smallbones on English Wikipedia. · Public domainFew parks or trails are on the map in Chester Heights
12% of Chester Heights’ land is conserved, about 174 acres. 75 acres are parks and preserves, 26 per 1,000 residents. 76% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns · #475 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Chester Heights?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Chester Heights have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Chester Heights is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #475 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. Conserved land holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
Pennsylvania towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 8%; the U.S., 4%), so Chester Heights’ 12% is ahead of 64% of Pennsylvania towns, while its trails per square mile lead 29% 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.
174 conserved acres
12% of Chester Heights’ land. Who manages Chester Heights’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 101 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 25 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wawa Preserve Private Conservation | Not recorded | 72 | Open |
| Municipal Land Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 18 | Open |
| Middletown Open Space Local Recreation Area | Other or Unknown Local Government | 13 | Open |
| Darlington Creek Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 11 | Open |
| Chester Heights Community Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 6 | Open |
| County Land Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 2 | Unknown |
1 places to go in Chester Heights
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
1 named trail and 1 lakes & rivers
0.0 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.
4 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Chester Heights: April to June and August
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) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.0 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 9.9 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 41 | 43 | 52 | 64 | 73 | 82 | 87 | 85 | 78 | 66 | 55 | 45 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 4.1 |
February is the driest month (2.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 4.8 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Chester Heights →
Chester Heights and its neighbors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester Heights | 12% | 0.2 | 26 | 76% | B+ |
| Middletown Township | 19% | 3.2 | 97 | 98% | A+ |
| Aston Township | 5% | 0.5 | 12 | 99% | A− |
| Concord Township | 11% | 1.2 | 39 | 83% | A |
| Thornbury Township | 10% | 1.0 | 72 | 92% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Chester Heights
How much of Chester Heights is conserved land?
12% of its land, against a typical 8% for a Pennsylvania town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Chester Heights?
19,447 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Chester Heights or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 75 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Chester Heights have?
Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #475 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. 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 Chester Heights 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 →