Photo: Nyttend · Public domainVirtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in New Brighton
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 19 acres are parks and preserves, 3.5 per 1,000 residents. 0.4 miles of mapped trail cross New Brighton, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 55% of U.S. towns · #681 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is New Brighton?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does New Brighton have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, New Brighton is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #681 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
Pennsylvania towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 8%; the U.S., 4%), so New Brighton’s 3% is ahead of 17% of Pennsylvania towns, while its trails per square mile lead 46% of them.
Water is 8% of New Brighton’s area (0 of 1 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 2%.
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.
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Big Rock Park, with 0.4 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Hunkey Alley Park
17 conserved acres
3% of New Brighton’s land. Water is left out: New Brighton has 1.0 square miles of land and 0.1 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages New Brighton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 8 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Brighton Fishing park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 9 | Open |
| New Brighton Access Local Park | Not recorded | 3 | Unknown |
| Riverfront Park 2 Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 3 | Open |
| 9th Street Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 2 | Open |
| Townsend Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 1 | Open |
| Fema Flood Buyout (County Or Municipal Owned) Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Open |
4 places to go in New Brighton
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
0.4 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.
2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in New Brighton: April, May, August 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) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 37 | 40 | 50 | 63 | 73 | 80 | 84 | 83 | 76 | 64 | 52 | 41 |
| Rain (in) | 2.9 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.0 |
February is the driest month (2.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in New Brighton →
New Brighton and its neighbors
New Brighton has the second most mapped trails of the 7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brighton | 3% | 0.4 | 3 | 99%+ | B |
| Pulaski Township | under 1% | under 0.1 | 8 | 98% | C− |
| Beaver Falls | 3% | 0.1 | 4 | 99% | C+ |
| Fallston | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Patterson Heights | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Patterson Township | 15% | 1.1 | 63 | 99%+ | A+ |
| Rochester Township | under 1% | 0.1 | 5 | 67% | C− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in New Brighton
Where can I hike in New Brighton?
The longest trail networks: Big Rock Park, 0.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of New Brighton is conserved land?
3% 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.
Are dogs allowed on New Brighton’s trails?
Big Rock Park and Fishing Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in New Brighton?
0.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near New Brighton?
9,468 acres of parks and open public land lie inside New Brighton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 21 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does New Brighton have?
Ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #681 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 New Brighton 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 →