Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Franklin
81% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 3% of Franklin’s land is conserved, about 18 acres. 20 acres are parks and preserves, 13 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 36% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Franklin?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Franklin have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Franklin is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
Few Texas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Franklin’s 3% is ahead of 62% of Texas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 7% 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.
18 conserved acres
3% of Franklin’s land. Who manages Franklin’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin City Park Local Park | Town or city | 18 | Open |
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.
2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 3 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
April is the best month for walking in Franklin
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) | 10.3 | 11.0 | 11.9 | 12.9 | 13.7 | 14.1 | 14.0 | 13.3 | 12.3 | 11.4 | 10.5 | 10.1 |
| High (°F) | 60 | 64 | 70 | 78 | 84 | 91 | 94 | 95 | 90 | 81 | 69 | 61 |
| Rain (in) | 3.6 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 4.9 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.7 |
July is the driest month (2.0 in) and August the warmest (highs of 95 °F). 4.9 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 95 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Franklin →
Questions about parks and trails in Franklin
How much of Franklin is conserved land?
3% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Texas town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Franklin?
106 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Franklin or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 20 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Franklin have?
Ahead of 36% 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 Franklin 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 →