Taft City Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Jay Phagan from Taft, Texas · CC BY 2.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Taft
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Taft
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 52 acres are parks and preserves, 18 per 1,000 residents. 4% of Taft’s land is conserved, about 47 acres.
Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns · #73 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Conserved land
4%
47 acres · of 1.7 sq mi of land
Trails
0.6 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
52 ac
18 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Taft?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Taft have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Taft is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns, #73 of 642 in Texas. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of residents near a park ranks highest, trail miles lowest.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Taft’s overall grade.
Conserved land4% of the land · typical TX town 2% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · TX 0.2 · U.S. 0.4BPark land18 acres of park per 1,000 residents (52 acres) · TX 9 · U.S. 13BParks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · TX 69% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 78%
LessMore
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 89%
Few Texas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Taft’s 4% is ahead of 75% of Texas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 60% of them.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Taft. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A−. 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.
Who protects it
47 conserved acres
4% of Taft’s land. Who manages Taft’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city93 ac
Local Park · 46 acConservation Easement · 46 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taft Little League Park Local Park | Town or city | 41 | Open |
| Hidalgo Park Local Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| City Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
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.
Courts & fields
6Baseball
4Tennis
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 5 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
When to get out
April is the best month for walking in Taft
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) | 10.5 | 11.2 | 11.9 | 12.8 | 13.5 | 13.9 | 13.7 | 13.1 | 12.3 | 11.4 | 10.7 | 10.4 |
| High (°F) | 67 | 71 | 76 | 81 | 87 | 92 | 93 | 95 | 91 | 85 | 76 | 69 |
| Rain (in) | 1.8 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 1.9 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 5.4 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
February is the driest month (1.6 in) and August the warmest (highs of 95 °F). 5.4 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 95 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Taft →
Questions about parks and trails in Taft
How much of Taft is conserved land?
4% 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.
Are dogs allowed on Taft’s trails?
Taft City Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Taft?
9,171 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Taft or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 52 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Taft have?
Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #73 of 642 in Texas. 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 Taft 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 →