Rainbow City Park
Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Rainbow City
Rainbow City has 56 acres of parks, 5.4 for every 1,000 residents
0.3 miles of mapped trail cross Rainbow City. 21% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 2% of Rainbow City’s land is conserved, about 344 acres.
Ahead of 17% of U.S. towns · #132 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
Conserved land
2%
344 acres · of 25.7 sq mi of land
Trails
0.3 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
56 ac
5.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
21%
of residents within ½ mile
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Rainbow City have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Rainbow City is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns, #132 of 187 in Alabama. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; conserved land comes closest.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Rainbow City’s overall grade.
Conserved land2% of the land · typical AL town 1% · U.S. 4%C+Trails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · AL 0.1 · U.S. 0.4DPark land5.4 acres of park per 1,000 residents (56 acres) · AL 8 · U.S. 13CParks close to home21% of residents within a half mile of a park · AL 36% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 17%
LessMore
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 30%
Few Alabama towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Rainbow City’s 2% is ahead of 74% of Alabama towns, while its trails per square mile lead 15% of them.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Rainbow City. 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 D to C−. 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
344 conserved acres
2% of Rainbow City’s land. Who manages Rainbow City’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits213 ac
State natural resources77 ac
Town or city54 ac
Unknown Easement · 213 acResource Management Area · 77 acLocal Recreation Area · 51 acLocal Park · 3 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 213 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| State-owned Submerged Lands Resource Management Area | State natural resources | 77 | Open |
| Vivian Lee Maddox Sports Complex Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 38 | Open |
| Rainbow City Recreation Center Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 13 | Open |
| Rainbow City Park Local Park | Town or city | 3 | 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
7Baseball
3Tennis
2Soccer
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Rainbow City: April and May
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) | 10.1 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 13.9 | 14.4 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.3 | 9.9 |
| High (°F) | 53 | 58 | 66 | 74 | 82 | 88 | 91 | 90 | 85 | 75 | 64 | 56 |
| Rain (in) | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 4.9 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 5.5 |
October is the driest month (3.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 91 °F). 5.8 inches fall in March, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 91 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Rainbow City →
Next door
Rainbow City and its neighbors
Rainbow City has the second most mapped trails of the 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow City | 2% | under 0.1 | 5 | 21% | C− |
| Gadsden | 5% | 0.6 | 25 | 74% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Rainbow City
How much of Rainbow City is conserved land?
2% of its land, against a typical 1% for an Alabama town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Rainbow City’s trails?
Rainbow City Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Rainbow City?
6,959 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Rainbow City or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 134 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Rainbow City have?
Ahead of 17% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #132 of 187 in Alabama. 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 Rainbow City 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 →