18% of San Jose’s land is conserved, and 97% of residents live within a half mile of a park

The longest trail networks: Alum Rock Park, 12.4 miles; Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve, 4.9 miles; Kelley Park, 4.7 miles; Montgomery Hill Park, 2.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

18% of its land, against a typical 4% for a California town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Alum Rock Park and Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

651 miles of bike routes are on the map: 495 of painted or protected lanes, 90 of off-road paths and 66 of shoulders and shared lanes. Named routes: San Francisco Bay Trail, I-680 Corridor to Silver Creek and Silver Creek Valley Trail.

166,892 acres of parks and open public land lie inside San Jose or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 9,396 of them inside the city line.

Ahead of 88% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #208 of 847 in California. 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.