Worth County Fairgrounds
Park
20 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: KRS9400 · CC BY-SA 4.0COutdoors
Outdoors in Northwood
Northwood has 35 acres of parks, 17 for every 1,000 residents
85% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.3 miles of mapped trail cross Northwood, 0.1 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 34% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 4.0 sq mi of land
Trails
0.3 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
35 ac
17 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
85%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Northwood?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Northwood have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Northwood is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Northwood’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical IA town 3% · U.S. 4%DTrails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · IA 0.3 · U.S. 0.4CPark land17 acres of park per 1,000 residents (35 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13BParks close to home85% of residents within a half mile of a park · IA 91% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 34%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. 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.
Hurd Park
Park
7 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do
3 places to go in Northwood
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Northwood
3 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
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
5Baseball
1Basketball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
September is the best month for walking in Northwood
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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 23 | 28 | 41 | 56 | 69 | 79 | 81 | 79 | 73 | 59 | 43 | 29 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 1.3 |
January is the driest month (0.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 5.6 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Northwood →
Questions about parks and trails in Northwood
How much of Northwood is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 3% for an Iowa town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Northwood’s trails?
Worth County Fairgrounds and Swensrud Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Northwood?
3,644 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Northwood or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 35 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Northwood have?
Ahead of 34% 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 Northwood 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 →