Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Madison

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Madison City Hall (34711409750) (cropped)Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0
A+Outdoors
Outdoors in Madison

Madison has 4,248 acres of parks, 1,465 for every 1,000 residents

46% of Madison’s land is conserved, about 4,202 acres. 99% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 6.5 miles of mapped trail cross Madison, 0.5 per square mile of land.

Ahead of 97% of U.S. towns · #9 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it

Conserved land
46%
4,202 acres · of 14.1 sq mi of land
Trails
6.5 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
4,248 ac
1,465 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
8.6 mi
8.6 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
3
1 boat launch

What kind of outdoors town is Madison?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Room to roam1,465 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.Land that stays wild46% of the land is conserved; a typical Illinois town, 4%.Parks close to home99% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Madison have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Madison is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns, #9 of 768 in Illinois. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, trail miles lowest.

A+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Madison’s overall grade.
Conserved land46% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (7 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4BPark land1,465 acres of park per 1,000 residents (4,248 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13A+Parks close to home99% of residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 97%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)#9 of 768

Water is 21% of Madison’s area (4 of 18 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 37%.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A 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.

12
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.

Horseshoe Lake State Park

Managed by Illinois Department of Natural Resources
1,780 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Tri-City Park

Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it

4,202 conserved acres

46% of Madison’s land. Water is left out: Madison has 14.1 square miles of land and 3.7 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Madison’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State natural resources5,424 ac
Other state land274 ac
County83 ac
Town or city61 ac
State Conservation Area · 2,026 acState Park · 1,764 acState Recreation Area · 854 acState Other or Unknown · 853 acState Historic or Cultural Area · 252 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Chouteau Island State Fish and Wildlife Area
State Conservation Area
State natural resources1,975Open
Horshoe Lake State Park
State Park
State natural resources1,742Open
Mosenthein Island
State Recreation Area
State natural resources854Open
Gabaret Island Open Space
State Other or Unknown
State natural resources853Open
Lewis & Clark State Historic Site
State Historic or Cultural Area
Other state land252Open
Mct Schoolhouse Trail Spur
Local Recreation Area
County83Open
Eagle Park Marsh
State Conservation Area
Town or city51Open
Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site
State Park
Other state land22Open
Madison Baseball Diamonds
Local Recreation Area
Town or city5Open
Madison Triangle Park
Local Park
Town or city2Open

3 smaller protected places aren’t shown.

Things to do

5 places to go in Madison

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Scenic views in Madison
Downtown STL View
Directions

Plus 1 scenic view without a name on the map.

Trails & water

3 lakes & rivers

Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Gabaret SloughHorseshoe LakelakeMississippi River
Biking & sports

8.6 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

8.6 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
3Basketball
3Baseball

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

1 place on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).

History →
Chain of Rocks BridgeStructure · listed 2006
About it
When to get out

The walking year in Madison

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.710.711.813.214.314.914.613.712.411.110.09.5
High (°F)404556687786898881695544
Rain (in)2.52.13.44.75.04.34.03.33.43.23.42.6

February is the driest month (2.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 5.0 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Madison →

Next door

Madison and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Nameoki Township9.0 miFairmont City7.0 miMadison6.5 miGranite City1.2 miVenice Township1.1 miGranite City Township0.9 miBrooklyn0.7 miVenice0.4 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Madison46%0.51,46599%A+
Granite City4%0.11790%B−
Granite City Township— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Fairmont City36%1.144399%+A+
Venice3%0.22399%+B+
Venice Township32%0.146195%A
Nameoki Township34%0.437373%A
Brooklyn— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Madison

How much of Madison is conserved land?

46% of its land, against a typical 4% for an Illinois town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Madison’s trails?

Horseshoe Lake State Park and Tri-City Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Madison?

8.6 miles of bike routes are on the map: 8.6 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Madison?

24,868 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Madison or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 4,289 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Madison have?

Ahead of 97% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #9 of 768 in Illinois. 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 Madison neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →