Dayton Historic District · Photo: Huw Williams (Huwmanbeing) · Public domainFew parks or trails are on the map in Dayton
87% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 1 acre is park or preserve, 0.9 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 13% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Dayton?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Dayton have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Dayton is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
Few Indiana towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Dayton’s under 1% is ahead of 7% of Indiana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 6% of them.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
5 places to go in Dayton
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
1 community garden without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
August is the best month for walking in Dayton
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) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.0 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.9 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 34 | 38 | 50 | 63 | 73 | 82 | 84 | 83 | 78 | 65 | 51 | 39 |
| Rain (in) | 2.6 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 2.5 |
February is the driest month (2.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.9 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Dayton →
Dayton and its neighbors
Dayton 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | under 1% | under 0.1 | 1 | 87% | D |
| Lafayette | 4% | 0.4 | 9 | 77% | B− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Dayton
How much of Dayton is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 2% for an Indiana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Dayton?
4,126 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Dayton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Dayton have?
Ahead of 13% 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 Dayton neighbors.
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 →