Photo: Kswx29 at English Wikipedia · Public domainFew parks or trails are on the map in Carbondale
30% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 10 acres are parks and preserves, 7.7 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 10% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Carbondale have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Carbondale is ahead of 10% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; park acres per resident come closest.
Few Kansas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Carbondale’s under 1% is ahead of 5% of Kansas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 3% 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.
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.
The walking year in Carbondale
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) | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.5 |
| High (°F) | 40 | 46 | 56 | 66 | 75 | 85 | 89 | 88 | 80 | 68 | 55 | 43 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 1.5 |
January is the driest month (0.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 5.4 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Carbondale →
Questions about parks and trails in Carbondale
How much of Carbondale is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Kansas town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Carbondale?
4,352 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Carbondale or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 10 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Carbondale have?
Ahead of 10% 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 Carbondale 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 →