James McColl House · Photo: Notorious4life · CC BY-SA 3.099% of residents live within a half mile of a park in Yale
15 acres are parks and preserves, 6.8 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 27% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Yale?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Yale have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Yale is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
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.
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
1 conserved acres
under 1% of Yale’s land. Who manages Yale’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairgrounds Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 1 | Restricted |
3 places to go in Yale
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
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).
The best walking months in Yale: June to September
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 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 30 | 32 | 42 | 56 | 68 | 78 | 81 | 79 | 73 | 60 | 46 | 35 |
| Rain (in) | 2.1 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
February is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 3.5 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Yale →
Questions about parks and trails in Yale
How much of Yale is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 5% for a Michigan town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Yale’s trails?
Yale Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Yale?
3,477 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Yale or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 15 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Yale have?
Ahead of 27% 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 Yale 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 →