Photo: Finetooth · CC BY-SA 3.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Boulder
5 acres are parks and preserves, 3.8 per 1,000 residents. 5% of Boulder’s land is conserved, about 40 acres. 73% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 30% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Boulder?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Boulder have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Boulder is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
Montana towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 10%; the U.S., 4%), so Boulder’s 5% is ahead of 29% of Montana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 0% 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.
40 conserved acres
5% of Boulder’s land. Who manages Boulder’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 3 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Other or Unknown Local Other or Unknown | Other or Unknown Local Government | 28 | Unknown |
| Butte Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 12 | Open |
| Montana Department of Corrections Not Designated | Other state land | 9 | Closed |
3 places to go in Boulder
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.
3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Boulder: May 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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°F) | 34 | 37 | 46 | 53 | 63 | 71 | 82 | 81 | 70 | 56 | 42 | 32 |
| Rain (in) | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
January is the driest month (0.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 2.3 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Boulder →
Questions about parks and trails in Boulder
How much of Boulder is conserved land?
5% of its land, against a typical 10% for a Montana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Boulder?
117,079 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Boulder or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 17 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Boulder have?
Ahead of 30% 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 Boulder 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 →