Photo: publichall · CC BY-SA 3.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Salem
OpenStreetMap doesn’t show named parks or mapped trails in Salem yet. Know a trail or a town park? Anyone can add it to OpenStreetMap, and it shows up here on the next refresh.
Behind most U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Salem?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Salem have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Salem is behind most U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; conserved land comes closest.
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.
4 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The walking year in Salem
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 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 26 | 31 | 44 | 57 | 69 | 80 | 84 | 82 | 74 | 60 | 44 | 30 |
| Rain (in) | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
January is the driest month (0.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.1 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Salem →
Questions about parks and trails in Salem
How much of Salem is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 3% for a South Dakota town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Salem?
586 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Salem or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Salem have?
Behind most 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 Salem 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 →