Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Few parks or trails are on the map in Salem
7 acres are parks and preserves, 4.2 per 1,000 residents. 44% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.9 miles of mapped trail cross Salem, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 23% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Salem have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Salem is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
Few West Virginia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Salem’s under 1% is ahead of 6% of West Virginia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 61% 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.
1 named trail and 1 lakes & rivers
2.0 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.
2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Salem: April and August
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 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 40 | 44 | 53 | 66 | 75 | 82 | 85 | 83 | 78 | 67 | 54 | 44 |
| Rain (in) | 3.8 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 4.0 |
November is the driest month (3.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 5.3 inches fall in July, 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 2% for a West Virginia town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Where can I bike in Salem?
2.0 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.0 of off-road paths. Named routes: North Bend Rail Trail.
Is there public land near Salem?
975 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Salem or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 7 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Salem have?
Ahead of 23% 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 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 →