What was the most visited national park in 2025?

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with 11,527,939 recreation visits, 2.3 times as many as Zion (4,984,525) in second place. Yellowstone was third with 4,762,988.

How many people visited the national parks in 2025?

The 63 national parks recorded 93,892,121 recreation visits in 2025, down 0.4% from 2024. Across all 406 reporting National Park Service sites the total was 323,014,305, so the national parks drew about 29% of it.

Are Sequoia and Kings Canyon counted together?

No. They are managed as one unit but are two national parks, and NPS reports their visits separately: 1,378,337 for Sequoia (#23) and 779,791 for Kings Canyon (#30) in 2025. Combined, their 2,158,128 visits would rank #16.

What was the least visited national park in 2025?

Kobuk Valley National Park, with 7,786 recreation visits. See the least visited national parks for the quiet end of the list.

Where does this data come from, and can I use it?

Every number is from the National Park Service's Visitor Use Statistics (IRMA), downloaded on October 1, 2026. Use the copy-ready citation on this page, or download the table as a CSV.

NPS visitor data · 2025

The most visited national parks of 2025

Name: US national parks ranked by 2025 recreation visits
Creator: National Park Service

Last verified October 1, 2026As of October 1, 2026

Great Smoky Mountains welcomed 11,527,939 recreation visits in 2025, more than twice the runner-up. Here are all 63 national parks from the busiest to the quietest, straight from the National Park Service’s own counts.

The 2025 podium

1Great Smoky Mountains11,527,939
2Zion4,984,525
3Yellowstone4,762,988

93,892,121 visits across all 63 parks · NPS IRMA

Photo: NPS / Bob Carr
North Carolina · Tennessee
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
2025 visits
11,527,939
vs 2024
−5.4%
Busiest month
October
Quiet shoulder month
November
Photo: NPS Photo / Shane Carte
Utah
Zion National Park
2025 visits
4,984,525
vs 2024
+0.8%
Busiest month
June
Quiet shoulder month
November
Photo: NPS / Jacob W. Frank
Idaho · Montana · Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park
2025 visits
4,762,988
vs 2024
+0.4%
Busiest month
July
Quiet shoulder month
October

By the numbers

2025 in the national parks

Visits to the 63 parks: 93,892,121; −0.4% vs 2024
Share of all NPS visits: 29.1%; of 323,014,305 at 406 sites
Top 10 parks' share: 52%; 48,756,659 visits
The middle park: 740,044; Glacier Bay, #32 of 63

36 parks drew more visits than in 2024 and 27 drew fewer. Great Smoky Mountains alone accounted for 12% of all national park visits.

All 63, ranked

Every national park by 2025 visits

Click a column to sort. The CSV has both years, so you can do your own math.

63 of 63

US national parks ranked by 2025 recreation visits, with change vs 2024

1	Great Smoky Mountains National Park	NC · TN	11,527,939	−5.4%
2	Zion National Park	UT	4,984,525	+0.8%
3	Yellowstone National Park	ID · MT · WY	4,762,988	+0.4%
4	Grand Canyon National Park	AZ	4,430,653	−9.9%
5	Yosemite National Park	CA	4,278,413	+3.8%
6	Rocky Mountain National Park	CO	4,171,431	+0.4%
7	Acadia National Park	ME	4,079,318	+3.0%
8	Grand Teton National Park	WY	3,800,648	+4.8%
9	Olympic National Park	WA	3,584,187	−3.6%
10	Glacier National Park	MT	3,136,557	−2.3%
11	Cuyahoga Valley National Park	OH	3,025,325	+3.9%
12	Joshua Tree National Park	CA	2,932,644	−2.0%
13	Indiana Dunes National Park	IN	2,629,497	−2.8%
14	Hot Springs National Park	AR	2,494,611	+1.3%
15	Gateway Arch National Park	MO	2,209,028	−13.8%
16	Bryce Canyon National Park	UT	1,967,367	−21.2%
17	New River Gorge National Park & Preserve	WV	1,958,440	+8.1%
18	Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park	HI	1,877,854	+31.0%
19	Shenandoah National Park	VA	1,682,152	−2.2%
20	Mount Rainier National Park	WA	1,635,342	+0.9%
21	Arches National Park	UT	1,511,740	+3.1%
22	Capitol Reef National Park	UT	1,388,476	−2.4%
23	Sequoia National Park	CA	1,378,337	+5.3%
24	Death Valley National Park	CA · NV	1,320,134	−8.4%
25	Redwood National and State Parks	CA	1,202,480	+93.1%
26	Badlands National Park	SD	1,139,361	+4.1%
27	Haleakalā National Park	HI	853,711	+16.6%
28	Saguaro National Park	AZ	847,749	−10.4%
29	Canyonlands National Park	UT	796,057	−2.7%
30	Kings Canyon National Park	CA	779,791	+11.5%
31	Everglades National Park	FL	778,198	+4.9%
32	Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve	AK	740,044	+0.5%
33	Theodore Roosevelt National Park	ND	729,893	−0.4%
34	Mammoth Cave National Park	KY	660,734	−11.6%
35	White Sands National Park	NM	659,742	−6.1%
36	Crater Lake National Park	OR	632,242	+25.2%
37	Wind Cave National Park	SD	606,258	+23.9%
38	Big Bend National Park	TX	568,104	+1.2%
39	Denali National Park & Preserve	AK	543,300	+16.5%
40	Lassen Volcanic National Park	CA	504,777	+41.1%
41	Biscayne National Park	FL	486,567	−5.0%
42	Virgin Islands National Park	VI	471,074	+11.4%
43	Mesa Verde National Park	CO	463,130	−3.5%
44	Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve	CO	432,498	−1.2%
45	Kenai Fjords National Park	AK	425,369	+1.4%
46	Carlsbad Caverns National Park	NM	410,778	−10.8%
47	Pinnacles National Park	CA	343,208	−3.1%
48	Petrified Forest National Park	AZ	315,951	−43.5%
49	Congaree National Park	SC	287,833	+18.9%
50	Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park	CO	250,086	−25.5%
51	Channel Islands National Park	CA	227,186	−13.5%
52	Guadalupe Mountains National Park	TX	206,423	−8.7%
53	Voyageurs National Park	MN	206,326	+3.7%
54	Great Basin National Park	NV	161,210	+6.0%
55	Wrangell–St. Elias National Park & Preserve	AK	108,840	+33.3%
56	Dry Tortugas National Park	FL	89,355	+5.3%
57	North Cascades National Park	WA	46,925	+184.7%
58	National Park of American Samoa	AS	43,258	+91.7%
59	Katmai National Park & Preserve	AK	34,479	−4.8%
60	Isle Royale National Park	MI	29,091	+1.0%
61	Lake Clark National Park & Preserve	AK	19,778	+6.9%
62	Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve	AK	14,923	+25.3%
63	Kobuk Valley National Park	AK	7,786	−54.8%

Recreation visits from NPS Visitor Use Statistics. Sequoia and Kings Canyon are listed separately, as NPS reports them.

2024 → 2025

The biggest movers

Percent change in recreation visits. Small parks swing hardest: a few thousand visits can move them a long way.

Biggest gains

North Cascades16,485 → 46,925+184.7%
Redwood622,883 → 1,202,480+93.1%
American Samoa22,567 → 43,258+91.7%
Lassen Volcanic357,651 → 504,777+41.1%
Wrangell–St. Elias81,670 → 108,840+33.3%

Biggest drops

Kobuk Valley17,233 → 7,786−54.8%
Petrified Forest559,254 → 315,951−43.5%
Black Canyon of the Gunnison335,862 → 250,086−25.5%
Bryce Canyon2,498,075 → 1,967,367−21.2%
Gateway Arch2,563,052 → 2,209,028−13.8%

Before reading a story into a big swing: NPS notes that parks change how they count visitors from time to time, which can shift a park’s trend. Each park’s IRMA report has the month-by-month detail.

Methodology

How this ranking works

What’s counted. Recreation visits: one person entering a park for recreation, counted at most once a day. Commuters, through traffic and people working in the park don’t count. That’s the National Park Service’s definition, and these are its numbers.

Where it’s from. Monthly recreation visits for 2021–2025 from NPS Visitor Use Statistics (IRMA), downloaded October 1, 2026. Each annual total is the sum of its 12 months. Our top 10 matches the NPS 2025 visitation release park for park.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon. They’re run as one unit, but they are two separately established national parks, and NPS reports visits separately for parks like that. So they rank separately here, as #23 and #30. Together, their 2,158,128 visits would place them #16.

Odd months stay in. We keep every month as NPS reports it. In 2025, 10 park-months came in far below the same month in other years, including Petrified Forest in October (0), Mammoth Cave in October (12,646) and Carlsbad Caverns in October (0). 9 of them fall between October and December, and NPS's 2025 release notes a 43-day partial government shutdown that year.

The big picture. The 63 national parks drew 29.1% of the 323,014,305 recreation visits NPS recorded at its 406 reporting sites in 2025, in line with the 29% NPS gives for national parks. The rest went to parkways, recreation areas, memorials, monuments, seashores and the other kinds of NPS sites.

Cite this data

Source: National Park Service, Visitor Use Statistics (irma.nps.gov/Stats), 2025 recreation visits. Compiled by Park'd, parkd.app/most-visited-national-parks, as of October 1, 2026.

Planning a trip, not a story?

Busy parks have quiet months. The crowd calendar shows when each of the 63 is calm, and the least visited parks are quiet all year.

FAQ

Most visited parks, answered

What was the most visited national park in 2025?: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with 11,527,939 recreation visits, 2.3 times as many as Zion (4,984,525) in second place. Yellowstone was third with 4,762,988.
How many people visited the national parks in 2025?: The 63 national parks recorded 93,892,121 recreation visits in 2025, down 0.4% from 2024. Across all 406 reporting National Park Service sites the total was 323,014,305, so the national parks drew about 29% of it.
What counts as a visit?: A recreation visit is one person entering a park for recreation, counted at most once per person per day. Commuters, through traffic and people working in the park are excluded. Parks change how they count from time to time, which can shift a park's trend.
Are Sequoia and Kings Canyon counted together?: No. They are managed as one unit but are two national parks, and NPS reports their visits separately: 1,378,337 for Sequoia (#23) and 779,791 for Kings Canyon (#30) in 2025. Combined, their 2,158,128 visits would rank #16.
What was the least visited national park in 2025?: Kobuk Valley National Park, with 7,786 recreation visits. See the least visited national parks for the quiet end of the list.
Where does this data come from, and can I use it?: Every number is from the National Park Service's Visitor Use Statistics (IRMA), downloaded on October 1, 2026. Use the copy-ready citation on this page, or download the table as a CSV.

Sources · 4

1.NPS Visitor Use Statistics — monthly recreation visits, 2021–2025 (IRMA stats REST service) · National Park Service (U.S. Department of the Interior) — Visitor Use Statistics Program
2.Public Interest in National Parks Remains Strong as Visits Top 323 Million in 2025 (news release, March 13, 2026) · National Park Service
3.Visitor Use Statistics Dashboard (2025 visitation at a glance) · National Park Service
4.NPS Visitor Use Statistics Definitions · National Park Service

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