The National Park Service recorded 323,014,305 recreation visits across the system in 2025 — down about 2.7% from 2024, though 26 individual parks still set all-time records. Among the 63 designated National Parks, the ranking is remarkably stable year to year: the same names trade places near the top, with one park far out in front.
Top 15 National Parks by 2025 visitation
- Great Smoky Mountains — 11,527,939
- Zion — 4,984,525
- Yellowstone — 4,762,988
- Grand Canyon — 4,430,653
- Yosemite — 4,278,413
- Rocky Mountain — 4,171,431
- Acadia — 4,079,318
- Grand Teton — 3,800,648
- Olympic — 3,584,187
- Glacier — 3,136,557
- Cuyahoga Valley — 3,025,325
- Joshua Tree — 2,932,644
- Indiana Dunes — 2,629,497
- Hot Springs — 2,494,611
- Gateway Arch — 2,209,028
Ranks 1–10 and the system total: National Park Service 2025 visitation statistics (released March 2026). Ranks 11–15: NPS visitation dataset via publiclandsdata.com. Figures are calendar-year recreation visits.
Why Great Smoky Mountains laps the field
The Smokies pull more than twice the visits of any other park, and it's structural. There's no entrance fee and no entrance gate, so there's nothing to slow traffic or discourage a casual drive-through. US-441 runs right across the park, and every pass-through is counted. And it sits within a day's drive of a huge share of the eastern U.S. population. Gatlinburg and Cherokee do the rest.
The 2025 dip
System-wide visitation fell about 2.7% from 2024's record. Individual parks moved in both directions — Zion edged up toward its all-time high while Grand Canyon dropped noticeably — but the top ten held their positions.
Visiting a top-ten park without the crowds
The busiest parks are busiest in a predictable window: mid-June through mid-August, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at a handful of marquee trailheads. Shift any one of those and the experience changes. Go in May or late September, start at sunrise, or point yourself at a quieter corner of the park. Check the park's live status first — several of these parks run timed-entry reservations in peak season, and high-country roads like Trail Ridge and Going-to-the-Sun are only open part of the year. Our status map shows what's open right now.
FAQ
What is the least visited national park?
Gates of the Arctic in Alaska is consistently last, with only a few thousand recorded visits a year — it has no roads and no trails.
Is "most visited" the same as "most crowded"?
Not quite. A park like Gateway Arch concentrates its visitors in a small footprint, while the Smokies' 11 million spread across 800 square miles and a lot of car traffic. Crowding is about density at the trailhead, not the annual total.
How does the NPS count a "recreation visit"?
One person entering a park for recreational purposes, once. Traffic counters, entrance-station tallies, and sampling formulas feed the number; a person who enters, leaves, and re-enters can be counted more than once.