Visitation Numbers

The National Park Service's Social Science Program coordinates the collection of recreational visitation statistics for more than 400 national parks throughout the year. Official statistics are traditionally reported during the first few months of a new year. Learn more about visitation statistics collection and find official reports by the National Park Service. Use the NPS Stats database to find additional data, reports, and highlights for individual parks and for past years.

2020 by the Numbers

Find more highlights in the National Park Service's news release about 2020 visitation numbers.

• 237,064,332 recreation visits
• 1,054,952,540 recreation visitor hours
• 8,039,768 overnight stays (recreation + non-recreation)
• Three parks had more than 10 million recreation visits: Blue Ridge Parkway, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• Seven parks had more than five million recreation visits, which is down from 11 parks in 2019
• 60 parks had more than one million recreation visits (15% of reporting parks), which is down from 80 parks in 2019
• 19 national parks had more than one million recreation visits (30% of national parks)
• 25% of total recreation visits occurred in the top six most-visited parks (1.5% of all parks in the National Park System)
• 50% of total recreation visits occurred in the top 23 most-visited parks (6% of all parks in the National Park System)

10 Most Visited Parks in 2020

The National Park Service administers more than 400 national parks across the country of different shapes, sizes, and purpose. This ten most visited parks list includes parks from the more than 19 naming designations that currently exist.

	Park	Recreational Visits
1	Blue Ridge Parkway	14.1 million
2	Golden Gate National Recreation Area	12.4 million
3	Great Smoky Mountains National Park	12.1 million
4	Gateway National Recreation Area	8.4 million
5	Lake Mead National Recreation Area	8 million
6	George Washington Memorial Parkway	6.2 million
7	Natchez Trace Parkway	6.1 million
8	Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park	4.9 million
9	Cape Cod National Seashore	4.1 million
10	Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area	4.1 million

10 Most Visited "National Parks" in 2020

Out of the 423 parks in the National Park System in 2020, there were 62 with the naming designation "national park" when these visitor statistics were collected. Please note, the total of park units and units with the naming designation "national park" may have changed in this current year.

	Park	Recreational Visits
1	Great Smoky Mountains National Park	12.1 million
2	Yellowstone National Park	3,8 million
3	Zion National Park	3.6 million
4	Rocky Mountain National Park	3.3 million
5	Grand Teton National Park	3.3 million
6	Grand Canyon National Park	2.9 million
7	Cuyahoga Valley National Park	2.8 million
8	Acadia National Park	2.7 million
9	Olympic National Park	2.5 million
10	Joshua Tree National Park	2.4 million

Recreation Visits by Year

1904	120,690	1930	3,038,935	1956	53,872,100	1982	244,924,579	2008	274,852,949
1905	140,954	1931	3,217,674	1957	58,220,600	1983	243.619.396	2009	285,579,941
1906	30,569	1932	3,551,885	1958	58,466,800	1984	248.785.509	2010	281,303,769
1907	32,935	1933	3,255,684	1959	62,834,000	1985	263.441.808	2011	278,939,216
1908	42,768	1934	6,095,201	1960	71,586,000	1986	281,094,850	2012	282,765,682
1909	60,899	1935	7,435,659	1961	78,933,900	1987	287,244,998	2013	273,630,895
1910	173,416	1936	11,749,790	1962	88,548,300	1988	282,451,441	2014	292,800,082
1911	194,207	1937	14,838,640	1963	101,959,800	1989	269,399,837	2015	307,247,252
1912	198,334	1938	16,019,483	1964	109,190,300	1990	255,581,467	2016	330,971,689
1913	216,853	1939	15,141,032	1965	118,662,500	1991	267,840,999	2017	330,882,751
1914	209,693	1940	16,410,148	1966	129,282,100	1992	274,694,549	2018	318,211,833
1915	314,299	1941	20,487,633	1967	135,414,200	1993	273,120,925	2019	327,516,619
1916	326,506	1942	8,891,495	1968	145,449,500	1994	268,636,169	2020	237,064,332
1917	453,498	1943	6,383,513	1969	159,103,500	1995	269,564,307	Total	14,891,410,480
1918	436,222	1944	7,723,790	1970	168,135,100	1996	265,796,163
1919	781,178	1945	10,855,548	1971	151,265,400	1997	275,236,335
1920	1,022,091	1946	20,918,012	1972	163,156,569	1998	286,762,265
1921	1,101,697	1947	24,258,527	1973	166,572,300	1999	287,130,879
1922	1,136,949	1948	26,294,795	1974	168,686,500	2000	285,891,275
1923	1,364,024	1949	29,124,837	1975	188,085,700	2001	279,873,926
1924	1,527,999	1950	32,706,172	1976	215,359,800	2002	227,299,880
1925	1,900,499	1951	36,613,178	1977	209,370,600	2003	266,230,290
1926	2,162,640	1952	41,804,313	1978	221,127,705	2004	276,908,337
1927	2,465,058	1953	45,679,754	1979	205,369,795	2005	273,488,751
1928	2,703,753	1954	47,967,800	1980	220,463,211	2006	272,623,980
1929	3,010,912	1955	48,891,000	1981	238,592,669	2007	275,581,547