Visitation Numbers

The National Park Service's Social Science Program coordinates the collection of visitor use 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 national summaries, additional data and reports for individual parks, and data for past years.

2021 by the Numbers

Find more highlights in the National Park Service's news release about 2021 visitation numbers.

• 297,115,406 recreation visits
• 1,356,657,749 recreation visitor hours
• 12,745,455 overnight stays (recreation + non-recreation)
• Three parks had more than 10 million recreation visits: Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Golden Gate National Recreation Area
• Eleven parks had more than five million recreation visits, which is up from seven parks in 2020 and equal to the number of parks in 2019
• 73 parks had more than one million recreation visits (19% of reporting parks), which is up from 60 parks in 2020 and 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 eight most-visited parks (2% of all parks in the National Park System)

25 Most Visited Parks in 2021

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.

Order	Park	Recreational Visits
1	Blue Ridge Parkway	15.9 million
2	Great Smoky Mountains National Park	14.1 million
3	Golden Gate National Recreation Area	13.7 million
4	Gateway National Recreation Area	9.1 million
5	Lake Mead National Recreation Area	7.6 million
6	George Washington Memorial Parkway	6.8 million
7	Natchez Trace Parkway	6.4 million
8	Lincoln Memorial	5.8 million
9	Gulf Islands National Seashore	5.5 million
10	Zion National Park	5 million
11	Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park	5 million
12	Yellowstone National Park	4.9 million
13	Grand Canyon National Park	4.5 million
14	Rocky Mountain National Park	4.4 million
15	Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area	4.3 million
16	Acadia National Park	4 million
17	Cape Cod National Seashore	4 million
18	Grand Teton National Park	3.9 million
19	World War II Memorial	3.7 million
20	Vietnam Veterans Memorial	3.6 million
21	Yosemite National Park	3.3 million
22	Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area	3.3 million
23	Cape Hatteras National Seashore	3.2 million
24	Indiana Dunes National Park	3.2 million
25	Glen Canyon National Recreation Area	3.1 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	2021	297,115,406
1918	436,222	1944	7,723,790	1970	168,135,100	1996	265,796,163	Total	15,391,325,968
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