Annual Visitation Statistics Release
Annual visitor use statastics are released during the first quarter of the following calendar year. On this page you will find a quick highlight of the most recent published data, with a focus on the number of recreation visits. To see data for all parks, statistics, and years, check out the new Visitor Use Dashboard or the reports available through the Visitor Use Statistics Data Portal.Data from the current year is not final and is subject to change. Please use caution when using and referencing.
2022 Visitation Highlights
In 2022, the National Park Service received 312 million recreation visits, up 15 million visits (5%) from 2021. While not as high as 2018 and 2019 (318 million and 327 million recreation visits, respectively), service wide visitation has essentially recovered to pre-pandemic levels. 2022 is very much like years immediately before the National Park Service Centennial in 2016 and is only 6% lower than that all-time record year. Download the full version of the Annual Visitation Highlights graphics.
2022 Recreation Visits
Recreation Visits Since 2019
A line graph with bubbles indicating each of the four most recent years of the total recreation visits to National Park System units.
- Bubble 1, 2019: 327,516,619 recreation visits.
- Bubble 2, 2020: 237,064,332 recreation visits.
- Bubble 3, 2021: 297,115,406 recreation visits.
- Bubble 4, 2022: 311,985,998 recreation visits.
Where people go
A doughnut chart with four unequal slices, each represents approximately 25% of total recreation visits. The smallest slice, 2% of the donut, represents the top 8 most visited parks and 26% of recreation visits. The second slice, 5% of the donut, is the next 19 most visited parks and 24% of recreation visits. The third slice, 9% of the donut, is the next 37 most visited parks and 25% of recreation visits. The largest slice, 84% of the donut, are the 331 least visited parks and 25% of recreation visits.
Where people go - types of parks
A pie chart with three slices illustrating proportion of recreation visits in 2022 grouped by the primary focus of a park – recreation, nature, or historical / cultural.
- Recreation-focused parks reported 38% of the recreation visits.
- Nature-focused parks reported 30% of the recreation visits.
- Historical / cultural-focused parks reported 32% of the recreation visits.
These original park classifications were developed in a 2016 Harvard study and they are part of our Socioeconomic Monitoring Program.
Recreation Visits Since 1904
Cool Fact: 15,703,311,966 total recreation visits to parks of the National Park System since 1904.
2022 Overnight Stays
A horizontal bar chart. The bar chart shows total overnight stays in the National Park System for each of the four most recent years. In 2019, there were 13,860,047 overnight stays. In 2020, there were 8,039,768 overnight stays. In 2021, there were 12,745,455 overnight stays. In 2022, there were 13,254,119 overnight stays.
For more information on types of overnight stays in parks, please consult the Visitor Use Definitions page.
2022 recreation visitor hours
A vertical bar chart showing total recreation visitor hours in the National Park System for each of the four most recent years. In 2019, there were 1,429,969,854 recreation visitor hours. In 2020, there were 1,054,952,540 recreation visitor hours. In 2021, there were 1,356,657,749 recreation visitor hours. In 2022, there were 1,358,946,990 recreation visitor hours.
Park categories
A vertical bar chart with three bars showing how many parks were in each size category of recreation visits. Three parks had 10 million or more recreation visits, 9 parks had 5 million or more recreation visits, and 75 parks had 1 million or more recreation visits.
Record breaking visitation
A donut chart with the total of 12 parks setting a record for recreation visits in 2022 and a single slice showing that 5 of the twelve parks broke a record they set in 2021.
Want more information on records? See the Annual Park Ranking report and Annual Visitation and Record Year by Park report.
See all data!
Visitor Use Statistics Data PortalLast updated: May 18, 2023