SEM Park Selection

Socioeconomic Monitoring (SEM) Visitor Survey Park Selection is designed so that each year's park units combine to form a representative sample of the park system as a whole. This is achieved by:

  1. Identifying all parks with adequate visitor use data (5 years) for sampling and analysis purposes
  2. Classifying these parks as one of 4 categories: Nature, Recreation, Historic-Urban, Historic-Other
  3. Splitting each category into low and high visitation groups (8 total groups)
  4. Randomly selecting 3 parks from each of the 8 groups, for 24 total selected
A flow chart working from left to right showing how all available park units are broken down into categories based on park type and then by visitation level (high or low). Each year, three parks are selected from each subsection for a total of 24 parks.
Flow chart of park selection for Socioeconomic Monitoring Visitor Surveys

NPS Social Science Program

2022 Selected Parks

Park Type High Visitation Low Visitation
Historic, Non-Urban Cumberland Gap NHP
Mount Rushmore NM
Vanderbilt Mansion NHS		 Fort Bowie NHS
Fort Laramie NHS
Martin Van Buren NHS
Historic, Urban Gateway Arch NP
Korean War Veterans NMEM
Thomas Jefferson NMEM		 General Grant NMEM
Morristown NHP
Thomas Edison NHP
Natural Capitol Reef NP
Grand Teton NP
Rocky Mountain NP		 Guadalupe Mountains NP
Isle Royale NP
Pinnacles NP
Recreation Cape Hatteras NS
Natchez Trace PKWY
National Capital Parks Central		 Catoctin MP
Lake Meredith NRA
Niobrara NSR

2022 results will include park specific reports, a national level report, and an interactive data dashboard.

Last updated: June 27, 2022

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