News Release

Tourism to Yellowstone National Park contributes $600 million to local economy

The gateway community of Gardiner, Montana, at the park's North Entrance.

NPS / Jacob W. Frank

News Release Date: August 30, 2023

Contact: Morgan Warthin, [phone]

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WY – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 3.3 million visitors to Yellowstone in 2022* spent $452 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 6,234 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $600 million.

“Since 1916, the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of our national parks. With the help of volunteers and partners, we safeguard these special places and share their stories with more than 300 million visitors every year. The impact of tourism to national parks is undeniable: bringing jobs and revenue to communities in every state in the country and making national parks an essential driver to the national economy,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams.

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists at the NPS. The report shows $23.9 billion of direct spending by nearly 312 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 378,400 jobs nationally; 314,600 of those jobs are found in gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $50.3 billion.

As for the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $9 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurants sector had the second greatest effects, with $4.6 billion in economic output nationally.

Report authors also produce an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: Visitor Spending Effects - Economic Contributions of National Park Visitor Spending - Social Science (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).

Learn more about national parks in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho and how the NPS works with communities in these states to help preserve local history, conserve the environment and provide outdoor recreation.

Editor’s note: *The historic flood occurred in 2022 and closed the park June 13 through June 21. Three of the park’s five entrances opened June 22. The Northeast Entrance opened Oct. 15 and the North Entrance opened Oct. 30.