News Release

325.5 million visits to national parks in 2023, 4.5 million visits to Yellowstone National Park

Junior Ranger Station at Old Faithful

NPS / Jacob W. Frank

News Release Date: February 27, 2024

Contact: Morgan Warthin, [phone]

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WY – On Feb. 22, the National Park Service (NPS) announced that 400 national parks reported a total of 325.5 million recreation visits in 2023, an increase of 13 million or 4% over 2022.  

Yellowstone National Park hosted 4,501,382 recreation visits in 2023, up 37% over 2022 (3,290,242 recreation visits). Lower visitation numbers in 2022 were likely due to an historic flood event that closed the park from June 13 through June 21. Three entrances opened June 22 and two remained closed until October.

In 2023, visitation was the second busiest on record. The busiest year was 2021 with 4,860,242 recreational visits. More than half of these visits for both years occurred in June, July and August. Visitors looking to travel to Yellowstone in the summer must plan a visit well in advance.  

Visitation figures and trends guide how the NPS manages parks to ensure the best experience possible for park visitors. The Visitation Statistics Dashboard provides recreational visit statistics for every park in the US for 2023 and also for previous years, dating back to 1979 for some parks. There are 429 parks in the National Park System, and 400 parks counted visitors in 2023. For the first time, there are now parks reporting their visitation numbers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four US territories. Five national parks began reporting in 2023, and this is the first year a park from Delaware is included.