How many people visit America's national parks each year?
Today's 63 national parks had 93.9 million recreation visits in 2025, just below the record 94.3 million of 2024 and up from 52.6 million in 1979, when monthly counts begin. Visits fell to 67.9 million in 2020, when many parks closed for part of the pandemic. Every year counts the same 63 parks, including a few made national parks only recently, such as Indiana Dunes and New River Gorge.
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Source and date
- Data as of
- Published
The data
| Year | Recreation visits to the 63 national parks |
|---|---|
| 1979 | 52,605,100 |
| 1980 | 53,921,174 |
| 1981 | 57,163,980 |
| 1982 | 57,406,687 |
| 1983 | 58,491,521 |
| 1984 | 57,335,469 |
| 1985 | 58,287,491 |
| 1986 | 62,375,241 |
| 1987 | 65,638,052 |
| 1988 | 66,093,316 |
| 1989 | 66,898,798 |
| 1990 | 64,192,615 |
| 1991 | 68,282,857 |
| 1992 | 69,859,794 |
| 1993 | 71,913,677 |
| 1994 | 72,933,979 |
| 1995 | 75,453,461 |
| 1996 | 74,284,003 |
| 1997 | 76,310,729 |
| 1998 | 75,910,411 |
| 1999 | 75,332,239 |
| 2000 | 73,520,383 |
| 2001 | 71,399,633 |
| 2002 | 72,046,762 |
| 2003 | 70,217,433 |
| 2004 | 70,113,274 |
| 2005 | 70,285,864 |
| 2006 | 66,601,047 |
| 2007 | 68,407,842 |
| 2008 | 66,766,473 |
| 2009 | 69,042,242 |
| 2010 | 71,079,019 |
| 2011 | 68,607,024 |
| 2012 | 71,065,451 |
| 2013 | 69,136,047 |
| 2014 | 73,927,020 |
| 2015 | 80,305,331 |
| 2016 | 87,619,211 |
| 2017 | 89,391,395 |
| 2018 | 87,714,135 |
| 2019 | 91,010,784 |
| 2020 | 67,931,703 |
| 2021 | 92,251,857 |
| 2022 | 88,662,181 |
| 2023 | 92,390,204 |
| 2024 | 94,287,567 |
| 2025 | 93,892,121 |